[Totally OT] Freecycle

[Alan]

In message , Bruce wrote

It's much easier to just dump it in landfill!

[tim....]

If I lived that close to a landfill site I think I'd move

tim

[Tim W]

Bill wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 12:27

Yes. T Wells is Yahoo free now. It's a bit erratic on the mailing front, but it's a hell of a lot better than Yaboo.

The server seems to be a common resource for allfreecycle groups, if they want to use it.

[Tim W]

tim.... wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 12:41

Seems to be some sponsorship mentioned on one of the pages.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I tried to join the Farnborough one a couple of times, when I had things to get rid of which I thought someone might want. On neither occasion did my subscription email ever get replied to, and the stuff eventually went to the tip. For all I know, that group may be dead anyway.

[TheOldFellow]

They all seem to use Yahoo Groups. It's not known for any useful functionality. It probably runs on Windows. R.

[Mark]

One of our local groups is like this. The moderators also edit the posts (for example to remove the reason you are wanting something).

Our's have also gone downhill. Nowadays I get no-shows and impolite responses. This did not use to a happen.

Yahoo groups is a real pain and I wish all freecycle groups would move away from it.

[Mark]

How many freecyclers can actually spell "dishwasher"?

[Bruce]

That's because Freecycle started off among middle class professionals. The rot set in when Freecycle was effectively advertised to the chavs (through articles in their red-top newspapers) as a way to get something for nothing.

This is what gave rise to the ridiculous Wanted ads such as "WANTED - Laptop with Windows Vista and at least 2 GB RAM".

Instead of being primarily a means of avoiding low value but useful items going to landfill, Freecycle has become a means of cynically obtaining something valuable for nothing.

[Jules]

The problem I find is that some mods try and police it by deciding what's valuable and what isn't, then making blanket bans on some subjects (no computers, no vehicles etc.) which has the downside of sending legitimate stuff to the dump.

I'm starting to think that a list that limits things to a max of 50 quid/dollars/whatever per item might be the best way - low enough that unwanted things that might be seen as "worth something" are nearly free, but high enough that it might stop the same pikey twunts from grabbing everything they can get their hands on.

[Invisible Man]

I gave up some time back. I could handle traders because at least the items would not go to landfill. I could not however handle the repeated rudeness and no shows. Very sad.

[Bruce]

Well, there's always the charity shop - but not for vehicles.

It is sad to have to moderate a Freecycle group, but I have seen one group local to me descend into anarchy. When it first started it was well ordered and polite, but then the grasping chavs arrived and that was the end of it.

It is now 100% moderated and works OK, but it's a lot of work for the moderators.

But what value do you put on, for example, a posh dishwasher that is five years old, was £500 when new but needs a new pump? More or less than £50? I feel sorry for the moderators!

[Andrew May]

I don't think you do. What I would like to see is the facilities for the person giving way the item to make an informed decision as to who it should go to. Some way to look up the history of an individuals offers, requests, wants and received items. That way when you have half a dozen people asking for your posh dishwasher that needs a new pump you can filter out the person who has taken four out of the last six dishwashers offered and favour the person who regularly offers items.

It won't be perfect and people will probably have to offer things to build the brownie-points that people will be looking for but it will stop those who are just grabbing everything they can.[1]

Of course it will require dedicated software although a decent search facility on Yahoo! would be a start.

Andrew

[1] I am always amused by the emails that I get saying "Re the item you are offering on Freecycle. I can collect tomorrow" Smacks too much of a form email that goes out in response to anything interesting if they can't even name the item.

[Bob Eager]

Just for once I agree with you. We recently had a WANTED: for the NatWest pig moneyboxes - the rare ones, going for several hundred each, no doubt in the hope that some innocent would part with theirs..

[Bruce]

That sounds like "making it as complicated as eBay, but for free". I agree that some kind of feedback would improve Freecycle, but all I would need is a list of people who have been no-shows, perhaps more than twice.

Alternatively, "Three no-shows and you're out", and they get banned altogether. But that would put even more stress on the unpaid volunteer moderators, who are difficult enough to retain as it is.

[tim....]

Most charity shops have stopped take anything electrical

The cost of testing them costs more then they are worth

tim

[Jules]

I don't think many of them do electronics these days either, do they? Too much time to find someone to PAT test them and make sure they work, and then it takes up shelf space...

Well, I saw it as the seller's job to put a value on it - not that being a moderator's job. I just think the 100 of "local currency" is perhaps a bit high if the aim is to keep stuff out of landfill - but selling for a lesser amount (i.e. the 50 limit) might be enough to stop the pikeys from getting too heavily involved. I suppose they might still know their markets though and know what they can flog stuff for.

re. collection issues, the norm on my local list is for people to leave offered items outside or in a porch, shed etc. for collection.

I do find the ones who wash their hands of it and just post saying "left everything on the driveway - first come, first served. If it's not gone by tonight it's going to the dump" somewhat irritating though - I can't be bothered doing a 40 mile round-trip on the offchance the thing that caught my eye is still there, but at the same time it's frustrating to think that something I could have used might be off to the crusher because nobody else wanted it...

re. posting stats - good idea. The Cambridge one used to try to encourage folk to balance their wanted / acceptance posts with ones actually offering something, and to a certain extent this was policed by the moderators, but maybe they no longer do that.

cheers

Jules

[Andy Champ]

Surrey Heath one runs well enough.

Andy

[Tony Bryer]

The Twickenham one was moderated, but after a while you got given white card status and your posts went straight through.

Prior to emigrating I gave away lots of stuff that was worth money: just needed to get rid of it without the complications of eBay or car boot sale. One DIYer went away with masses of hardware, part box screws, tools etc which hadn't sold at the boot sale.

[Mark]

I find charity shops will take very little nowadays. Gone are the days where the you can buy and old scarf for 10p, served by a couple of old ladies. Nowadays charity shops have gone upmarket and sell stuff for a lot more money. None of my stuff is good enough for them ;-)

Ours are moderated. However they seem to be able to stop me posting more than two "wanted" emails in a month and trim my subject lines, but are somehow unable to stop blatant spam getting on the list.

The whole point of freecycle is the stuff is free. It would be unrealistic to have a rule such as this.

I think email (and certainly yahoo) is the wrong way of running freecycle. We need a dedicated system where items are automatically removed when taken, to save many wasted "Have you still got it?" emails. No-shows need to be flagged next to the users' names and a primitive feedback system would help.

With the wealth of PD software around I'm sure someone could implement a system like this for very little cost.