Freecycle and related sites comments

elaine373

I am very grateful for free-cycle and have received goods i would have struggled to buy. I have also got alot of satisfaction giving back items to members. Long may it run.

mumoftwo

Shamish wrote:

Also my other local freecycle in Arbroath moderate all post's so it can somtimes take 1-2 days before a post appears and by the time it's up it's gone because everyone on Dundee has asked for it. Some people like to run freecycle as if it's a shop they own and youre the staff never replying to your e-mails etc. the Dundee freecycle was like that for a while but thankfully he moved on.


Shamish

Shamish, I am new to this site and I am reading lots and came upon this post from you. I am in Dundee. I am thinking about freecycle but am a bit wary. Have you any experience with the Dundee group? Any tips greatly welcomed. Thanks a lot

Lurleene

Spiddy - that must be the Bournemouth site, I came on this thread to write about the exact same person! Glad to see I wasn't the only one thinking that either a) she was taking the p*** or b) she didn't quite get the whole concept

judderman62

Couldn't agree more - it's gotten absolutely ridiculous round my neck of the woods - North Greater Manchester - however I blame the moderators to quite an extent. Freecycle has rules and the moderators round here just do not enforce them - hardly a wonder people take the p*ss - oh and they do big style around here.

examples:

1) There is a rule that only 2 wanted posts by any member within a month - recently on one of my local groups a poster posted FOUR wanted posts within 2 MINUTES :eek:

2) Wanted posts should not have words like urgently needed, desperately neede, needed quickly etc - yet these are now so regular that they are almost the norm.

3) as you have stated there seems quite a few posts asking for white goods


To my understanding the main idea of it is to keep stuff out of landfill (it is mainly a green movement) and secondary is that people with little income, the elderly; students ; low paid etc, can get some stuff for no outlay.

My view on my local groups is that it has become a place filled with freeloaders looking for freebies, who could quite frankly very comfortably afford the items they are getting asking for.

I recently gifted an item and the person collecting arrived in a fairly decent car (didn't look more than a couple of years old at most) and when I was going to give my directions I was told that's OK I'll find it with my sat nav !!


Must admit I too am somewhat disillusioned with it all and feel the moderators should step in more often.

alyth wrote:

I have to be honest and say that I am totally sick of freeycle! i recently moved out of a 35 roomed house and had absolutely tons of stuff that I put on freecycle - no rubbish, microwaves, beds, wardrobes, bedding, you name it and I had it! (the house was a former hospital and we inherited all this stuff!) it took me hours and hours to deal with it - people not showing up, people turning up and declining the goods (absolutely their perogative of course, didn't mind that) and my local freecycle is turning into sheer greed - people posting for white goods, one message tonight was someone wanted an electric heater for their mother's newly built conservatory - their words! I feel it's turning into people just wanting free stuff and not willing to pay for it. I have an old PC that I'd like to give to someone, not for money but someone who's in need of one, and I'm loath to freecycle it as I suspect that it will be sold on, which isn't the ethos of freecycle. I also had to bring loads of furniture from the old place to the new one and it's all sitting in a garage and I don't know what on earth to do with it! So freecycle for me is out I'm afraid!

judderman62

I have occasionally been tempted, out of devilment, to post something along following lines:

WANTED: Aston Martin DB9 , must be no more than 18 months old and Taxed for no less than 9 months.

Delivery would be appreciated.


god I've been so tempted at times :whistle:

angelatgraceland

judderman62 wrote:

To my understanding the main idea of it is to keep stuff out of landfill (it is mainly a green movement) and secondary is that people with little income, the elderly; students ; low paid etc, can get some stuff for no outlay.

My view on my local groups is that it has become a place filled with freeloaders looking for freebies, who could quite frankly very comfortably afford the items they are getting asking for.

I recently gifted an item and the person collecting arrived in a fairly decent car (didn't look more than a couple of years old at most) and when I was going to give my directions I was told that's OK I'll find it with my sat nav !!


Must admit I too am somewhat disillusioned with it all and feel the moderators should step in more often.

Realy the WHOLE idea is concerned around landfill. The other points you make concerning income etc are made purely by the giver and are not within the rules of Freecycle. It is entirely up to the giver to decide if he/she has any special requirements from the taker but the whole concept is "no strings attached". This means that whether the taker is rich or poor should make no difference. Personally I prefer to give to someone who shows need rather than greed but it is only a personal prefrence. I run a local Freecycle group and yes, I do have a new car(we worked hard for it) and ooh yes I did treat myself to a sat nav for Xmas(my only present to either of us this year) which I bought to navigate to hospitals where my husband has needd operations and treatments. Does this realy mean that I shouldnt ask for anything from fellow members and that I should add to the consumerism by buying things which would otherwise go to landfill? I think not. All that I look for within my group , as a mod, is that most members give and receive. All take no give is not a good balance. however, it is just as important for people to want things as it is for people to offer things-how often have you heard from a friend that they wanted something and thought or said "if only I'd known , I've got one of those unused in the attic" etc. If people wish to sell the items on, they are supposed to state that on their want post. Please remember that all of the mods are doing this voluntarily-it is not their main job. Unfortunately there will always be the odd powerfreak but it is not the norm. My group I like to think-belongs to the members-I do not like to claim ownership of it-it is not a commodity.

squeaky

judderman62 wrote:

Couldn't agree more - it's gotten absolutely ridiculous round my neck of the woods - North Greater Manchester - however I blame the moderators to quite an extent. Freecycle has rules and the moderators round here just do not enforce them - hardly a wonder people take the p*ss - oh and they do big style around here.

examples:

1) There is a rule that only 2 wanted posts by any member within a month - recently on one of my local groups a poster posted FOUR wanted posts within 2 MINUTES :eek:

Etc...


OK, a good one to explain here.

In most groups. once a new member has made a correctly formatted post they are taken off moderation.

This then means that their posts go directly to the message list. Moderators don't see them first - they only see them when you do.

Not only do they show on the message list but yahoo sends them straight out to everyone who is on individual emails, and also includes them in the daily digest.

So what happens next depends on the moderator's approach.

If the "rules infringement" is considered to be minor the member will be sent a private message pointing out the fault and requested not to do it again.

(Some groups will place that member back on moderation for a while to make sure that they get the point)

If the infringement is considered serious the post in the message list will be deleted. BUT - it will still have ALREADY gone out in individual emails AND still be included in the next daily digest; and there's nothing the mods can do about these - it's all automated yahoo stuff.

As for time before any visible action, as I said before some groups work quietly behind the scenes. Others have people like me who can access their group on and off throughout the day. Others are at work all day and only get the chance to check their groups in the evening. So there's no set pattern, every group is a little different.


Edit: I should also have said that we cannot edit posts once they have hit the message list. We can only either delete them or leave them.

spiddy100

Lurleene wrote:

Spiddy - that must be the Bournemouth site, I came on this thread to write about the exact same person! Glad to see I wasn't the only one thinking that either a) she was taking the p*** or b) she didn't quite get the whole concept

Yes it is :laugh: I am guessing she didn't actually want the flat for free (?!) so perhaps she's not quite worked out what it's all about.

squeaky

Shamish wrote:

Also my other local freecycle in Arbroath moderate all post's so it can somtimes take 1-2 days before a post appears and by the time it's up it's gone because everyone on Dundee has asked for it.

Hiya,

Is this all your posts, or all of everybody's posts?

IF it is everybody's posts then you might gently point out to them that the rule (not guideline - but rule) in the moderator's guide says that no group should be on permanent full moderation.

Note the words gently and permanent

There are good reasons sometimes for placing an entire group back on full moderation - such as a "bunfight" or more usually, a very high percentage of posters who are consistently not formatting posts correctly and/or breaking other rules such as offering swaps/barter/money and so on.

So perhaps your post to the group owner (not to the message list) should be phrased more as a query from a seeker after knowledge

You can find the address for your group owner listed at the bottom of your group's home page. It's also normally included in the etiquette file that you received on joining and, usually, repeated once a month.

HTH

jos22

Just unsubscibed from my local Freecycle.

Got fed up having to fully open emails to find out what people offered or what had been taken or what area - just to find out I was not interested or I could not help.

Then there are the people who want you to supply all the equipment for their kitchen - even dishwashers. Soon the will be specifying manufacturers.

Yes the moderators do a worthwhile job but unless greater moderation is imposed I feel the idea will fail or turn into an email carboot.

Then to top it all on Friday the system failed delaying emails. The result, Saturday, Sunday and Monday I was then having to scoll through my inbox to find emails 2-3 days old just received.