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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel excited to be quoted in the media?

78 replies

MarianneVos · 12/10/2022 21:48

I know people quite rightly get annoyed when threads about their personal business get picked up by the tabloids.

However, Facebook just showed me a story taken from a thread here and my comment is one of the ones they've chosen to quote (was the one about buyers bringing a gang of people to a measuring up viewing). I feel like I'm winning at life now!

Although I wish I'd spent a bit more time on my punctuation.

Does everyone hate it when newspapers pick things up from here or does anyone else secretly enjoy it?

OP posts:
MarshaMelrose · 13/10/2022 00:35

MarianneVos · 12/10/2022 21:55

Admittedly I might feel differently if it was me as the OP. But I read the article and thought 'that sounds a bit like what I wrote!' and then checked back and saw it was exactly what I'd written, and it made me feel a bit like I'm an actual famous person.

It's like you're a published author now. We're not worthy! 😁 Congratulations. 🥂🍾

Iwantmyoldnameback · 13/10/2022 00:43

My ambition is to be quoted on the dark side.

DramaAlpaca · 13/10/2022 01:34

I got quoted in the dreaded Daily Fail ages ago, they'd lifted some daft thread. I was half amused and half mortified. I'm more careful about what I post since then.

IlIlI · 13/10/2022 02:07

Can I have your autograph since you're famous now?

PinkyandtheBrainBrainBrainBrainBrain · 13/10/2022 02:10

“Well it’s the last thing you expect to find when you come into work in the morning…”

IYKYK

Poppins2016 · 13/10/2022 02:16

I understand where you're coming from. It's like unexpectedly finding your picture in the paper after attending an event, for example.

However. Personally, I do think it's cheeky. If I wanted to read my words in the media I'd approach the media (not that they'd be bothered 🤣). I choose to post here, in this community and I don't choose/want to end up quoted in the Daily Mail.

On the other hand... anything anyone says and does in the public domain (on or offline) may be witnessed and distributed, so I suppose there's no easy answer...🤷‍♂️

Daysy · 13/10/2022 03:09

I started a ‘media furore’ once about a celebs actions. Once it hit the headlines I got terrified they would sue (they said they would) so I deleted everything! I still quite enjoyed it though, it was fun and they were hugely in the wrong so 😘

AndTwoFilmsByFrancoisTruffaut · 13/10/2022 05:41

I’ve been quoted loads in the daily fail (under different user names). My sister is usually the one to point them out to me, she doesn’t know all my user names but apparently I have a style and she always knows it’s me! The subject matters have all been pretty mundane though. The last one was about wearing shoes indoors. Don’t think I’m going to set the world alight with my opinions on shoes 🤷🏻‍♀️

been and done it. · 13/10/2022 06:13

Its put me off posting to be honest, the thought of something so personal being picked up. I don't think it's ethical.

Sparklingbrook · 13/10/2022 06:27

been and done it. · 13/10/2022 06:13

Its put me off posting to be honest, the thought of something so personal being picked up. I don't think it's ethical.

But MN share the threads on their FB etc they want it to be shared further. I don’t see the problem.

Shitfather · 13/10/2022 06:53

YANBU A thread of mine from the dating forum was picked up by the Daily Mail. It was a bit of a shock to see, but fun!! I couldn’t share it too widely in case friends and family looked up previous posts. It was also in the Independent, and a journo had approached a company related to my issue for comment. I was flattered. But, thankfully, I’m known for more meaningful achievements IRL.

AngelaoftheNorth · 13/10/2022 07:34

Years years back, Liz Jones from the Fail quoted my "heartbreaking comment" and said I'd "made her think".

I'll never ever tell anyone IRL as I don't want anyone I know poking through my posting history, but I was privately all chuffed nevertheless.

Sophie1980 · 13/10/2022 07:36

@MarianneVos I think it's nice it gives a sort of validation. Especially if not a post about something in your professional knowledge.
I had a real lift from getting a letter in The Times.
As long as we don't think we are on our way to a Pullitzer prize.

FivePotatoesHigh · 13/10/2022 07:39

been and done it. · 13/10/2022 06:13

Its put me off posting to be honest, the thought of something so personal being picked up. I don't think it's ethical.

100% this

CrushingAndClueless · 13/10/2022 07:40

I once had a story printed about an actual thread I had wrote and although I panicked a bit when I first saw it, thankfully I had changed enough minor details to make me unidentifiable in real life.

There were about 200 comments underneath the article and a good 90% of them were in support of me so I felt very chuffed 😂😂

Sparklingbrook · 13/10/2022 07:58

i don't see how you can call sharing threads from here unethical. Once it's posted it's there for all the MN millions of users to share, and for the world to see. It's not some quiet corner of the internet read by a handful of people.

OldTinHat · 13/10/2022 07:58

I actually wrote in direct to a certain tabloid to get a story published (very boring really but I was so angry at the time). Said tabloid didn't acknowledge my email but did pick up on my MN post under another username and published that instead a few days later 🙄

Namenic · 13/10/2022 07:58

OP - congrats! I get excited by stuff like this. My starting moment was being on national tv (in a documentary - though I hadn’t realised I was being filmed). I do nothing of note, so unlikely to otherwise make the news…

AllThatAndMore · 13/10/2022 08:02

One of my comments got quoted once and I hated it . It was from a Tiktok video actually . I would hate if a thread I started got picked up by the media .

notputtingtheheatingon · 13/10/2022 08:05

Whenever I see a story pop up that I know I commented on, I check to see if my comment made it in. So no, you're not alone. 😂 I change my username quite regularly though, just in case it does happen,

I do hope the papers would be sensible enough to never print one of the women in danger/DV threads though, as that could potentially put someone's life in danger!!

itsgettingweird · 13/10/2022 08:11

Johnson was asked one if my questions when Justine interviewed him.

I felt I'd made it for a day anyway Grin

Natsku · 13/10/2022 08:13

It would depend what they quoted me on as to whether I'd be happy about being quoted or not. If it was a top quality shoes on/shoes off argument post then yeah, sure, that'd be great.

It is fun seeing yourself/your name in the paper though, so I imagine its the same with seeing your username (I don't think I've ever had a mumsnet post quoted so I don't know that particular fame yet)

B1pbop · 13/10/2022 08:15

Sparklingbrook · 13/10/2022 07:58

i don't see how you can call sharing threads from here unethical. Once it's posted it's there for all the MN millions of users to share, and for the world to see. It's not some quiet corner of the internet read by a handful of people.

I don’t think it quite counts as unethical, but it’s just such bad manners to lift people’s conversations. It’s lazy journalism - the article about my thread in the DM was basically ‘one mother said x and all these mothers responded x’ - it didn’t bring any further insight or research/facts to the the conversation.

We all write and speak with a particular audience in mind all the time, whether it’s at the school gate or at work or with family etc, and we ask questions/censor ourselves accordingly without even thinking about it - that’s just split second decisions we make all the time that dictate what we share and how we word things. If I’d known I was going to be talking to the DM’s audience that’s a whole different kettle of fish to MN’s audience.

In my case the thread was about my child’s grandparents, who are more DM readers than they are MN readers! 😬

hugefanofcheese · 13/10/2022 08:26

One of my BTL guardian comments was quoted in another article! I was chuffed.

Less chuffed when a MN thread was lifted by the DM (another username). In fairness I had posted far too much detail so it was my own fault I felt worried that the man it was about might recognise himself.

Hmm re MN selling stories (well, indicating the juicy ones). It would be a big reputational risk and one that could cost them advertising revenue if it got out and users pulled away. People post a lot of very personal stuff here and it doesn't feel quite as huge and anonymous as Reddit from what I've seen of it, so I think people would be put off. Probably a drop in the ocean compared to advertising revenue too.

If it was anything like that it would more likely be a staff member who had a quiet arrangement with someone at the Fail. Unlikely though, it's easy to know where to look

red4321 · 13/10/2022 08:30

BTL meaning buy to let? Or something else I've not heard of?

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