If someone tries to commit suicide should I stop them?

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Depends whether the person is your boss.

I wouldn't. I might even encourage them. The fewer people the better.

I don't know what I think on this one. From a secular humanist view you'd stop a kid from doing something stupid because they failed their SAT's, however if its an aged father/mother who wished to give an inheritance to their children and can't get hospice care but rather is looked at being milked of hundreds of thousands or dollars - that can be understood. Same with someone who has either a terminal illness or a disability where they're arrangement is irreparably dystonic to their condition and where their lives have literally no hope whatsoever.

From a religious standpoint though its a whole other ball of wax (not recommended under any condition). Same from a utilitarian view - if humans are a capital investment by society its a sunk cost of input, although if they had the person rotting away on SSI or living on the streets, render that person useless or take away their self-sufficiency through discrimination then the utilitarians lose their right to that debate.

Ultimately I'm trying a theistic experiment in my life right now so this would be the wrong time to try and give an answer that anyone would want to here.

My mother tried killing herself a few times. So far as attempting to jump out the van on the freeway, my dad caught her arm and held her in while pulling to the side in traffic. Her issues stemmed from bipolar disorder, developing into debt diving from manic spending sprees (80k in two years on secret credit cards). As I got older and more introverted, my sister distracted by s**t relationships, and dad holding two jobs and going to seminary school... mom just got neglected. She'd had a nervous breakdown and had to quit her job, with no friends but my aunt, who's also suicidal, she became consumed with loneliness and a feeling of being worthless. I broke into tears one day and told her how important she was to me. After that she snapped out of it. She still carries mental burdens like any one of us, but she now has the hard evidence of how she can be important. Its been three years, my sister has a son of her own now and my mom is full of life again. She lives to serve the baby and I have never seen her happier. I hate to knock my sister, but the baby's quality of life would be far worse without my mother there.

My answer is yes. If there is any oppurtunity to talked to a loved one or friend, it is a gift, take it. There's no telling what's around the bend, but there may be a role for them to play.

If I let it happen it and not tried to do anything it would haunt me. If it happened it would haunt me.

I once called for help to stop a suicide attempt.

No, I would not.

At most I would slap them over the head for acting like a fool.

i have talked a few folk out of offing themselves. i have prayed-over suicidal folk. it is the least that anybody could do. my motivation is that i would want somebody to help me in similarly dire straits. it behooves nobody to dismiss others' psychic/existential pains, as a suicidal person is usually near the end of their rope and beyond desperation. i hate to see wasted potential and poverty of love, and this is what forces me to "reach out of the darkness" and act despite myself.

also, beneath most folks' radar, is the phenomenon of "slow suicides" - i.e., folk who through unwise behavior [bad diet, reckless driving, hanging with the wrong crowd, et al] tempt fate. this is the submerged iceberg of suicide, with only the active suicides showing above the water. that is why, in my inimitably clumsy way, i try to be as nice to people i meet as i know how, in the hope that this subtly will positively effect positive behaviors in said folk. i know when somebody kindly smiled at me, it made my day and made me feel better about myself and more likely to love myself in terms of taking better care of myself. it increased my meager self-esteem and made me want to treat myself better.
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love is the question, and love is the answer- unless you meet a sociopath.

Good post blabby.