to think that not for profit media requests could be free?

[DitaVonCheese]

I'm feeling miffed. Posted a couple of days ago asking for contributions to an article I was planning for the local branch newsletter of a well-known parenting charity. Today I was told that it was a media request, so has been deleted and I need to make a £30 donation if I want to resubmit it. I put the newsletter together as a volunteer and it doesn't have a budget, beyond finding the cheapest possible printing, so £30 isn't really feasible.

I appreciate that a blanket policy is probably easiest for MNHQ but surely there's some scope for not-for-profit requests?

Yes this is dull, sorry. Now trying to think of something judgey I can add on the end to get some traffic ...

The problem is where do you draw the line? And (not saying this about you) how are HQ to know if it for a genuine charity?

I think the admin involved in checking out every request to see if it's genuine (and the hassle when people complain if they are judged to need to pay) would probably outweigh the goodwill they got from the people who were allowed to advertise for free.

Hi there,

We're going to move this thread to Site Stuff now as it's a better fit.

Sorry if we misunderstood you DitaVonCheese

As you say, your article is for a charity, and therefore you are most welcome to post on our Charities Noticeboard (we'll drop you a line very soon).

Thanks.

Thanks Sandy.

Thanks for the responses also - I do get your point but the whole thing operates on trust anyway, surely? If I wanted to be underhand about it, I could just not mention writing an article at all, or just search for old threads about the subject and change some of the details.

PS I'm still feeling a bit sad that no one replied on the thread, just reported me. I know I'm probably being oversensitive but it feels as though people have been bitching behind my back and I've just been left feeling a bit crap about the whole thing. Plus it would have given me a chance to reply and point out that it was for a charity newsletter (I did mention that in my OP but obviously didn't highlight it enough).

Isn't it a bit of a MN joke that The Wright Stuff (or some other similar TV programme) gets all of their "talking points" from Mumsnet?

Since your thread was deleted I can't comment on it at all, I was just speaking in general about media requests.

Ha yes, I think so. I am not from The Wright Stuff!

@DitaVonCheese

PS I'm still feeling a bit sad that no one replied on the thread, just reported me. I know I'm probably being oversensitive but it feels as though people have been bitching behind my back and I've just been left feeling a bit crap about the whole thing. Plus it would have given me a chance to reply and point out that it was for a charity newsletter (I did mention that in my OP but obviously didn't highlight it enough).

Hiya, please don't feel sad about this. We're sure there was no bitching involved at all. And we do ask everyone to keep an eye out for this sort of thing, as we know that this sort of thing can irk folk.
Thanks
MNHQ

Thanks. I do get that people weren't actually bitching about me, it just feels like they were running to the teacher behind my back. Anyway - long day.