To think a Sun journalist should not have sent me a PM because I'm on a thread?

[Neome]

And to ask you how to flag this up to MNHQ.

"Hello!

Hope you are really well. I am a journalist working on a story for The Sun about people who are stockpiling due to the coronavirus outbreak. I noticed in your comment you are keeping a small stockpile just in case - I wondered if you would mind giving me a little bit more info about what you have decided to stock up on, and how much you have stored?

Best wishes
Ellie"

It's a free country (and, more pertinently, a public forum)

Methinks PP is the journalist!

I hope you asked her if she was ashamed to be writing git such a scaremongering shit rag.

Tell her it’s filled with fucks and you aren’t giving them!

Why not send them back a reply that is total rubbish and all made up, that should be perfect for The Sun.

It’s a polite request with no attempt to hide who she is.

I wouldn’t be helping her write her article, but I wouldn’t think there’s much wrong with the e-mail.

It happens all the time, it's a public forum after all. Who cares. Just ignore it

Just report the PM to MNHQ and they will deal with it.

I'd ignore it. It doesn't seem offensive.

Just ignore it. It’s a public forum, why are you surprised?

The Message facility does make it clear that it's not for journalists or researchers.

I suppose you could argue that someone writing for the Sun is a a journalist though.

Its a PM. I cant get worked up about the.

I once had journalists posting notes through my front door. When that happens you can feel pissed off.

Op are you maybe confused that this is some form of private club and that you’re not posting in front of up to sixteen million people?

She’s been completely up front. You can say now. There is no issue here.

Don't blame the journalist for working for the Sun - most journalists take work wherever they can find it.

At least they were upfront about it, rather than just stealing the story.

I believe that BBC news had a story on that is the same as a thread yesterday (fridge or cupboard for ketchup). It is irritating when media outlets lift items, I agree.

As for your response - well I'm Scouse so that would shut them down straight away!

I don't really see the problem, it's only like stopping you in the street and asking your opinion. You don't have to reply.

I once received a PM as I had started a thread about well known work place (PP were able to kind of guess what it was)

The PM was something a long the lines of ‘could I have some more information as I usually use said organisation. Also, my friend is a journalist and she she’s interested getting in contact with you if I can pass on your contact information?’

I didn’t even bother responding to that kind of sleezy lazy journalism.

Its a polite message. You dont have to respond.

The message facility may well not be for journalists, but realistically they're not going to abide by this rule if they want a story.

I wouldnt get worked up about this tbh.

A journalist contacted my husband after his brother was killed in an accident don't know how they figured out he was related because his db never had Facebook. It went to other messages and wasn't seen for months thank God but I thought that was disgusting .

That’s a perfectly polite request which you can just ignore or say no to , wouldn’t get worked up about it

member984815 that is similar to what happened to me, i am told that they are likely to have looked at birth records

"And to ask you how to flag this up to MNHQ."

@Neome - if you report your OP on this thread, MNHQ will see it.

Just ignore it.

Thank you SoupDragon I thought I'd seen that somewhere.

I agree it's a polite message.

Excellent thought SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius will do that.

I will also do as suggested by sending a polite reply.

Hivemind on the case triumphs as usual, many thanks.

@Member984815 that’s awful and @THATscurryfungeBITCH yes, I was told the same. I had a similar experience when my BF’s sister was murdered. This was back in the late 1980s when there was absolutely no concept of privacy. Journalists ambushing my BF’s poor parents in their driveway, taking pictures through their kitchen window of them sobbing - all done by the Sun. despite the massive intrusion of the shitrags, they were still the most inaccurate in what they wrote. I find it very hard to give them the time of day ever since and I deal with journalists regularly.