Freecycle and related sites comments

angelatgraceland

That is why it is so important that the posts are set out correctly and that moderators check them-it is indeed frustrating to read all of the posts in full to find out what is being offered etc. This is one of the rules that members thing we are rather fussy about-just as we expect the area to be mentioned in the subject line. No point in enquiring about something which is too far away. Ive had to pull up a few people on this recently, but its a balance between being too strict and puttingmembers off posting and too sloppy and annoying members like yourself for the reasons you have mentioned.
Freecycle will not fail in itself it realy is too good for that-but it may fail in certain areas and mods also have all of these problems to deal with, which in a large city can be very time-consuming.
As far as the system failure goes that sounds like a Yahoo groups problem and not one of your local Freecycle group. There are always a few people out there who take advantage of things but with a watchful eye it is possible to spot some of them. I would still prefer to even give to those people than to see something usable go to landfill.

Uniscots97

My local freecycle is getting worse. Email this morning stating the sob story (1 adult, 1 child), new accomodation and need everything. The person then went onto list everything in details they'd like. I couldn't believe it when i read dining table plus 6 chairs....hang on there's only two of you........why do you need 6 chairs? It went on to describe carpets, curtains what they would prefer! Unfortunately some people seem to abuse freecycle and the genuine ones miss out.

vivw_2

I can't praise it enough. I had a box of various items...plates, phone, book, picture, candle stick and I put it on my local freecycle this morning and it will be collected tomorrow. All those items are saved from a landfill site...yes they may appear at someones car boot sale but then I would never have got rid of them to different individuals [ traveling too far for small items rather defeats the object] and they aren't filling my bin!

Penny-Pincher!!

I love Freecycle:D So far we have contributed [STRIKE]got rid of[/STRIKE] an oven , gas hob, bag of coat hangers, kids bike, baby stuff, old bedding, bag of clothes, lawn mower and some computer stuff.

TBH, I havent got anything yet, but hav constant emails but will post and ask if theres anything we need.

PP
xx

shell2001

I have had 3 items today that before finding out about freecycle I would have had to pay someone to take to the tip. Over the last few months I have got rid of highchair, 3 in 1 travel system, toys, hamster cage, bunkbed frame, baby gym, 200+ plastic play balls and a bike, oh and tv/video combi (video broken) which is being collected tomorrow.

I really like the idea of helping someone else out and things going on to live another life (if you like). I think our freecycle is brilliant. I would rather people did not sell things on but then to be honest otherwise I would have had to pay £££ to get rid of the stuff and it would have gone to landfill. At least this way my purse remains closed and someone else benefits - win win in my opinion.

Kizzy001

Freecycle been really good to me, I’ve recently bought a house and with house prices as there are…

Well a very nice freecycler gave me a brand new shower door for our new bathroom; that really helped, I was so grateful

And someone gave me a heat lamp for my mum who has arthritis, that has helped my mum loads.

As I used to live in rented accommodation I don’t own much stuff, what I found off putting was that I couldn’t post a “wanted” add until I’d offered something. I can understand why they do this, but I honestly did not have anything to give away which I absolute didn’t need. In the end I got some free PAYG sim cards off the web and offered them.

But I have to say without freecycle and the lovely people on there it would have been a very difficult time for me.

eryn_kathleen

This thread made me go and check out Don't Dump That, and I think if they get more groups going they should be an excellent alternative to Freecycle. More of a community feel, fewer emails through the inbox. Good stuff!

judderman62

Wonderfully explained - thank you :-)

squeaky wrote:

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.

mum2kathryn

judderman62 wrote:

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 !!

I collected an freecycle item the other day in my fairly new car using my sat nav. It was a bed for my spare room which is so small I was going to have to cut two of the legs off to fit the bed in. This was fully explained in my 'wanted' post. It would have been ludicrous to have bought a brand new bed only to chop it up. Just because people have (some) money doesn't mean they don't want to be green and/ or avoid spending more money than necessary. At the end of the day you can choose who out of those replying you give the item to, or whether you reply to wanted posts.

I had to laugh at a wanted post on our local group the other week from a guy who wanted a laptop to keep in his kitchen for his recipe database...

judderman62

Aye fair points

anyhoo I'm off to bed ..night all

mum2kathryn wrote:

I collected an freecycle item the other day in my fairly new car using my sat nav. It was a bed for my spare room which is so small I was going to have to cut two of the legs off to fit the bed in. This was fully explained in my 'wanted' post. It would have been ludicrous to have bought a brand new bed only to chop it up. Just because people have (some) money doesn't mean they don't want to be green and/ or avoid spending more money than necessary. At the end of the day you can choose who out of those replying you give the item to, or whether you reply to wanted posts.

I had to laugh at a wanted post on our local group the other week from a guy who wanted a laptop to keep in his kitchen for his recipe database...