[richbell]

It's a bit strange that the burden of proof is on people contesting allegations about an anonymous person. As far as I can tell the original claim has no proof whatsoever.

That said, after digging into this a bit more it seems that the most credible proof he didn't commit suicide is that the U.S. State Department has no record of it. They allegedly killed themselves in June but according to government records no US citizen died of suicide in Japan in June. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-tra...

[pseudalopex]

USA Today reported Near's full name and suicide. Hector Martin claimed police confirmed.

How was it determined Near was in Japan at the time? Or was it assumed because they lived there?

You didn't say Near's suicide was unproven. You suggested it was proven a hoax. It's not strange people ask for proof when proof was claimed.

[bageljr]

1. They use they/them pronouns

2. The original claim, being that Near commited suicide due to Kiwi Farm, was documented in the link two comments up.

As another commenter said, the government records state that no US citizen died at all in Japan in June 2021. This is of course a bit ridiculous given that 50,000+ people live there and 10-12 people die per 1000 people per month in Japan. This means that around 500 US citizens should have died in Japan that month. Obviously, the US government doesn't have to account for literally all its citizens dying for any cause anywhere, just the important ones.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1011514/japan-mortality-... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_in_Japan

[richbell]

> 1. They use they/them pronouns

Near used both he/him and they/them, per the person who alleged they committed suicide: https://mobile.twitter.com/marcan42/status/14104199133327237...

> 2. The original claim, being that Near commited suicide due to Kiwi Farm, was documented in the link two comments up. > > As another commenter said, the government records state that no US citizen died at all in Japan in June 2021. This is of course a bit ridiculous given that 50,000+ people live there and 10-12 people die per 1000 people per month in Japan. This means that around 500 US citizens should have died in Japan that month. Obviously, the US government doesn't have to account for literally all its citizens dying for any cause anywhere, just the important ones.

"Expected" numbers mean nothing: in the real world, unexpected things happen all the time. This is a fallacious argument reminiscent of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_averages .

This is all wild speculation without evidence.

[bageljr]

1. Oh I see, didn't know that. 2. Sure its an expected number, but its ridiculous that there would be literally 0 deaths given 50,000 people (this was 2012, so I expect it would have grown).

[richbell]

I think the crux of the issue is that they purport to record deaths from non-natural causes "to the maximum extent practicable"; one could argue that both of those clauses leave room for interpretation. Ultimately there's no strong evidence either way, which I'd argue puts the burden of proof in the camp making the claim.

> the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003, mandates that, to the maximum extent practicable, the Department of State collect and make available on the Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs Internet web site certain information with respect to each United States citizen who dies in a foreign country *from a non-natural cause.*