I have an ebay link on here from my selling days on ebay (I have not sold in a while---will now be removing link). A journalist contacted me through ebay "ask member a question" stating that one of my conversations on here was about vacationing at home and she would like me to contact her to discuss it for an article she is writing. Weird huh? I do not feel comfortable contacting her and will be putting a lot less personal info on here. What do you think?

By Vicki on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - 11:17 am:

That would give me the willies too!! It actually even gives me the creeps as people must just lurk around here seeing what we all talk about..... eewww

By Juli4 on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - 11:40 am:

IT is a public forum not private

By Cocoabutter on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - 12:20 pm:

Actually, I found this site by doing a search for "adoption" and I read quite a bit.

So anyone one the internet anywhere in the world might read what we post here. It's a smaller world now!

The only way out of it would be to pay for membership and we wouldn't be able to view the boards unless we enter our passwords.

By Yjja123 on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - 12:41 pm:

It doesn't bother me so much that they read a thread but why not ask on this forum instead of going into my ebay account to email me. It just bothered me. I had removed my link so it will never happen again.

By Ginny~moderator on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - 01:08 pm:

Yvotte, the reporter probably went to your ebay link because it would be more private than posting on the board.

By Missmudd on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - 02:27 pm:

I would be a little leary too. If you are interested in talking with her, contact the magazine or newspaper that she is supposed to be representing (not by the info that she gave you). See if the reporter is actually a staff member, that might be a good place to start. I might do this even if I wasnt interested in talking, that will let you know at least if the person is legitimate.

By Mommmie on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - 05:31 pm:

If it's privacy you want, don't respond to the "journalist" at all.

By Yjja123 on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - 05:44 pm:

I am not responding to it.

By Wandilu on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - 06:59 pm:

I agree with MissMudd,I would check out all the info,and then if the person is legit,I'd go for it!! I've been wanting to get something published in a magazine for ever.

By Eve on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - 07:41 pm:

Definately don't do anything you don't feel comfortable with. I was contacted by someone from Newsweek who read a post on this board. I did check her out and she was indeed from Newsweek and I got a nice quote in an article about parenting that I can save for my DD. It was later reworked a bit and printed in Readers Digest. I think it's nice that someone wants to know what Mom's have to say.

It's very easy to track down, btw. I also did a search for the journalist that contacted me. She had articles all over the Web for reputable establishments. Also, their email will be from whatever Newspaper they are working for. You should also be able to call them. It's all about your comfort level though. Good luck with whatever you decide.

By Yjja123 on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - 08:04 pm:

I was able to pull up her past articles. She gave me her web site info. I guess it just seemed odd to me how she contacted me. I am sure she is legit. I am not sure I have much info for her on the topic anyway.

By Truestori on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - 08:21 pm:

I was contacted when Eve was and I never responded. LOL

By Kaye on Thursday, September 8, 2005 - 07:59 am:

I don't think we do a good job of realizing just how public this place is. Before I was a regular poster, I just read. One of the things I remember is an old poster talked often about what she did with her kids. Well she was from small town texas, she was selling her house, from things that she said I realized that I not only knew what town she lived in, but could find pictures of her house, pics of her kids were here. Turns out I am a nice person, and didn't stalk her But actually my dad was looking for houses in what happened to be in her town and I think did a walk through. It was just so bizarre. He had no idea, but sent me the link. Anyway, we give out lots of tidbits of info, they aren't too hard to link together. If you are in a small town I think this can be worse than others. The world really can be a scary place!