Freecycle. They said please so they got the item.

angelatgraceland

rainbow_carnage wrote: »

l

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?

QUOTE]

There IS a way of banning them but your group owner/mod is not a minreader! All incidences should be reported to them. If they get numerous complaints regarding a member that person will indeed be banned after a warning.
Regarding laptops and slr cameras-people DO actually give them away! We limit such requests though both to the group in general for all members(there can only be so many available)and to the individual who may try repeatedly asking for such an item.

angelatgraceland

Ken68 wrote: »

Surely a committed trader/dealer would be the owner of the group, or a moderator.
And the charitable aspect is hardly up to 'nursing the sick' standard or helping out as does Jimmy Saville.
Far better to give unwanted items to a charity shop.

You clearly are clueless as to the purpose of Freecycle or the dedication of owners/moderators! Freecycle has charitable status-but its not the "Jimmy Saville" type of thing(what a weird comparison)
Most charity shops would send most of the freecycle items to landfill for one silly reason or another. Freecycle owners/mods believe in keeping such items away from landfill and we do not sit by our computers all day waiting for goodis! Most members are unmoderated anyway and the posts are put on the site before the mod even sees them! We do have lives and jobs apart from Freecyle which is only run locally by unpaid volunteers.
You are totally misguided!!!

anewman

Trouble is most people don't see themselves as "traders", they see it as a quick way of making a couple of quid. It's a shame that HMRC wouldn't see it the same way.

Ken68

I for one Angel wouldn't object to group owners and moderators 'cherry picking'...they do a grand job.
And whats with this deep commitment from Freecycle to keep things out of landfill.Business, retail and wholesale and manufacturers don't want it, and the constant upgraders couldn't care less. Sounds a dubious, perhaps political motivation.
The last few posts have confirmed for me that Freecycle management have something to gain, good luck to them, and that the impetus for trader bashing doesn't necessarily come from the members.

seabiscuit_2

Well I've copied the email I received from the sacked Mod. There was a long reply from the head Mod but it was waffley and never really address the complaints below, just denied all knowledge

Well if you get any complaints or not I no longer wish to be part of
your moderator team because you have clearly showed that you haven't a clue what you are doing with freecycle and I intend to put forward a complaint to the main freecycle site about your conduct and lack of support to myself and other moderators on the site.

I also suggest you actually look on your other moderators behaviour
because the amount of offered posts that has been taken by other
moderators before even accepting the advert is way out of control.

Why did I persist on sticking to the rules ? because of the stupid
emails that you send to myself and other moderators playing god and
laying your constant rules down to us, the same rules that you
yourself are unable to stick to because you are so two faced it's
unbelievable (Saying that your no different at work) thinking your
something your not.

And if you done your job correctly you would have never placed ABC
as a moderator the same person whom has been charged with fraud and theft more times then I've hot dinners (That surprised you didn't
it. ) I also have prove of a moderator using the site to obtain items
to resell on EBay but when I bought this to your attention my email
was ignored however I will be passing this information on to the main
freecycle management.

So I suggest to you XXX that you actually take time out to reflect
your position on freecycle and do your job properly and support the
moderators although I know this will be difficult for you to judge
the rights or wrongs of any situation that occurs I'm sure you will
make it up as you go along.

cdbe

I have tried really hard to use freecycle but it does not work for me - I think I am regarded as a taker, which is considered to be bad. The reality is that we generally have nothing to give - we use everything till it is worn out or broken, repair it and repair it till it breaks again, and when it really is beyond repair I will try and find another one (eg a washing machine) to combine the two to make one that works or strip the item down for nuts, bolts etc to repair other items. We have an open fire to heat our house so burn much of what we can't use any more. We don't throw away our cars but keep them running with secondhand parts from scrapyards and ebay etc. My view is that freecycle's primary aim should be to keep stuff out of landfill, yet for example, my wanted ad for a old hotpoint washing machine for spares to keep mine going is rejected because at that time I had not offered anything - I hope there was no one out there who had one and thought no one would want it and just took it to the tip!. I too have seen the begging for laptops etc but believe this is a result of people "playing god" with their rubbish - taking it upon themselves to decide who is most "worthy" - it just encourages lying. Regarding the manners issue, unfortunately many of the genuinely poor and needy people in our society are ill educated, have poor communication skills (often a very poor command of the english language) and live in a state of dependency on others (hence they want you to phone them). If you are polite, honest and reliable then you are more than likely a successful person in life and don't really need someone's old cooker but just want to save a few quid or "save the planet".

Freecycle needs to decide whether it is simply about recycling and reusing above everything else, or helping the poor in our society, or providing a public forum to allow people to decide (based on very poor evidence) who is most deserving of their cast offs.

My view is I would rather any one had it than it went in land fill so I offer my items on a first come first served basis. If I can't be bothered to sell the stuff myself on ebay or a bootsale why should I be bothered if someone is so desperately poor that they rely on this to feed their kids (or for that matter their drug or cigarette habit) and does so. Similarly, if some middle class person would rather have my old freezer and spend the money he has saved on a nice bottle of wine good for him!.

origami500

There's only one way to deal with Freecycle when you have an offer; and that's to manage them, not let them manage you.
In the last line of any of my offers; there is the line; 'You need to put in your response, the date/time which you can collect - those replies without this will automatically be deleted'.

then - delete them, don't even read them.

And select the potential new owners by giving them a half hour slot and your phone number; when you are in [don't stay in for them, make it when you are going to be in anyway], and if they are late, and don't call you, then offer it to someone else. Tell them that if they are late and don't call, it will be offered to someone else.

And, if you don't want anything or have anything to offer; then don't keep getting the emails; life's too short.

Ken68

I had one collector ring me at every street junction saying 'which way now', then accused me of giving poor directions.
If not in now, I leave it by the gate.

angelatgraceland

Ken68 wrote: »

I had one collector ring me at every street junction saying 'which way now', then accused me of giving poor directions.
If not in now, I leave it by the gate.

Some people do have a cheek dont they? Id do the same-leave it by the gate! I give directions via email first but its up to them to print them off. I dont stay in for people either-if they wish to collect I do what I can to work around them-but only if it suits me.

angelatgraceland

cdbe wrote: »

example, my wanted ad for a old hotpoint washing machine for spares to keep mine going is rejected because at that time I had not offered anything - I hope there was no one out there who had one and thought no one would want it and just took it to the tip! If you are polite, honest and reliable then you are more than likely a successful person in life and don't really need someone's old cooker but just want to save a few quid or "save the planet".

Freecycle needs to decide whether it is simply about recycling and reusing above everything else, or helping the poor in our society, or providing a public forum to allow people to decide (based on very poor evidence) who is most deserving of their cast offs.

My view is I would rather any one had it than it went in land fill so I offer my items on a first come first served basis. If I can't be bothered to sell the stuff myself on ebay or a bootsale why should I be bothered if someone is so desperately poor that they rely on this to feed their kids (or for that matter their drug or cigarette habit) and does so. Similarly, if some middle class person would rather have my old freezer and spend the money he has saved on a nice bottle of wine good for him!.

Well said! Our group does ask for an offer first but also says that if you really truly have nothing to offer then drop us a line as we do understand. Only one person has done this so far and I think that the people who cannot be bothered to make offers wouldnt bother contacting us either.

Freecycle decided its aims when it was set up. Its aim was and is, to save items from landfill. If it does help the poor it is an added bonus but it was never set up to do that specifically.
First is saving from landfill-all other considerations are up to the member who is doing the "giving". Its not for Freecycle to stipulate how you make your preferences after all. I prefer to give to someone who will truly appreciate it-that is, whether they are poor or not. However-as you say, some judgements are made on dubious facts and thats a tricky one. I would prefer to give to someone who cannot afford something out of choice but its hard to spot them sometimes. Regarding your hotpoint w/m request I would have encouraged the post as it would actually be saving TWO items from landfill.