Freecycle. They said please so they got the item.

rainbow_carnage

We're in the process of redecorating our living room. I offered our old furniture to the local charity shop, but they said that they couldn't collect it until mid-January. I really couldn't be bothered with Ebay (the items aren't worth all that much), so I turned to freecycle. Since then, it's been one huge hassle.

One of the respondents was lovely. He came to pick up the furniture exactly when he said he would. He phoned when he was 10 minutes away to make sure that we were awake. He was polite and thanked us at least 3 times. Fantastic.

The other two people have been complete time-wasters. One girl said that she would come by at a certain time. I sat at home all afternoon waiting for her. She finally e-mailed that night to say that she couldn't make it. I was giving her a large computer desk and two bookcases, and she couldn't even be bothered to phone and say that she wasn't coming.

The third person just stopped replying, despite sounding desperate for the stuff (well, as desperate as one could be for a coffee table).

Why is there no way to ban these people? Message boards have a way of banning members. Obviously, they could always get a new e-mail address and a fake name, but the hassle of doing that would at least decrease the number of time-wasters. I would also ban people from asking for things like laptops and slr cameras. That's absolutely shameless. Why not just ask for cash?

On a brighter note, I once asked for a set of baby monitors for a fringe production of a play (we had no props budget), and I had 5 offers within a few hours. I felt really bad that I didn't have time to phone each person back (we were in the middle of a dress rehearsal), so I sent out a general 'thank you' to the list. These people's generosity was truly admirable.

seabiscuit_2

UKJubilee wrote: »

I think wanted's are fair enough although they should be realistic not asking for Wii's or Nintendo DS's (and I have seen both) which is just being silly.

We have had wanted for these too. But my favourites are still the person who wanted a silver dishwasher (had to be silver not any other colour to go in with their colour scheme) and the guy who wanted spare parts for his Porsche because obviously after spending all that money on a Porsche, he just couldn't afford any parts.

One of my local groups had a major dispute a few months ago and booted out one of the moderators who publicly replied to say that when the chief mod wanted an item, they replied to the offerer and made sure the item was theirs before actually posting their offered item message on the boards. And I have often seen taken messages for nice items, when the offered message was never posted

davkt

rainbow_carnage wrote: »

Why is there no way to ban these people? Message boards have a way of banning members. .

TELL THE MODERATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Certainly on the groups I'm looking after we do take notice and take action if it turns out certain members are persistently causing trouble for others. But we ain't psychic so have to rely on members telling us what is going on!
Best wishes
David

davkt

seabiscuit wrote: »

One of my local groups had a major dispute a few months ago and booted out one of the moderators who publicly replied to say that when the chief mod wanted an item, they replied to the offerer and made sure the item was theirs before actually posting their offered item message on the boards. And I have often seen taken messages for nice items, when the offered message was never posted

If proved that would probably be enough to get the Mod concerned kicked out, chief or not as that is plain and simple breach of trust! Most offers on our boards go straight out without the moderators seeing them (only new members or folks who get it wrong more often than not are moderated, about 60 out of 1000 ish members) and we make a point of not replying to a moderated offer till at least a day after its gone to the group. Even us moderators notice takens we haven't seen offered for, spam filters can get very busy!! If you want to check for untoward goings on have a look on the groups yahoo web page, the message is timestamped on there when it is mailed out. If there are takens with no wants the regional or national freecycle team would certainly take an interest!
Cheers
David

HugoSP

seabiscuit wrote: »

.......And I have often seen taken messages for nice items, when the offered message was never posted

I've seen these too.

I would have thought that if a moderator is going to get in there first he should at least have the common sense to allow the post to go onto the group after he'd replied.

Some people are shafters, others are stupid shafters.

barrymung

Had a very similar issue with my local group!

"Offered" ads for decent stuff (Like laptops etc) often wouldn't appear on the list but "Taken" posts would.

I did some investigating and it turned out the group owner didn't live in the area the group covered, which is against Freecycle rules.

I did a bit more delving and found that she lived with her boyfriend and between them they were running multiple Freecycle groups and apparently "cherry picking" all the best stuff. Whether they were re-selling it I never found out.

I complained to Freecycle HQ in America and got a "We'll look into it" reply but nothing of any note actually happened.

At this point I contacted local media who investigated further as it was "in the public interest" and uncovered more detail of the shenanigans that had been going on.

I then complained once more to Freecycle HQ again and they basically closed ranks and refused to discuss the issue further. The media suddenly dropped the story like a hot potato.

By all accounts the group owner is still in charge!

(All the above are based on my personal experience and my experience alone. I'm sure not all Freecycle groups are run this way!)

barrymung

Oh, the other thing that gave the game away is that 100% of posts to the group in question were being moderated by the group owner. In other words ALL posts were being read before being posted (or deleted).

100% moderation is explicitly prohibited in the Freecycle group owner's handbook, as it prevents group owners being able to "cherry pick"..

angelatgraceland

Cardew wrote: »

Like everyone else I admire the concept of Freecycle, but I most certainly don't like many aspects of the way it operates.

One of the 'very stringent rules' is surely that resale of goods is not allowed or traders must declare their status.

I have never heard on a single instance where a trader has declared their status and it is patently obvious even to casual users that it is abused and abused by traders.

To moderators the traders must be far more obvious and yet what action is taken? Indeed there is anecdotal evidence that some use their status to their advantage!!!

It is not a stringent rule that items cannot be sold on later. As far as declaring their intentions, I have a few people on my group who have done just that. I dont know where you expect to find such proof unless you are in touch with numerous other groups? Some traders ask for scrap metal-old cars-old white good etc, one on my group asks for non working playstations etc. When he joined the group and put his first post forward, i queried it and he had to reword it to clarify that it was to repair an sell on.
Others have asked for bootsale items and received loads!
The action taken is as above-mods do actually contact people they think are traders and ask questions but we cannot make accusations.
Most mods are in contact with many other local groups and we do get together to discuss "problem posters" etc. Those who think they are deceiving their local groups are rather mistaken! More members need to use the search facility when someone responds to an offer and see what the persons posting history is. You will soon see if they are a taker or a giver. Most people are both-which makes freecycle work very well.

Kerilinann

LuciferTDark wrote: »

Good manners are just not taught in schools any more or in homes either for that matter. Those of us over 30 were taught to be polite & respect our elders, those ideas have sadly gone out the window with most of this generation of little sh1ts. There are some pockets of politeness still around but they get smaller every year.

I am under 30, and am more mannerly and polite than anyone I know of ANY age. I actually find nowadays it's the older people that are the most rude and arrogant!

angelatgraceland

Regarding the Taken posts when an item has never been offered there is a major culprit here-and its not moderators!
What usually happens is that a member offers the item to more than one group at a time(this is crossposting which we do not like) and then the person posts a taken to all groups, not remembering which groups it was offered on. Some members belong to four or five local groups and this is a pain when they crosspost.
Only 2 weeks ago I had a "taken" post for a laptop. Now, I know that it was never offered to the group in the firstplace!
Two things could have happened-it was either crossposting or a fake post!
I contacted the member concerned querying it but I have not had a reply. This member will be closely watched.
It is posts like this that give everyone the wrong impression that mods are filtering away the goodis. In the majority of cases we are not-there are of course a few baddies but there is more than likely an explantion as Ive detailed above. I may also have to to the same conclusion had I not experienced this myself.