Moderator Manual:Common Issues
From FreecycleFAQ
The admins/notices are one-time notes that you might send out on occasion to the whole group as a specific situation arises.
Common issues encountered by moderators
- ANIMAL POSTINGS. Posts for animal breeding or use as food are NOT allowed. Otherwise, this is a local decision.
- CHARITY ORGANIZATIONS. Charities must follow the same rules as individual members
- CROSS-POSTING. Posting the same thing on two or more Freecycle.org sites at the same time. Some groups try to control this and forbid cross posting, but it is almost impossible to enforce a no cross-posting rule for members who are not on moderation.
- EMAIL ADDRESS OR ID's. Occasionally a member applies with an obnoxious screen name or address. It is okay to reject their membership and ask them to change to something more family-friendly. Just explain to them everything has to be appropriate for all ages.
- FREECYCLE.ORG IS NOT A CHARITY. Many members misunderstand our purpose. It is a recycling organization dedicated to keeping stuff out of the landfill by re homing it. Members may give their items to anyone they please. It is not based on who needs it most.
- GARAGE SALES, YARD SALES, and BOOT SALES. Members may post the free remainders from their garage sale if they don't include the time of the sale. The Sale itself cannot be advertised.
- IS A POST APPROPRIATE FOR FREECYCLE.ORG? This is NOT a required rule but a lot of groups use it to decide the answer. “Is it a tangible item that can be saved from the landfill?”
- MODS GROUP. A lot of groups have a Mods Group setup on Yahoo Groups for just the mods from their group. It is a good way to let the other mod/s know if you want a member to be kept on permanent moderation. You name it something like ModsofCleveland or BentonMods. You setup a database on the Mods group titled Moderated Members with the following categories ID, e-mail address, Date, Reason, Notes, by moderator, comments or whatever categories you think you will use. Then anyone you place on moderation you add them to the database so the other mod/s can see why they are on moderation and if it should be permanent or temporary.
- RESELLING. It is required by TFN that intention to resell must be announced up front, either as a response to an Offer post or in the original Wanted post. See Reseller Guidelines for more information.
- SOB STORIES. A sob story is anything that might be considered to be designed to appeal to the sympathy of a reader. Actually although sometimes annoying, sob stories are not actually prohibited. Some stories are quite good; deciding which is sob and which is not is very subjective. However, they cannot be verified, and may simply be the attempts of unscrupulous people to gain personal advantage, although members are able to judge this for themselves.
- SPAMMERS. Anyone sending a spam message to be posted on the group needs to be dealt with firmly. This includes sales people, social networking sites, etc. Any attempt to make a post that has nothing to do with the Freecycle.org purpose is spam. Sometimes good member’s email gets hacked and spam sent that appears to have come from them. If it is a regular member, you can act accordingly, by placing them back on moderation and writing them a letter about it. But if it is a new member who has just joined to send spam then go ahead and remove them from your group.
- STRANGE STUFF. Some medical supplies should be researched to determine if they need a prescription or are safe to pass on used. Anything that requires a prescription cannot be posted. Not a clue? Ask on the Modsquad.
- WEAPON. What is a weapon? Just use your good common sense. A gun is a weapon, a case knife is not..
| ADMIN - Crossposting | Cross-posting is sending your Offer or Wanted request to more than one group at a time. Why it is not wanted on Freecycle. |
| ADMIN - Description of Items | When posting your items to the list, make sure that the item offered is accurately described. |
| ADMIN - Too Hot... Be Nice | In heat waves, tempers may be raised - Be nice please |
| ADMIN - Holiday Requests | Holidays are approaching, how to deal with excess WANTED posts and charity Requests |
| ADMIN - Proof that animals end up in landfills | |
| ADMIN - How Messages Are Moderated | A Message on How We Moderate Messages |
| ADMIN - New Group Announcements | Advertise a new group in the area (Group split).. |
| ADMIN - No shows | Several admins regarding people not showing up when arranged. |
| ADMIN: Not getting what you Wanted? | |
| ADMIN - Purple Octopus | What Freecycle is / is not about |
| ADMIN - Using Received vs. Taken in Subject Lines | Using Received vs. Taken in Subject lines |
| ADMIN - Resellers | Resellers must announce their intent to resell an item in responses to Offers and directly in Wanted postings. See the Reseller Guidelines for more information. |
| ADMIN - Phone Numbers and Addresses | Freecycle(TM) discourages phone numbers and addresses in message posts. It is simply a matter of safety. |
| ADMIN - Sob Stories | There is no requirement listed that states a poster has to justify any requests made, and sometimes it just needs to be stated that some posts are over the top. |
| ADMIN - Distribution of Software, CDs, DVDs, et al | Software and other forms of media fall under Copyright agreements. This message serves to clarify this group's stance on the distribution of software, CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, recorded music, taped media and other printed materials via Freecycle(TM). |
| ADMIN - When Members Solicit Sales in Response to a WANTED Post | Soliciting sales is not permitted on Freecycle(TM) lists. This ADMIN is provided to address the group as a whole when members are attempting to solicit sales from other members who have requested items as a WANTED on local groups. |
| ADMIN - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle | The 3 R's - Everyone Can Offer Up Something |
| ADMIN - Freecycle and Tickets, Coupons, etc | The official XXXX Freecycle policy on coupons, tickets, etc is that they can be OFFERED, but not asked for. |
| ADMIN - To Post or Not to Post... That is the Question | This makes it quite easy to pick any item and run it through a series of questions that will give you a definitive answer on whether or not it meets guidelines according to Freecycle (International) criteria. |
For required files, please click here.
For suggested responses to inappropriate posts, please click here.
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