This question (a community wiki) I may add was recently closed for too broad: What to do if I/Someone I know is feeling depressed/suicidal?
Why? It's intention was not to be a proper question, it's purpose was to be a central location for people with depression/dealing with depressed people would be directed to. The question is not even the important part, what is important is the answer.
So is the question actually "Too Broad"?
The question is too broad, regardless of the intentions for using the answer as a link-point when closing other questions.
There is, at the moment anyway, a general sense of consensus that these type of questions, depression and suicide, ought not to be answered by anyone in any manner other than to direct the OP to a canonical response of seek professional help, and then close the question to prevent any answers to the question.
From a variety of discussions, in Meta, in chat, and in comments to posts on both main and Meta, the linked to response, the canonical response, should be on Meta, not the main site. The closure of the question should be with a custom close message that links to the canonical response.
A common concern is what a new seeker will find at the end of a Google search, specifically whether or not the search result will lead to a page that covers all conditions of depression and suicide advice for the seeker, and for someone the seeker knows.
I am not proficient at creating the needed text, but I am sure there are other active users who can do so with the proper style, tone of voice, and search engine juice. So my thinking is that we need to create a total of eight questions, and four answers.
Later, whenever a new question is posted that resembles one of the Main site questions above (#5 - #8) it is closed as a duplicate of the one it matches. Maybe a comment is added that matches, or is a direct copy of, the comment on the that is the dupe target. That gives the instant OP a direct link to the canonical response as well as anyone that lands there from a search engine result.
This puts the canonical responses squarely in Meta, where SE custom places such canonical material. It creates a Main site question that links to the canonical response in Meta that is appropriate for the question. It provides for the possible use of a custom close reason on the four "crafted" questions. A dupe target is provided for all future questions that match any of the four situations we have envisioned. It remove the need to use four of our limited set of custom close reason slots, allowing us to use them for other, probably more common needs.
Having never seen the inside of the mod tools, I have probably set up something that isn't totally correct with what can be done. Following the spirit of this plan, using the actual tools available, should still be workable, however, with some fine tuning as needed.
That question should be split:
Suicide and depression are two very different things, even if they can be a causal relationship between the two.
Robert has a 'situational' depression due to his aunt's death. The right answer to him might be psychotherapy, or something else, but if we have only one question then Google will direct him to an IPS page which is half about suicide. He would have been better served by a page that focuses on depression. We are an expert site, we can certainly afford having two separate pages, even if that means that a part of the information overlaps.
On the other side, Roger is suicidal, and he definitely needs concise and to-the-point information about suicide prevention. Don't waste his time with advice not targeted at him.
The first will give useful information to the suicidal person, including how she can approach people to untrigger the problem.
The second will be targeted at very different people. The answers will probably include some of the same information ("tell her XYZ"), but it will also include how to tell her in a way that she will be receptive to, plus tips on how to get a better understanding of the situation, what are signs that might help you save your friend's life, and also tips on how to not get harmed by the crisis yourself, as this can be a terrible experience for yourself.
So, we can definitely afford to separate into 3 or 4 questions.
Firstly, as I've mentioned in the OP, it's not meant to be a proper question, it's a location to put an answer for everyone who's dealing with depression/suicide, whether it be themselves or others. The important part is the answer, the question's content is irreverent, and having 2 questions reduces the importance and centrality of it.
Secondly, the answer, in 2 parts is essentially repeating itself both parts of the answer are clear in their meaning - Talk to someone qualified the entire section dedicated to "What can I do if someone else is suffering from depression" is all about making them do the things in the first section. If you were to make 2 separate Questions, then essentially the second one (what to do if a friend is suffering) would be a referral to the first, with the words "encourage them to do this".
Even if we made 2 separate questions we would have to change/extend the tag excerpts for depression and suicide, which may mean that the excerpt might not even be able to contain the link to both questions.
To sum it up, the purpose of each answer is the same, we are not trained to deal with this so go to someone who is
If the overall consensus is still to make it 2 separate posts, then I shall do that, however I feel it makes a lot more sense in 1 post.
