Freecycle is it corrupt??

ormus

im not sure whats happening at freecycle, but ive just got an email saying my local group has left the FC groups and formed another "realcycle" group. they cite problems with the FC group owners. there seems to be some serious politics going on at FC.
one problem is that the main sponsor of FC is an american waste management company who have been fined for dumping waste!!!

anyone else had a similar email?

Ken68

Bit of background history here....

http://community.livejournal.com/freecycled_out/profile

ormus

copy of my email here:


Hello All,

I hope Rach doesn't mind me jumping in here before she does but my
Inbox is becoming rather full :-)

Many people are asking for detailed reasons why the group's name has
been changed. Incidentally, that's all that's happened - the group
hasn't been moved or hijacked, merely a name/URL change.

Here are detailed reasons why it was decided it was time to break the
association with Freecycle.

Why was this change necessary?

1. Many moderators are concerned about the Freecycle response to a
DEFRA invitation last year, regarding climate change. We do not
believe that Freecycle UK should adopt a political stance other than
its own remit to keep landfill waste down.

2. Those moderators, who stated their wish that the Directors of
FreecycleUK should not take it upon themselves to put forward views
that purport to represent the UK Freecycle membership (currently over
780,000), were ignored.

3. Freecycle is currently developing its website. It is widely
believed that this website will centralise Freecycle groups so that
the community aspect is diluted or even lost altogether. There may be
no local point of contact, i.e. local moderators.

4. We are told that the transition to the new website will be entirely
voluntary… perhaps in the beginning, yes, but Freecycle will
eventually insist that all groups migrate from their current Yahoo
platform to the new site or lose their listing on the directory.

5. Throughout the Freecycle global community any moderators who
question or offer an alternative viewpoint have found themselves on
permanent moderation on Freecycle discussion groups or even had their
groups taken from them.

6. Freecycle is in a state of disarray and confusion at the present
time. Many groups have been locked down, moderators removed from
their groups (bear in mind that all mods give their time voluntarily
and many have spent several years building up their groups in order to
benefit their community) and there is no one central source of
information.

7. TFN's (The Freecycle Network) main sponsor in the U.S. is a company
called Waste Management Inc. This company has, in the past been
guilty of (and fined for) several incidents involving the illegal
dumping of toxic waste.

http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/05/19/weiser-freecycle/

These are the main reasons why the group has left The Freecycle
Network ® I hope you will forgive us for not informing you prior to
the change - had we done so, the group would have been taken from the
people who started it and put all the hard work into running it these
last few years.

Please address any comments, questions or suggestions to:
Realcycle-Manchester-owner@yahoogroups.com

The group's URL is now:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Realcycle-Manchester

The email address to post messages is:
Realcycle-Manchester@yahoogroups.com

Cheers & happy free-recycling!

Mods

troi78

I don't recall giving you my permission for you to repost my message to a closed list on this site. It is only good manners to ask and I probably would have agreed anyway.

Bev
Temp Mod Realcycle Manchester
Realcycle UK

angelatgraceland

Ken68 wrote: »

Not sure, Angelatgraceland, how Freecycle works at the group level. Do you have to buy the site?. What about your time/computer/electric expenses?. Do the moderators get paid?.

No-we do not buy the site. Now Im not sure how it works at the top-only on my level! We get no money whatsoever-it is entirely voluntary and electric/computer etc is at our own expense. We have the site laoded by Freecycle.org and have to get their consent to set it up-its not just another yahoo group that we can set up as we like. We also have to follow the rules of freecycle.org althoughsome of them are flexible.
That is why its infuriating when people knock the mods-no-we are not perfect but most of us do it because we believe in saving stuff from landfill-not for our own gain.
I spend a couple of hours a day doing freecycle generally and my payment is knowing that 2300 members have the facility of the group. Not "my" group but "their" group. Ive recruited a mod to help me who again gets nothing but personal satisfaction. When we take holidays we ask a mod from another nearby group to stand in-so they do this as a favour on top of their own group work. That is how it works! We are all volunteers. So glad you asked though-lots of people do not realise how it is run. One guy once asked me "if I thought I would ever make any money out of it"!!!!! I answered that easily and honestly-"NO, never-not a penny!"

angelatgraceland

cazziebo wrote: »

There is someone on our group looking for a Nintendo wii - 'preferably with games" !! :eek:

Someone tried to ask for one on our group but we turned them down! Be fair-there are NOT any of these on their way to landfill sites!
It is NOT as shopping list either-I had a member today try to post 12 wanted items and has never offered. I rejected every post. We allow 2 wanteds per month.
Im surprised it got thru-complain to your mod and ask if they will consider moderating the member who posted this request. Asking for expensive items like this is not encouraged by freecycle.

angelatgraceland

sukysue wrote: »

.other times I emailed straight away to ads only to have my emails ignored so have decided not to bother with Freecycle just think it isn't worth the bother.

Regarding emails being ignored you cannot reasonably expect members to reply to every person who contacts them. That is what a Taken post is for.
I send an Admin out to explain this as follows:

No Reply?
Some members are concerned that when they respond to an offer, that
they get no reply from the person who posted the item.
Please do not be concerned or offended in any way that the person who
posted has not replied.
Please bear in mind the following:
Some members have limited internet access/limited time
Some items attract a lot of responses and if you are responding to an
offer for something like a computer,tv,fridge etc, it may be a case
that the person who posted may have had about 20 requests for it. In
all fairness, nobody can then expect the member who offered the item,
to reply to every single person.
This is not rudeness, it is simply being sensible. The answer to this
is that when an item has been taken, to post a "taken" notice.
It is equally important for members who responded to look and see if
the item has been taken or received. That is the purpose of taken and
received posts.
There are generally very few problems so please do not be concerned
or offended if members do not reply to you with regards to your
response to an offer.

Hope this helps!

Kind regards

Hope that helps you also. There are many reasons people do not reply.

angelatgraceland

Ken68 wrote: »

The poor old shopkeeper is being hammered on all sides...from the supermarkets, charity shops, free ads in the paper, car boot sales, auctions and now Freecycle.
It aint a fair system.

Are you a shopkeeper by any chance? The small shops are not being hammered out by the organisations that you mention but by the big businesses like Tesco Walmart,Comet,Currys etc etc. People who want new,buy new! The places you mention have very litlle effect on shopkeepers!

angelatgraceland

scoggy wrote: »

I think it's a good site, and a way to weed out the traders and constant-takers would make it great. It could go very far.

(Not that 'takers' are necessarily bad - I wouldn't make my decision solely on whether someone has given a lot. I'm perfectly happy to give things to people who haven't given as I accept there are some who can't afford all the clutter I have. However at the moment it's one of the few reliable ways I have of weeding out traders.

Some people simply do not make offers but they do respond to people who place wanted ads! Ive met a couple of these. Therefore they could appear to be takers but in that sense-they are not.
That is why it is wrong to make rash judgements. Yes-personally I look through past posts but I do not make decisions solely upon that. I liek someone who gives a day and a time and makes firm arrangements.
Some have nothing to give-are setting up home or whatever and really do need things. They all have their place-as long as the offers are a bit more frequesnt than the wanteds-it works well.
Rules are great-but not so stringent that the group is tied in knots by them.
People get to know who the scroungers are-the average member is not stupid after all!
The main thing-is that the item is homed and used. Its about landfill-not charity. How people choose the recipient is up to them but we really suggest to wait 24 hours to choose-then you pick someone local if you can-who has a real intention to collect!

angelatgraceland

Ken68 wrote: »

Bit of background history here....

http://community.livejournal.com/freecycled_out/profile

Dont forget that this is yet again one persons opinion and some of that report is incorrect-other points are exagerated. Whether or not it is to be believed what is happening at the top-as a group owner I really am only concerned about what is happening at the bottom. I fail to see how anyone other than the group owner could transfer the membership to realcycle. Also-they had no right to do so! The members joined a freecycle group-not a realcycle group. It is not simply a "namechange" it is a totally different organisation. Its a bit like ordering yout stuff from Asda and Tesco turns up! There are different guidelines to freecycle-if any guidlines-and its no longer part of the freecycle network.There are many issues here! Too many to waste my time on personally. However-there is indeed a place for Realcycle too-untill there is a problem with "not enough stuff for landfill"(as if!) there is room for all of u s!