I've read over this thread 3 times and have yet to see the "nasty comments" that people are referring to
To assume that everyone who thinks about how it's going to affect themselves is because of "missing x factor or big brother" is just as judgemental. The likes of MissG who didn't want to have her 2 young children witness the guy standing on the bridge is a fair comment. Some people may have needed to get home to look after their children, or get to hospital to visit a sick relative. You don't know the circumstances of everyone.
I am one of the people who regularly gets annoyed with such behaviour. There are plenty of avenues to go down instead of causing such chaos by standing on a bridge and threatening to jump. The number of NHS options and charities grow by the day. I think of the wider picture too - the emergency services that are taken away from other jobs (mental health really isn't a "job" for the police, but the safety of the public is, hence having to close off the lanes) where imminent threat to life actually IS happening.
It must be frustrating for the emergency services to hear calls coming in over the radios where help is required but they can't go as they are on "stand by" just in case. Then there's the people who have no choice but to witness such events. People who may have small children in the car. I think of the impact on those children too (even though I'm not maternal at all).
So yes, I may be selfish in some people's eyes, but I've worked in the NHS long enough to see the same people coming through the doors with "cries for help" which aren't that, and some that are. I've worked in mental health too.
And before I get the "you wouldn't say that if it was someone in your family", I've had a family member that committed suicide recently and I still think they were selfish too! However, he didn't do any "cries for help", he just did it. Cleanly & quietly with disruption only to his family that lived with him. Yes it's devastated the whole family and I doubt his children will ever escape that image of finding him, but at least there was no outside involvement. Not much of a saving grace, but there you go.