Freecycle

morty1963

Hi all just a quick note about freecycle for the few out there that dont use this great idea

Certain areas Freecycle is changing its name. We are joining Freegle, a new reuse association based in Great Britain, organised by people living in Great Britain.
ilovefreegle. org

I will try to answer a few queries you may have about it here – email me with more and any feedback

Q. Are the moderators allowed to do this?
A. Yes, definitely. We're not taking the membership anywhere, or doing anything untoward with the list – we're just renaming – a bit like banks and insurance companies do from time to time. This is totally within the Terms of Service of Yahoo.

Q. What has changed for members?
A. Very little. The guidelines are basically the same. The same moderators are running it, although our email addresses will change to match the group name change.

Q. Why have the moderators renamed the group?
A. Although Freecycle is a GREAT idea, all our UK groups were forced to work under a system devised in and for the United States. An increasing number of Group Owners and Moderators have been SUMMARILY DISMISSED from Freecycle including the former UK Director of Freecycle UK, simply for asking for change – and sometimes dismissed with no reasons given. Their groups were taken over by Freecycle, taken off Yahoo and run by strangers. It became impossible to work – and remember – we work for free – under these conditions. So we decided to go our own way, and launched Freegle.
For more depth to the story, read
http://www.guardian .co.uk/environme nt/green- living-blog/ 2009/sep/ 10/uk-freecycle- us-network

Q. Why didn't you ask the members first?
A. We were not allowed to. Any group owner who tried to run a poll had their group delisted and deleted.

Q. How many groups have moved?
A. Since the launch of Freegle on Friday, 25% of groups in Great Britain have moved to Freegle, with over HALF a MILLION members. We have also been joined by a few independent Reuse groups, including some from Ireland

.Many of you have met us moderators over various Freecycle transactions, and I hope you realise that we have the best interests of reuse and the community at heart.

prowla

I've moved across - no worries; the internal shenannigans weren't particularly visible to me and the changeover was pretty straightforward.

I do hope though that the new service doesn't start trying to reinvent itself or enhance the service from getting people who want to give things away in contact with people who want them.

morty1963

i so agree with you, the recent restrictions to our local freecycle had me reading the rules every time i posted to insure i was with in the rules lol
it should be simple in that A wants to get rid of something B wants the samething A is getting rid of they meet the chat the get what they want end of,,,, is that to simple

Daffykjs

So will freecycle cease to exist? Will i be told by my local group, or is that not allowed either?

MiniLaura

how do we contact you if no email or pm available?!

MiniLaura

Daffykjs wrote: »

So will freecycle cease to exist? Will i be told by my local group, or is that not allowed either?

This change is not universal - groups moving over should be in a minority.

You should be informed by your moderators if changes are made and I you can decide whether to be part of new group or not.

mike_paterson

Daffykjs wrote: »

So will freecycle cease to exist? Will i be told by my local group, or is that not allowed either?

Despite misinformation from Freegle, most groups are still Freecycle groups.

If your group has changed name, you will have received an email telling you so. Nothing else will really have changed. The group is likely to still be run by the same people in the same way doing the same thing.

It is a political spat that is all.

JoolzS

I always loved the idea of freecycle (and the name) and I've passed the idea on to lots of other people. If some people want to change it then I'll just take my stuff to the dump. I can't be bothered with a name change - if some other group feels the need to take over then I can't be bothered with them. "freegle" is so meaningless.

I think I'll just take all my stuff to the dump until you sort yourselves out.

Julie

brokemedic

I became quite disillusioned with freecycle ages ago and stopped using them. It was always the same people replying and turning up, again and again - sometimes using different e-mail addresses.

I always take my items to a charity shop now.

DawnW

brokemedic wrote: »

I became quite disillusioned with freecycle ages ago and stopped using them. It was always the same people replying and turning up, again and again - sometimes using different e-mail addresses.

I always take my items to a charity shop now.

I still use our group, but only to get rid of things that really would go to the dump, like a dead lawnmower.

I am a bit disillusioned because our emails always contain messages asking for really expensive things like rotovators and laptops.

I still think it is a good idea though!

brokemedic

In principle, I think it's a great idea but I think it's been hijacked along the way by a few people who can make some money from it. I was moving home so I was having a huge declutter and the same people were turning up again and again - I got the impression the stuff was going to be at the local car-boot at the weekend.

It's a shame really as I live near a uni so would have loved my items to go to people who really deserved them or couldn't afford to buy them.

What's a rotovator??