I agree with Freddy and Stu. I think there is a time and a place to fish for info about those who fail to finish their PhDs and this is NOT it. Writing-up, beginning and researching a PhD is hard enough at the best of times without somebody actively seeking out those people who have had to make the AGONISING decision to quit. I suggest you draw on your own miserable experiences and take it from there. With all you deep thoughts on the subject you must have enough for a thesis! Cheers all! Apologies to regular posters.
I don't like journalists either for the reasons you state. You can take a positive or negative perspective. Most of you see this in negative terms. As I said before, learning about the experiences of others can make you feel a)less alone b)less of a failure c)aid your decision whether to plug away or not. I take the point that this is not the place to ask, so point taken and lesson learnt.
Apologies if I have annoyed any of you, this was not the intention.
Just to add my own point of view to this. It is an extremely brave thing to decide to quit, and in some cases it is the best thing to do. If I had the sense to quit earlier it would have saved me a lot of problems. Quitting is not necessarily a 'failure' Stu - there are positive sides to everything.
I see your point Millavi, and I can appreciate your intentions. Perhaps you should just leave an email address, and those that wish to contact you will.
Promise, this is my last post on this: I left my email on my very first post.
I certainly did not intend, nor expect, to get into a big discussion about this, but I was asked to explain myself and wanted to make clear my intentions.