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If you read the wikipedia article on freecycle it seems it's not just particular moderators that are a bit draconian (there: I managed not to use the term "admin-nazi" :-)
Apart from the issues (of politics and/or competence) many folks have with Yahoo, it seems to me there's nothing inherently wrong in asking for a bit of dosh for more valuable stuff. Somehow Freecycle(tm) regard this as anathema (though they themselves are happy to accept dosh from big business). Seems to me there's a niche for grass-roots organised local free/cash/whetever[1] trading posts: like Loot etc but without the treeware and commercial organisation behind it, and unlike eBay in being local and not handling money transactions. I may have to start one .... :-)
[1] e.g. LETS, barter ...