Talk:Threat

Semantics

Learned something odd. For a threat to be such, it may have to be immediate and specific. A statement like "I'm outside the door and you're gunna die" for example might not be a legal threat as it technically consists on its face of two true statements: a route to or from someplace, even an unknown location, may well include passing through a door at some point, and a party thus addressed will, like every other human, eventually die. OTOH, a message like "I'm coming to your house and I'm gunna kill you" meets both conditions. knoodelhed (talk) 06:01, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Websters defines a threat as communicated or expressed. If I barged into to your apartment and shot you without prior warning, it would not be a "threat". If I said before hand that I was going to kill you sometime in the future, it would not be immediate or specific. --71.10.146.139 (talk) 01:56, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

this stuff aint true any body can post some stuff on this web page so it would be better if someone would put true stuff on these web page because i need some information about a lot of stuff and every thing on the internet isnt true —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.250.84.172 (talk) 21:38, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Well, I recently got into a fight yesterday and got suspended. I didn't touch this kid at all, he's 15 i'm 18. He bullies my little brother (typical bully i guess, always has friends around to jump if he's losing.) but today i received a text stating "Show up at madison at 4 or your little brother will be dealt with." I really can't do anything cause I will be charged with "assaulting a minor." My question is, what can happen to the party that "threatened" me and my little brother with this text? Is it an arguable case in court? Cause i'm the only one with minor damage done to my head(he dug his nails into my skin and punched me in the eye.) But i can't hit him because he is a minor. Please help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.88.158.138 (talk) 21:22, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Crisis

Seeger has defined what is a crisis and has added as descriptor that in a crisis goals should be threatened of either an individual or organization. So I'd say organizations could also be threatened and not just only people. Don't know enough on this subject as I'm now studying dioxin crises, so perhaps somebody else could pick it up and better define what a threat is. See for Seeger: Seeger, S. &. U., 1998. Communication, organization, and crisis. Communication Yearbook, Volume 21, p. 231–275 written by:ansjovis86 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ansjovis86 (talk • contribs) 14:58, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

WikiProject Risk

Please see WikiProject Risk to potentially coordinate with other editors on this topic. Tule-hog (talk) 19:13, 18 August 2024 (UTC)

Definition of threat

I'd like to open a discussion on the definition of threat, if appropriate, as a precursor to potential future edits. The leading sentence reads "A threat is a communication of intent to inflict harm or loss on another person". While entirely accurate (given the source) I believe it may cause some to believe that a threat requires intent which is not the case.

Both in legal and psychological contexts, a threat does not necessarily require intent. In legal contexts, a threat merely needs to be implied in a way that a reasonable person needs to fear for their safety. In psychological contexts, a threat is often defined by its impact rather than intent.

Please let me know if these are reasonable discussion points as I believe it will improve the quality of the article. I will be happy to investigate source material to strengthen these assertions if others feel these are worthy points to pursue. Wikitekt (talk) 02:04, 12 April 2025 (UTC)

I agree we need to open threat definition. Some people use threats as a way for influence. Others want to express that they want to harm others. Others want them to think they will harm them but not actually want to harm them. ~2026-91983-7 (talk) 03:47, 11 February 2026 (UTC)