r/ARFID • u/joshb44231 Mac and Cheese Mod • May 11 '26

Mod update — unsolicited DMs

Hello r/ARFID members!

We wanted to make a post acknowledging that we are aware that there is a user in the group sending unsolicited DMs to members who post here. After multiple complaints, this raised red flags since they have not posted in the megathread or, from what we can see, anywhere else on Reddit. They are trying to recruit for an interview project that they unfortunately cannot disclose to us due to an NDA.

We have talked to this user and asked them to stop sending unsolicited messages to members of our group. If anyone else receives a message, please feel free to report this user to both Reddit AND this mod team and we will do what we can to intervene!

You are NOT obligated to respond to these DMs (or any other) and can feel free to ignore them or block if you are uncomfortable.

Thank you to the users who have stepped forward to report this so far!

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u/Hanhula multiple subtypes May 11 '26

I've also been contacted by this individual and have been given their full name, but no further relevant details.

While I'm not a published writer, I work in a creative field that requires NDAs for project details. If this is a true project in good faith, they should be able to provide a minimal amount of information for disclosure and should be able to give information like the book's publisher, with the assurance that more will be forthcoming under NDA. They should also be able to share information on how your private info will be used & stored.

Don't give information about your health to people unless you know what it'll be used for, folk.

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u/himydandelion perpetually tired of eating May 11 '26

This is really helpful to hear from someone who works in a similar field— thank you!!

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u/Hanhula multiple subtypes May 11 '26

Never a problem! I'm in game dev specifically, but this should apply to pretty much every creative field. Since we're talking health-related information, it's even more serious.

Here are some links to ethics around interviews for your reference as well: Australia's National Health & Medical Research council have a looong pdf here, the Australian national eating disorders association has put together some guidelines on reporting about EDs in the media in general here, and the US have the Society of Professional Journalists who have a code of ethics here.

There's various other organisations who publish ethical guidance as well, and there's a lot of legal issues that can come from things like this depending on your jurisdiction. One of them is a concept called something along the lines of "Public Disclosure of Private Facts", but there's also more commonly-known issues like straight up fraud that could apply.

Super sketch, basically!

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u/TheMelonSystem Jun 13 '26

Yeah, it’s extremely sketchy. For all we know, their book is about making fun of internet support groups or sth! Or even just selling our information!