Freegle - New home for ex Freecycle groups

RacyRed
RacyRed Posts: 4,930
Combo Breaker First Post
Forumite
edited 16 September 2009 at 4:46PM in Green & ethical MoneySaving
UPDATE 16.9.2009

Large numbers of local recycling groups in the UK have left Freecycle and joined the Freegle organisation. www.ilovefreegle.org

Click HERE for a list of your local Freegle groups. More are being added every day.

__________________________________________________________


I just posted on the Freecycle is it corrupt?? thread. But to be honest, I don't want to post onto a thread with a title like that anymore.

At the moment the UK moderators are fighting a hard, painful battle to try to stop the parent organisation in the USA turning Freecycle into a faceless, uncaring, money making organisation.

A number of outspoken UK volunteer moderators have been sacked over the last few weeks for speaking out against the USA approach. Groups are disappearing overnight (3 last night - you can only find them now if you know where to look).

I know this for certain because I'm one of the mods they are trying to sack and my group has been removed from the Freecycle network.

Personally, I've been a Freecycle group moderator for over three years and active on Freecycle for almost 6 years. I joined our group a few weeks after it was formed, became a moderator and have helped it grow to have almost 9,000 members.

If you value Freecycle at all then please support your local group while it is still being run by local moderators.

PLEASE join the Yahoo groups, not the MYFreecycle version, which is the one the international Freecycle Network want you to join. Go to the Yahoo home page of the group you want to join then click on the join this group button.

Thanks
Thanks
My first reply was witty and intellectual but I lost it so you got this one instead :D
Proud to be a chic shopper
:cool:
«13456714

Comments

  • Ken68
    Ken68 Posts: 6,825
    First Anniversary First Post Energy Saving Champion Home Insurance Hacker!
    Forumite
    Makes sense to me Racey, to keep Freecycle together rather than allow splinter groups.
  • RacyRed
    RacyRed Posts: 4,930
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    Ken68 wrote: »
    Makes sense to me Racey, to keep Freecycle together rather than allow splinter groups.

    What splinter groups?

    The original local Yahoo groups chose to affiliate to The Freecycle Network when they were formed. They continue to do this, where possible.

    Freecycle no longer allows new Yahoo groups. New groups are being set up on the My Freecycle site and existing groups are being forcibly transferred to My Freecycle if they won't go voluntarily.

    The UK moderators want to keep the UK groups united and within Freecycle if at all possible, but hope for that is fading as the powers tha be at Freecycle is refusing to talk to the UK Moderators.

    The USA model for running groups does not allow for individual groups to have regionally adjusted rules. For example, posting an item or wanted on more than one group is not allowed, even if the boundary between the 2 groups is at the end of your garden.
    My first reply was witty and intellectual but I lost it so you got this one instead :D
    Proud to be a chic shopper
    :cool:
  • Ken68
    Ken68 Posts: 6,825
    First Anniversary First Post Energy Saving Champion Home Insurance Hacker!
    Forumite
    No big thing surely, only being able to post on one group.
    And your fourth paragraph beginning "The UK moderators",, imply a splinter group.
    Also why Yahoo, they are only a communication channel. Could be Google if decided so by Freecycle International. Why the angst.?
  • RacyRed wrote: »
    .
    Freecycle no longer allows new Yahoo groups. New groups are being set up on the My Freecycle site and existing groups are being forcibly transferred to My Freecycle if they won't go voluntarily.


    Thats not true my group was asked if we wanted to join My freecycle and after having a look around i decided no and told them no and they havnt bothered us since
  • RacyRed
    RacyRed Posts: 4,930
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    Thats not true my group was asked if we wanted to join My freecycle and after having a look around i decided no and told them no and they havnt bothered us since

    That must have been a little while ago, because that doesn't happen now.

    If you are a group owner make sure that you have back-up. If not and you have to ask for help from your GOA or the mentor mods if you are going to be away or something, you might get a nasty shock when you come back to your group. Check UK Mod Squad if you want confirmation.

    Ken68, what it boils down to is making sure that any money raised in the UK from saving stuff from landfill - and it could be hundreds of thousands of £s - stays in the UK for the benefit of the people who earned it, not get filtered off abroad.

    No big deal really, if you don't mind missing out on a possible reduction in your council tax so that Freecycle can benefit a few people in another country. :rolleyes:
    My first reply was witty and intellectual but I lost it so you got this one instead :D
    Proud to be a chic shopper
    :cool:
  • kazwookie
    kazwookie Posts: 13,810
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Photogenic First Post
    Forumite
    Racyred

    What is the difference to freecycle and myfreecycle? do they have different logos etc?

    Thanks
    Breast Cancer Now 2022 100 miles October 100 / 100miles
    Sun, Sea

    2024 7/28 lbs to go.
  • RacyRed
    RacyRed Posts: 4,930
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    kazwookie wrote: »
    Racyred

    What is the difference to freecycle and myfreecycle? do they have different logos etc?

    Thanks

    MyFreecycle is the new set up for the Freecycle organisation. Instead of having lots of affiliated local groups on Yahoo (which freecycle used to insist we use) MyFreecycle runs on the Freecycle servers and each of the local groups has space allocated to it there.

    The Yahoo Freecycle groups are run by and are under the control of the local moderators who set them up.

    MyFreecycle is completely controlled by The Freecycle Network in the USA, who may or may not apppoint local moderators to do the day to day work on the groups. A number of UK MyFreecycle groups are currently being run by moderators based in the USA.

    The logo is the same for both.
    My first reply was witty and intellectual but I lost it so you got this one instead :D
    Proud to be a chic shopper
    :cool:
  • Andreg
    Andreg Posts: 187
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    I found out about www.goodnewsforpolarbears.org today and it seems much better to use then Freecycle. Sort of like a free ebay. I guess they wouldnt be allowed to call it 'freebay'.
  • RacyRed
    RacyRed Posts: 4,930
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    You know, this is a real eye opener.

    I've spent 3 years putting leaflets through doors on my patch whenever I've seen good stuff left out for the bin men - just think aout how that converts into people offering stuff on Freecycle for other members to have.

    Then there have been all the "interesting" meetings with the council environmental department.

    The emails to members who cannot be !!!!!d to read the simple instructions sent to them and want me to talk them through using Freecycle individually, or go round to their house and show them.

    The people going nuts because they forgot their logins and want to reply to an offer someone just made for something they really want - and the mod has got to do something about it "right now", usually at 11pm

    Oh yes, and the abusive emails from those inconsiderate people who think that the few simple rules we have don't apply to them.

    Then I see something offered I'd like myself but have to wait for the daily digest to go out before I can ask for it, because it is the only way mods can stop the accusations of them creaming off the best stuff. Of course, then it is too late because the item went to the trader who is sat in front of his computer screen with all the local groups pages open, firing off emails for all the good stuff the moment it appears on the groups.

    Why [STRIKE]am[/STRIKE] was I running myself ragged trying to run a freecycle group for people who really couldn't give a monkeys, if MSE is anything to go by?

    I won't be making that mistake again :rolleyes:
    My first reply was witty and intellectual but I lost it so you got this one instead :D
    Proud to be a chic shopper
    :cool:
  • Ken68
    Ken68 Posts: 6,825
    First Anniversary First Post Energy Saving Champion Home Insurance Hacker!
    Forumite
    edited 7 September 2009 at 5:50AM
    All the links from Freecycle.org, bring me back to my own group, accessed thru Yahoo. So maybe this is to change . Have e mailed my local mod to see what she says. Will let you know
    How is money being made, and who does the accounting , is there a bank account with loads of dosh somewhere!!!!
    Maybe there are legitimate expenses at head office that need to be paid, in which case you can't expect the USA to pay the lot.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards