Freecycle (Merged Thread)

ladypinkof66

Our local freecycle sites have now posted that they will only allow 2 wanted posts per month due to people abusing it.
I am somewhat shocked that they are still allowing a poster to request wanted ads daily - i reported in a previous post how the poster had literally requested (and probably received items to kit our his whole house) posting several wanted posts daily - he went quiet for a few days (probably about 3) and now today has apologised for posting so many wanted ads and has requested at least 6 items - I am really getting peeved with these people wanting to pay nowt for everything.
We all have to work and earn our money to pay for our own things - now dont get me wrong there are some people out there who could really do with the help but judging by some of the things he is requesting they are simply not essentials in every day life they are in fact luxuries - anyone else on here getting blue in the face with the bare faced cheek of these people.
Needless to say when this man has requesting some of my items - i rudely ignore their request.
Would welcome your thoughts or comments - am i being too harsh ?

grannybiker

Does he ever offer items? (You can search through his user name.) It could be that he's a compulsive changer and offers some items back through the site... OK, enough of trying to always see the good in folk, yes, he's a !!!!!!!!!! and you're not being too harsh!
Why is he still being allowed to do it? You say the rules have recently restricted "Wants," so they shouldn't be getting through. As I understand it, if you break the rules, you go back on moderation, where your posts have to be approved first, rather than going straight onto the site. If you continue to break them, you're out. Or am I mistaken reading the policy?
Would be tempted to report to moderators or post a rather facetious / exaggarated "Want" in his style, but would no doubt end up in trouble myself!

gjchester

molley wrote: »

I am convinced that sometimes Mods tell their friends about items on offer before releasing the ad to the wider membership and then the friend gets the opportunity to fire off an e-mail asking for the item(s) before anyone else ..or am I being too cynical :-)

Once you go unmoderated then mods get the email no faster than anyone else. I'm a moderator and I fail to get breadmakers on many occasions! Personally if there is a moderated post that has something I want, I release the post before I make an offer. Not ideal as I have prior knowledge but the best I can do, if I leave it too long I know I'll miss the item. Moderators are not supposed to moderate people once they have proved they are not spammers, I don't have time to moderate every post in my group. Als remember as many people read email latest first being the first to reply may not be the best policy.

With regard to wanted being excessive, I know and I try and stop people they get a gentle warning then go back to being moderated, and they have to prove they can be trusted again. If they keep ignoring me they get a 2nd warning on rejected post then get everything rejected or set to not be allowed to post or removed from the group.

Bear in mind moderators do not get paid, don't get too mad at them as they could just give it up and delete the group.

grannybiker

BTW, didn't think "!!!!!!!!!!," was offensive. Why has my post come up with lots of !s?
The 1st 4 letters are the same as the 1st 4 letters of the group this thread's about. The last 7 letters referred to the name we give to people who load.

ladypinkof66

He has occasionally offered the odd thing nothing too exciting though - i would say he has offered about 1 item to every 15 he has requested as wanted ads.

Too be honest i have just done what you have said and posted an add for a non fiction item i do not have to see if i get a response - i know that is naughty but he really needs to know everything dont come for free - judging by the way he words his ads and the times they go on the site i would imagine he sits at the computer all day posting wanted ads - we dont really know how successful he has been in replying to offer items he may well be picking up items left, right and centre, i would just love to see his house i bet it is cluttered with everything and anything.

gjchester

pigpen wrote: »

judder.. I hate those emails too.. I don't even grace them with a reply I just bin them!

Anyway.. I have an issue..

Our local group has been on the go for about 2-2.5 years or so.. I was the 18th member.. so obviously have been there a good while.. at the beginning of this month and email.. not from a yahoo address.. was circulated (apparently because you can only send a certain number of emails from your yahoo account each day) In this email the modertaors requested details of a) your location (fair enough that is in your posts anyway) and b) your postcode.. now.. I have an issue here.

1. How does this stand in terms of data protection? It will not be saved on a secure computer just a home pc.. or 4
2. Is this national freecycle policy or just ours being nosey? The national site says nothing of this nature is required
3. who is to check up you have given a correct postcode? The how just scares me!
4. How exactly would it deter anyone? Other than if it were a bot joining obviously the info wouldn't get back so wouldn't be approved

This information is meant to deter spammers from joining the site.. erm.. how??
Also it is to be shared amongst the moderators.. who we don't know from Adam (whoever he is?!) They could have convictions for violence, sex offences... anything.. we don't know yet we are expected to give our details from which they can trace our home addresses and possibly gain access to our children and homes and us.. and I am totally not happy with this.

Is this me being over sensitive to such issues or would others not be very happy either?

Postcodes can trace you to a few houses, not your exact address. I'm not sure it's even subject to the DPA as it's not personally identifiable information, its a username / email address and a postcode, unless they go to that area and ask for everyones user ID it's not that traceable.

Usually it's just to check your in the right area. Some groups have strict boundries if your outside them you will not be allowed to join. If I did it I'd feed it into Streetmap and take it from there. The link between location and postcode is probably to help weed out spammers / lurkers who just guess a postcode, in order to leach email address's

I doubt they get kept for long afterwards, unless there is a check, my group was the first in the area so I have a lot of people who should be on other groups but have never moved as my group is bigger than the nearby ones.

At the end of the day if your not happy tell your moderator, they may have some other reason, however if you still don't agree you can leave, the rules are set by the moderator. I don't impose a postcode check, but if someones too far out of my area they will be removed.

Morty_007

Well ALL the posters on our site are moderated....allegedly. Our list owner said ths was the way it HAD to be.

I am boycotting at the moment!

gjchester

Morty_007 wrote: »

Well ALL the posters on our site are moderated....allegedly. Our list owner said ths was the way it HAD to be.

I am boycotting at the moment!

Nope thats wrong.

See http://www.freecycle.org/faq/manual/mod_dos#dontfully

Thats the Mod manual we agree to follow, You don't say exactly where you are but see http://www.freecycle.org/faq/manual/contact for details of the GOA to contact to pass your complaint along.

The only exception where it may apply is when there are a lot of problems in the group, say abusive emails / bullying of someone, large amounts of spam etc, that can be a reason to fully moderate but it should only be until the problem has passed.

Trust me on a group of over three thousand mbember I don't have time to moderate every post if I want to keep my daytime job...

blackwidowz

Do you think it's a good idea to put the name of the member in your taken message?
We get people asking for multiple items and loads of sob stories as to why they need it, if names were included in taken etc messages they would show up when searched for and you could get a better idea as to who to give your item to.

molley

gjchester wrote: »

Once you go unmoderated then mods get the email no faster than anyone else. I'm a moderator and I fail to get breadmakers on many occasions! Personally if there is a moderated post that has something I want, I release the post before I make an offer. Not ideal as I have prior knowledge but the best I can do, if I leave it too long I know I'll miss the item. Moderators are not supposed to moderate people once they have proved they are not spammers, I don't have time to moderate every post in my group. Als remember as many people read email latest first being the first to reply may not be the best policy.

With regard to wanted being excessive, I know and I try and stop people they get a gentle warning then go back to being moderated, and they have to prove they can be trusted again. If they keep ignoring me they get a 2nd warning on rejected post then get everything rejected or set to not be allowed to post or removed from the group.

Bear in mind moderators do not get paid, don't get too mad at them as they could just give it up and delete the group.

The Group I know of ,Glasgow,Is completely moderated,Offers,Wants and Pictures in folders