Revision as of 16:42, 20 August 2013

Do's and Don'ts for Freecycle Moderators

Congratulations on becoming a Freecycle Moderator!

Since The Freecycle Network began in Tucson, Arizona in May 2003 the movement has circled the earth, and as of the 1st of October 2011, there are 8,773,548 members in more than 5,056 Freecycle groups - WOW!

Freecycle groups are running incredibly smoothly, peacefully, and successfully - keeping some 40 tons a day out of the landfills, thanks to you and to the many mods who have been working hard on Freecycle all along. Naturally, though, questions have been raised, problems encountered, and solutions found.

We're all part of an evolving organization, and THE best way to keep track of what's going on is to join the Freecycle Mod Squad, where the owners and moderators of Freecycle groups help each other solve problems, debate policies as well as posts, and contend with issues as they arise. (We joke around from time to time, too!)

The Mod Squad's files and databases contain generic flyers for posting on bulletin boards and press release samples in the Files section that you can modify and send out to local newspapers. There's also a welcome kit for newbie mods as well as lots of other tidbits that'll help, including leads to many of the great people in The Freecycle Network who can help you out. Check it out today! Now on to the good stuff!

Do's

Do keep it free, legal and appropriate for all ages

This means, for example, no pornography, alcohol, tobacco, drugs (legal or otherwise), firearms or other weapons. Two strikes and you're out of the group. This is our main Freecycle rule to live by and it's a pretty easy one at that.

It is strongly encouraged that you make sure you have a backup co-owner of some kind locally

Either have someone not living in your own household locally be a co-owner or, organizationally, you may also use ersatzfriend@freecycle.org as a [/manual/mod_ersatzfriend neutral backup co-owner] -- write to AddErsatzfriend@freecycle.org if you are interested in setting this up.

It can save us a lot of time and effort when there are problems that can't be solved locally. For example, someone may report your address to Yahoo, which has been known to respond by locking out owners. Or perhaps, as has happened in the past, owners leave their groups, and forget to include a forwarding address or appoint another person to be the owner.

If we all have a backup co-owner, all local groups are protected. Although having a backup co-owner is encouraged in existing groups, we do ask that all NEW groups establish two owners as a general safety precaution before being approved. Both owners must reside in separate households. If another owner cannot be established locally, [/manual/mod_ersatzfriend ersatzfriend] is an acceptable alternative.

Philosophically, the larger Freecycle concept is about letting go of ownership and the Yahoo phrase seems to imply local moderator ownership rather than viewing us all as stewards of something larger. By adding ersatzfriend as a neutral organizational co-owner, the local moderator is letting go of ownership to a larger nonprofit cause which has no owner and which has as its mission letting go of possessions to others.

RELATED TO HAVING GROUPS WITH NO REMAINING BACKUP OWNERS: REPLACEMENT GROUP POLICY

The Interim Moderation Team (IMod) is called on when a local mods steps down and there is no new local mod or backup owner locally or when setting up a replacement group for deleted groups or for groups that have been removed from the network.

Two co-owners are set up: ersatzfriend@freecycle.org (EF) and an interim moderator. This will enable us to have a backup owner with EF and the active IMod co-owner moderating the group while seeking a new local moderator to take over. After a period of at least three months after finding a new local moderator, when the interim moderator and the local moderator are both ready, the interim moderator will remove him/herself as co-owner and promote the new local mod to co-owner If the local co-owner wishes to keep EF as the backup co-owner at that time, it is the new local co-owner's business alone to decide this, just as with other groups as voted on in the poll above.

Do make sure the group is set up so that responses go ONLY to offerers (Yahoo! Groups site specific)

It keeps down the sheer number of emails, and will make your life a lot easier. And encourage members to use the standard Freecycle phrases in the subject line of their posts - e.g., OFFER, WANTED, TAKEN and RECEIVED.

Do require that resellers announce their intention to do so

This means, for example, when responding to an Offer or directly in a Wanted posting. This applies to all groups. In addition, some groups may choose to not allow reselling at all; This extended guideline --much like some groups choose not to allow pet postings-- is up to the local group to establish or not.

Required minimum guideline: Resellers must announce their intent to resell an item in responses to Offers and directly in Wanted postings.

Extended potential guideline: Resale of items is not permitted. Items gifted are intended solely for reuse not resale.

Do include this disclaimer in your files section and send it to members when they join your group

Required Disclaimer File

Do stick to the moderator oath of honor and Freecycle etiquette (encouraging members to do likewise)

*** DO STICK TO THE Moderator Oath OF HONOR AND FREECYCLE ETIQUETTE. ENCOURAGE MEMBERS TO DO LIKEWISE: "Be nice." As moderators, you want to want to encourage good manners in terms of scheduling pickups, and being punctual. (Leaving someone hanging is never a nice thing.)

Remember your pledge to be a really nice and patient person when moderating your new Freecycle group. You promised to use the Freecycle name only for your noncommercial Yahoo group. You agreed to remain open to input from members or the occasional democratic polling of your members, but to make the tough calls and decisions in order to spare the rest the long debates.

With great honor, you pledged to keep spam, ads and moneymakers out of your group with the "two strikes, you're out" rule. And, finally, you promised to come clean of your pack-rat ways and clean out your own garage before asking the same of others.

Do live where your group is located

We ask that all moderators live in the area that is served by the group. You then know best the local recycling facilities, local Earth Day dates, local meet-up sites, local recycling nonprofit groups, etc.

Moderators may own (or be the lead moderator on) only one group. Moderators may be back-up moderators on other groups if necessary. A back-up moderator is one who is on a group simply for emergencies. The back-up moderator does not participate in the day to day running of the group and has limited privileges to approve members and messages in case of an emergency.

However, we encourage all groups to find enough local moderators so that a back up is not necessary.

Don'ts

Don't allow politics, proselytizing, spam, money, personal attacks or rudeness

Freecycle policy is 'two strikes & you're out', i.e. moderators are expected to unsubscribe members after two inappropriate postings.

Don't allow the advertising of 'For Sale' or other money related sites in your group

Once someone starts planting the 'try to sell it first' seed locally, it really changes the paradigm of what we are about. We are not for or against selling items. Instead, we simply have no ties whatsoever to it - be it mentioning other sites or asking for money or offering money.

We don't strive for personal gain first through encouraging people to try to sell items. We only encourage magnanimous giving with absolutely no strings attached. You may however choose to encourage members to go to local nonprofit trading or bartering organizations as an alternative - we tend to find that local barter groups are kindred spirits and, while not directly gifting, they are doing lots of good in their own way.

With Freecycle, though, there are no strings attached. Folks just give stuff away!

Don't 'forbid' WANTED postings as a category from your board for ANY period of time

be it a day or a weekend, etc...

WANTEDs serve a valuable purpose, one that becomes clear when you meet the first appreciative recipient whose WANTED post you fulfilled. They remind potential givers of things they might be ready to let go of, and they *really* help local nonprofit groups ask for what they need rather than having to take what they get.

So reinforce how great OFFERs are, and instill in your members the importance of paying forward, but never put down WANTEDs. That's the juggling act we all have. If you do this you'll find that with as your group grows, it will have as many or more Offers as WANTEDs - it's the nature of the beast. We bipeds are basically caring and giving individuals, with just a teensy bit of *positive* reinforcement.

That's what we mods inject into the formula -- positive stuff. "Inject negative karma into the group and ye shall receive unto yourself negative karma." (Someone famous said this at some point, or surely at least thought it). The beauty of our job is that it forces us to always respond in a non-confrontational, non-accusatory, positive, and respectful way. It's good training for the non e-World, too. And it's a great karma boost to boot.

You may find that it helps to limit the frequency of individual member WANTED posts, however, as well as the frequency with which members can post the same WANTED, say once a month or once every couple of weeks.

Don't require that members MUST make an OFFER post as their first act of membership

People react better to asking them rather than telling them if you feel it is a good philosophical issue.

So, you could ask them: "Please consider gettting the ball rolling by first making an offer to the local group. It's good fun and no offer is too small!" We can't require new members make a gift first as it endangers our charitable status.

Don't fully moderate your group

Full moderation of all posts is not allowed. Moderation of new member posts is fine - just remember to take the folks off moderation once they post correctly. Important: The moderation of troublemakers is highly advised.

Freecycle works best without full moderation. Empower your members to give directly to another biped without moderator intervention, quickly, easily and enjoyably. Trust and empower the members directly as much as humanly possible and it'll pay out (forgive the metaphor) in spades when your group gets really big. Why? Because when that time comes, all members will know how to use the rules correctly.

You have taught them how to fish rather than giving them fish for a day, right? This is why we don't allow FULL moderation. It's like "Freecycle Lite." It tastes kind of like The Freecycle Network, but doesn't pack that caffeinated punch, is slower, and more controlled. Be bold, trust, and educate members unless individuals give you a reason not to and moderate those individuals. Moderating new members' first post or two gives you a chance to: -- Weed out spammers. -- Share a pointer or two about how to post, extravagant WANTEDs, etc. -- Tell folks that there's a Freecycle group closer to where they live.

If choosing the New Member [/manual/mod_notmoderated moderation], remember that when removing the 'moderated' status from your members to check 'Use Group Settings'. This allows you to still resort to Full Moderation in case of an extreme situation. If you have checked 'unmoderated', then those members will still be able to post to the group even in the case of a required Full Moderation.

Don't ask for personal information when approving members

This includes full names, addresses, phone numbers, social security number, etc. It is an invasion of our members' privacy and is more than is needed to keep a local group running smoothly. If you limit your group by geographic area, it's enough to ask for cross streets and/or postal codes.

We also don't ask for this information as it exposes local volunteers and the organization overall to the risk of having and maintaining such information. If we don't have such information, we don't risk it being accessed and something happening (robbery, stalking, you name it).

Sharing such personal information also makes potential members uneasy : why does Freecycle need this info? Unfortunately, in today's world, we have to be extremely careful about personal info.

Don't moderate a group with competing aims to Freecycle

Yes, please don't moderate a group with competing aims while moderating with The Freecycle Network. This can lead to conflicts of interest.

Don't be a dictator

If we mods act like dictators, we can only lose. Members will be less energized. Old members we ticked off flame the group, etc. It's really a lesson in life: Be nice under all circumstances or you've already lost.

Even if you just act nice in e-mails, after a while, you'll see everyone being nice in the group, and you'll start really genuinely being nice yourself as a result. Meanies get flamed and their groups don't flourish.