If you are having thoughts of suicide, please reach out now. In the US you can call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org, free and around the clock. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans answer on 116 123. Elsewhere, contact your local emergency number or a crisis line in your country.
In early 2019 a 17-year-old who said he was from Russia posted two photos of himself to r/RoastMe, a Reddit forum where people volunteer to be mocked as harshly and creatively as possible. His title read: “17 years old russian with crippling depression. Give me a reason to end it all.” What happened next is why the thread is still remembered. Instead of insults, thousands of strangers answered with encouragement, personal stories and urgent advice to get help.
The screenshots below show some of those replies. They are worth reading not because a comment thread can cure depression, which it cannot, but because they model what helpful words can sound like when someone signals that they are in danger.
The post that broke the forum’s rules
RoastMe works on consent: people post a photo holding a sign with the forum’s name, and commenters compete to be funny at their expense. This post asked for something else. It turned the roast format into a request that sounded like a cry for help, and the community responded by setting the format aside.
The post title as it appeared on Reddit, under the username MufasaQuePasa. It quickly collected tens of thousands of upvotes, mostly because of the replies underneath rather than the post itself.
The photo he shared shows a young man in glasses holding the handwritten “r/RoastMe” sign that the forum requires as proof of identity. Many commenters said the photo itself worried them more than the title did.
“Depression isn’t a joke”: replies that took him seriously
One of the top replies refused outright to play along. The writer told him not to delete the post, to talk to someone, and reminded him that the comment section was full of people who had been through something similar. It also made a key point plainly: depression is an illness, not a personality flaw.
A short reply, but an important one: it told him that someone who looked like him had gone to get help and got better. Recovery stories like this are one of the most useful things a struggling person can hear.
This is one of the hardest comments in the thread. A father wrote that his own son, the same age, had died by suicide a few months earlier, and described the devastation it left behind. He ended with a direct plea to stay alive and get help.
Some people chose to “roast” him in reverse, with a compliment. This one told him he looked like he would have a great smile, which was a gentle way of saying he had a future worth seeing.
Humour still found its way in, but pointed toward help. The commenter joked that the only roast he needed involved cashews and a therapy session, and added that life still had a lot to offer.
Strangers who had been there
Another reply acknowledged the forum’s reputation, calling it a pit of vicious vipers, and then said everyone was rooting for him. Seeing a hostile crowd turn supportive was part of the message.
A self-described “normally pretty brutal” regular said he had been in the same place, and that the last thing anyone in that state needs is people tearing into them. He urged him to see a doctor or a mental health worker.
A simple show of agreement with the rest of the thread: seek help and reach out to people. Repetition matters here, because one voice is easy to dismiss and hundreds are not.
One commenter claimed to live in the same building and attend the same school. Whether or not that was true, it was a reminder that people nearby might care more than he realised.
This writer said he recognised the expression in the photo from his own face, refused to ever roast him, and offered to be there to talk every day. He described holding on with a white-knuckle grip and promised not to let go.
A mother said her 14-year-old daughter was struggling in the same way and that the post hit too close to home. She encouraged him to talk to someone and to “win your battle”.
The cost of a suicide, told by those left behind
A man described losing his sister to suicide, how it shattered him and how his ageing parents are now raising her child. His point was that the pain does not end; it moves onto the people who love you. He used a well-known phrase, calling suicide a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
Another commenter remembered spending most of each day in bed during his own worst depression, and said that one friend’s daily phone calls helped keep him going. Small, regular contact often matters more than grand gestures.
A short, painful reply: the writer had lost a close friend to suicide shortly before the friend’s 30th birthday. He ended with two words that summed up much of the thread: get help.
How the story spread beyond RoastMe
A screenshot of the exchange was soon reposted to a meme community dedicated to wholesome content, where it drew even more attention and another wave of comments.
The repost’s title summed up the story in one line: RoastMe had refused to roast someone suffering from depression. It collected close to 100,000 upvotes.
This reply widened the lesson: imagine treating everyone this way, including people who look perfectly fine. Most people carry struggles that are invisible from the outside.
Sometimes two words are enough. This comment simply praised the community for getting it right this time.
A playful take on the exchange framed the kindness itself as the ultimate roast, saying his life looked so messy they would not even let him play along.
Another commenter agreed that his eyes in the photo looked like someone who meant what he wrote, and said they were glad decent people had stepped in.
For some readers, the thread was a rare piece of evidence that people online are not as bad as they often seem.
The last reply here argued that in every disaster you can find people helping, from strangers on the internet to nurses working long shifts. It closed with a warm wish for him to have a good day.
What we know, and what we don’t
It is tempting to end a story like this with a happy update, but there is no reliable public information about what happened to the teenager afterwards. Screenshots record a moment, not an outcome. What the thread does show is that many people, including strangers, wanted him to stay and were willing to say so.
The scale of the issue is real. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 720,000 people die by suicide each year, and in 2021 suicide was the third leading cause of death among 15- to 29-year-olds worldwide. Depression is one of the main risk factors, and it is treatable. Talk therapy, medication and other approaches help many people, and the right first step is to talk to a doctor or mental health professional.
How to help someone who may be thinking about suicide
The US National Institute of Mental Health suggests five simple steps:
- Ask. Ask directly whether they are thinking about suicide. NIMH notes that studies show asking does not increase suicidal thoughts or behaviour.
- Be there. Listen without judging, and let them talk.
- Help keep them safe. Ask whether they have a plan, and help put distance between them and anything they could use to harm themselves.
- Help them connect. Point them to a crisis line such as 988 in the US, and to trusted people or professionals.
- Follow up. Check in again after the crisis. Ongoing contact makes a difference.
A common myth is that people who talk about suicide online are only seeking attention. Any such message deserves to be taken seriously. If someone is in immediate danger, contact emergency services. The commenters on this thread did not have training, but they did the most important thing: they answered, they took him seriously, and they told him to get help.
Sources: original r/RoastMe thread (screenshots: Reddit users); Bored Panda coverage; NIMH: 5 action steps to help someone having thoughts of suicide; NIMH: Depression; WHO suicide fact sheet; 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Nice Post!
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