Member-only story
Help!! Have You Ever Received an Inappropriate Private Note On Medium?
I have received the same note twice now on different pieces of work. The second one highlighted the first paragraph of this short humour article:
The note reads:
Hello, How are you doing, I’m sorry for infringing on your profile. Your posts are all worth reading. I wish we were friends, I live in [REDACTED]
The fact that the words “sexual ecstasy” were highlighted made me a bit uncomfortable. Has this happened to you? Do you think this is an appropriate use of the Private Notes facility?
The world can be lonely for some people, and I don’t like to judge, but given that I am autistic, I sometimes need advice on whether I am being a bit harsh or a Naive Nincompoop.
The first time I received this response, I deleted the note and hoped the writer would get the message.
This time I have responded thus:
![A screenshot of the private note that reads:Hello, How are you doing, I’m sorry for infringing on your profile. Your posts are all worth reading. I wish we were friends, I live in [Redacted] Henry this is inappropriate behaviour for Medium. The best way to make friends is to read people’s work and then comment openly ON THE WRITING in the comment/response column. Relationships here tend to build slowly over time between writers who are commenting on each other’s work.](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/format:webp/1*4m87qRehcwVSSu6hLWBPIg.png)
Do you think my response was OK? How would you have responded? Can you head over to the response column and let me know?
Thank you, Annie
UPDATE 15/11/22: I heard that 14 others had received the same message. Some reported him and his profile has now been taken down. The Private Messages he sent have disappeared. Phew!
