system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: It is cruel and selfish to ghost people that you no longer want in your life

This is a sweeping statement, and in my mind applies to any kind of interpersonal relationship: familial, romantic, friendly. I want to clarify a few common counterpoints.

1. This viewpoint does not apply in relationships that were abusive.
2. I define "ghosting" as suddenly ceasing all communication without *sufficient* prior warning or explanation. Sufficient depends on the quality, duration, and commitment of the given relationship.
3. EDIT: I'm adding the clarifying term of "dangerous or blatantly one-sided and toxic relationships." This includes relationships where one person has shown strong indicators that they could be violent, are pushing drugs or other unhealthy behaviors, or might otherwise endanger the person doing the ghosting should they choose to allow any kind of communication. This *basically* falls under "abusive" in my mind, but is technically different. 

In the vast majority of "breakups" between friends or partners, there isn't usually a "bad" person and a "good" person. Framing things in this way usually only serves to mitigate the pain of having to separate from the other person, and justifies cruel behavior. I've heard many peers and friends say things like "just ghost him" or "just stop talking to her" or, most infuriating, "he's just toxic and you need to get him out of your life" referring to a person who is just behaving in a perfectly normal way, simply not adhering to that specific person's wants or expectations. Even if someone has cheated or done some comparably "unforgivable" act, there is still an obligation to do right by your partner even if you've been hurt.

Now, there may be some argument about what "sufficient" means. In my mind, it is almost NEVER appropriate to simply say "I don't want to talk to you anymore" and then never do it again. Unless you've only met this person once or twice, you owe them the decency to explain what's going on. Being ghosted like that can severely impact your mental health and self-image, even with people that you were only casually friends with. With romantic partners, having a coffee to tie things up, sending a few emails back and forth explaining what went wrong, or meeting a few weeks later to have a post-mortem are basic things that I would expect a significant other to be able to do under normal circumstances.

Basically, I feel that people have an obligation to one another to treat their personal relationships with value and delicacy, and there are very few situations where simply disappearing from someone's life is fair to them.
gpt
In some instances, the person being ghosted is narcissistic; no amount of words will work, and things can elevate further which could endanger the ghoster. There doesn't need to be actual abuse for this to happen, but it can become violent. 

A couple meets up on a dating app, and during the dating process one of them is throwing major red flags that makes the other proceed with caution; think like a person that gives off that 'won't take no for an answer', or anger issues; these situations could elevate if the ghoster were to 'officially' close the relationship.


tl;dr some people can't handle rejection, and it can become a safety issue for the person doing the rejecting.