Freecycle is it corrupt??

brightonman123

i guess the trader issue will continue..


if they could sell it, why didnt you (the offerers) ??

Wig

madfrenchgirl wrote: »

Also, some people can be a bit stubborn: when i send an email, my mobile phone is at the bottom of the page. The other day, I asked but did not know if I got it, in the meantime my normal email server went down so i sent the guy a message through my official yahoo address saying who I was and explaining the situation and giving once again my mobile number. When my normal email was back on, the bloke actually said "since you never replied to me I have given it to somebody else"... no comments

I know this post is from 2 years ago, but I'll comment on it all the same. You're dreaming if you think people will phone a mobile number, to let you know you got it or in the event you did not reply to their first email saying "you got it" you think they will follow that up with a phone call to mobile.

People giving stuff away on freecycle are not there to wipe your butt. If you are fortunate enough to 'win' a item and your email goes down that's life, it's bad luck, and you can be confident that unless you take very quick counter measures your item will be given to the next punter who also wanted it as much as you did, but who was not unfortunate to have an email failure.


I would never phone a mobile phone number in such a siutuation, when I had countless other emails from people who also wanted it. I might phone a landline number (if given) but I would still be very reluctant to do so, because I want to email with people not speak to them on the phone. Speaking on the phone is just more hassle and more potential hassle for the person giving.

Mojisola

CrazyCatLady wrote: »

Freecycle isn't just about saving the environment and getting rid of your rubbish, it's about karma, about giving out what you hope to receive. And just doing something out of the kindness of your heart.

Fortunately many freecyclers do feel like this - but that it our way.

Our group rules are clear -
"One main rule: everything posted must be free. This group is part of The Freecycle Network, a nonprofit organization and a movement of people interested in keeping good stuff out of landfills."

Passing on stuff for free that would otherwise go into landfill is as far as the rules go. We can add our own morals above and beyond this but no-one is obliged to go along with them.

Wig

I never look at freecycle, I looked once and that was it. too "user unfriendly" for me.

What I found strange was that it appears that who ever opens a local group in your area, turns out to be in control of that local group. Which isn't very democratic is it.

Can rival local groups be opened? If you don't like how the original group is being run?

lightisfading

Wig wrote: »

I know this post is from 2 years ago, but I'll comment on it all the same. You're dreaming if you think people will phone a mobile number, to let you know you got it or in the event you did not reply to their first email saying "you got it" you think they will follow that up with a phone call to mobile.

People giving stuff away on freecycle are not there to wipe your butt. If you are fortunate enough to 'win' a item and your email goes down that's life, it's bad luck, and you can be confident that unless you take very quick counter measures your item will be given to the next punter who also wanted it as much as you did, but who was not unfortunate to have an email failure.

I would never phone a mobile phone number in such a siutuation, when I had countless other emails from people who also wanted it. I might phone a landline number (if given) but I would still be very reluctant to do so, because I want to email with people not speak to them on the phone. Speaking on the phone is just more hassle and more potential hassle for the person giving.

Agreed.

I might on occasion swap phone numbers if I was happy doing so - however I wouldn't be ringing up a person who had responded to an offer and just given me their phone no. A) it's rude to expect someone to call you at their expense, and I don't particularly want to let all and sundry have my phone number.

Freecycle is email/internet based - if you aren't happy with that and want to phone, or you only check your email once a week, or you have an intermittent email service, that's your problem not mine.

lightisfading

Wig wrote: »

I never look at freecycle, I looked once and that was it. too "user unfriendly" for me.

What I found strange was that it appears that who ever opens a local group in your area, turns out to be in control of that local group. Which isn't very democratic is it.

Can rival local groups be opened? If you don't like how the original group is being run?

To the first - true, it's not very democratic. But if the person hadn't opened the group in the first place and put in their time and effort there wouldn't BE a group. Freecycle mods have a list of rules - if you don't like how a group is being run AND don't believe that the rules are being stuck to by the mod, then contact someone 'higher up' so to speak - via the main freecycle.org site - if they think you have a valid reason for complaint / other members have complained they would have the power to remove the offending local area mod.

To the latter - no. Only one group per area is allowed. Can you imagine the problems caused by having, 2, 3 or more groups running in the same place??

brightonman123

i thought the freecycle gods (USA?) make ALL group (and mods) follow the same rules?

seem some operate on a whim, and rap your knuckles if stray (in error) from their blinkered vision of what is a great idea.

have got shot of a load of things that would have been binned, or had to pay council to take away..(i wonder- do THEY sell stuff on???)

RacyRed

brightonman123 wrote: »

i thought the freecycle gods (USA?) make ALL group (and mods) follow the same rules?

seem some operate on a whim, and rap your knuckles if stray (in error) from their blinkered vision of what is a great idea.

have got shot of a load of things that would have been binned, or had to pay council to take away..(i wonder- do THEY sell stuff on???)

There are a few rules all groups must follow but the rest are left to the mods who have a knowledge of the local area. If some of the rules the US groups usually adopt were followed in the UK, Freecycle would be very wierd indeed!

As for the mods gettng snotty about vacation auto responses, it isn't unknown for a mod to open their Freecycle email account and find 3 or 4 of those responses for EVERY message that has gone out on the group. I once found more than 70 in my inbox after being offline for a few hours.

So many people just forget to change their settings when they go on holiday and if you get 2 or 3 people all doing the same thing at this time of year (and it is much, much worse at Christmas)..... well, I can tell you it tries my patience a bit, after all, there are no perks to being a volunteer moderator (despite what many people think :rolleyes:), but there is a lot of work involved.

To get a bit of help from the group members to keep things running smoothly really isn't a lot to ask is it?

Claire_Bear

I recently posted a Wanted on my local group for furniture. I wrote 'We are moving from a furnished to an unfurnished house and would be grateful for any furniture people may have going spare' I received a message from a moderator stating that they wouldn't post my message as our group rules state that we're not allowed to post any reason for why we want things, and no hardship or 'sob' stories, which is fair enough. However, I've just seen a message on the same group stating 'We need a fridge freezer because our children are very sick and we need somewhere to store their special milk and medicines' Surely this is 'explaining why they want the item' and a bit of a sob story at the same time?

lightisfading

Claire Bear - as I've mentioned before, in all likelihood this means that that poster has already come off moderated posting, so their posts go straight to the group and can't be stopped by the mods, whereas you probably still have your posts moderated so the rules can be applied. The mods have most likely already noticed and spoken privately with the sob story fridge people but you can always email them