We will not be reinstating the thread as it was really unpleasant from all sides and we don't think anyone came out of it in a good light by the end.
I read and posted on that thread until shortly before its deletion, and I don't recognise that version of events. There were a few individual posts by Mn members that merited deletion for breaking talk guidelines, but that in no way characterised the thread as a whole - which was robust, sarcastic and challenging, as was entirely merited by the 'media request' of the OP - and you seem to be equating legitimate responses to a witlessly reactionary media request with the discourse of that kind of misogynistic tabloid carried onto your forum by a unprepared, unprofessional, rude (and possibly deliberately goady) hack, who is now publicly trashing your forum.
While we can totally see your point, we also think that the OP was misguided by posting in the first place.
This sentence doesn't make any sense to me. 'Our point', insofar as there was any consensus, was precisely that the journalist was 'misguided', although that's a rather generous interpretation of her request and subsequent attitude, on and off Mn. I'm not sure what concession you think you are making here.
I'm honestly puzzled as to why Mn, which I have generally seen as a force for good in that it offers actual women - including the vulnerable and isolated who are here in large numbers - a safe private/public place to express real views and ask for and offer advice, in fact, as often political in a very real sense. In offering that opportunity, it is pretty much the opposite of the kinds of publication the 'media requester' writes for, which traffic in body fascism, prurience and vacuous stereotypes.
It is a sad day when MNHQ seems to be prepared to let that kind of discourse take priority over the views of its own members. I can't see what grounds that journalist would have had for any legal case, so I am honestly puzzled as to why MNHQ's response has been so ill-considered, belated and toothless.
The journalist in question is completely unimportant in herself, of course - and I'm sure will return to peddling her stories about push presents, other women's fatness, and aggressive Chihuahuas - but she is significant as a symbol of every outlet that promulgates an appallingly reactionary and damaging view of women.
And if you can't see that, MNHQ, there's something gone very wrong at MN Towers.