Guidelines and Disclaimer

Required Group Guidelines

1. KEEP IT FREE, LEGAL & APPROPRIATE FOR ALL AGES. This means, for example,
   • no pornography,
   • no alcohol,
   • no tobacco,
   • no drugs (of any kind, including all medicines, vitamins, creams, etc.),
   • no firearms or other weapons.
     
     
2. SUBJECT LINE OF POSTS:
   • OFFER: sofa (downtown)
   • TAKEN: sofa
     [Used in conjunction with an Offer]
   • WANTED: sofa (downtown)
     [Please use this post sparingly and don't offer money.]
   • RECEIVED: sofa
     [Used in conjunction with a Wanted]
   • ADMIN: [Used by group moderators - local policy issues, etc.]
     
     
3. WANTED POSTS ARE TO BE USED SPARINGLY. Numerical limits on Wanted posts vary by local group.
   
   
4. RESPONSES GO ONLY TO OFFERER. It keeps down the sheer number of emails.
   
   
5. NO POLITICS, NO SPAM, NO MONEY, NO PERSONAL ATTACKS/RUDENESS, NO PROSELYTIZING/RELIGION.
   
   
6. NO SWAPS/TRADING PLEASE. Go to your local swap/trading organization for this. It can be quite fun. With Freecycle, though, there are no strings attached.
   
   
7. NO PERSONAL ADS. Posting oneself or another person from the human species is not allowed. There are many fine Internet dating sites better suited to this purpose.
   
   
8. NO POSTS ABOUT ANIMALS FOR BREEDING OR FOOD PURPOSES. Beyond this, some groups do allow non-breeding-related posts to find new homes for pets, but ask that it be kept legal and lovingly careful. Other groups prefer not to allow pet postings.
   
   
9. BE NICE. A brief note on Freecycle etiquette: we are all volunteers and we've got a great little community here so when you arrange to pick up an item from another Freecycle member, it is basic good manners to accommodate them as much as possible in terms of scheduling, and then be punctual; they are, after all, giving you something you need and asking nothing in return except that you will show up when you say you will. Also, unless the giver tells you otherwise, assume that they would like you to come by as soon as you can to take away the item.
   
   

PICK UP. Arrange as you like. Generally, you'll wait until you get a handful of responses or maybe overnight, and then you can pick whomever you like! That's half the fun. Consider giving your starving local charity preference if one should respond. Arrange pickup with one person only, rather than "It's on the porch, whoever gets here first gets it." Otherwise you'll become unpopular pretty quickly with your fellow Freecycle group members. Also, only give your phone number to one person at a time or ask for the recipient's phone number. Otherwise you'll get swamped with phone calls.

SAFETY. Be aware! It is up to each individual member of Freecycle when arranging for pickup of the item being given away to be appropriately aware of the potential risk of having "a stranger" come to your home to pick something up. Freecycle as an organization assumes no responsibility for this risk. You may want to arrange to meet in a public place or leave the item on the front porch without mentioning whether or not you will be home at the time of pickup.

Generic Rules

Age limit for members ­ is there one?

No.

However, Yahoo do require users under 13 to have parental consent and create a family account: http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/utos‐173.html

Borrowing and swapping ­ are they acceptable?

No ‐ refer the poster to your Freecycle Café group if you have one.

Car seats ­ are they allowed?

Car seats are allowed on Freecycle groups. Ideally mods shouldn't be limiting what members offer over and above the basics within the main rule, but they have the right to, if they feel they need to for their own conscience. The general feeling is to give the decision on whether to take a seat or not to the member wanting one. The more freedom we can give the members the better.

When we start limiting things we potentially leave ourselves more open to legal issues as effectively if you say something can't go through because it is unsafe, then let something else through, by implication you are saying that item is safe. Once you start doing that where do you stop?

You may however have strong personal feelings on the matter and want to ban them on your group. This is okay too, but we would prefer you to run a well balanced poll to allow the members to decide.

You might want to send out the following statement, or add it to your links page to refer people to. ::If you are receiving a baby/child item, it is your responsibility to check for recalls and safety. The following links from the Consumer Product Safety Commission website provide excellent information: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/category/child.html http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/thrift/thrguid.pdf ::

UK specific: You might want to send out the following link, or add it to your links page to refer people to. It details all the new elements of the car seat law in the UK: http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/

Charities ­ are they allowed?

Yes – local charities are especially welcomed. Charities need to follow the same rules as individual members.

Crash helmets & safety issues, do we get involved?

Ideally mods shouldn't be limiting what members offer over and above the basics within the main rule, but they have the right to, if they feel they need to for their own conscience. The general feeling on is the more freedom we can give the members the better.

When we start limiting things we potentially leave ourselves more open to legal issues as effectively if you say something can't go through because it is unsafe, then let something else through, by implication you are saying that item is safe. Once you start doing that where do you stop?

You may however have strong personal feelings on the matter and want to ban them on your group. This is okay too, but we would prefer you to run a well‐balanced poll to allow the members to decide.

You may wish to inform members of the following link on Crash Helmet safety:

• www.dirtbikerider.co.uk/website_content/how_to/ride/safely_crash_helmet
• http://www.brake.org.uk/index.php?p=489

Cross­posting ­ what is it and what can we do to reduce it?

Cross‐posting is sending your Offer or Wanted request to more than one group at the same time.

It is very time consuming to monitor and unless all surrounding groups have a similar policy it can be very confusing to members where groups have different rules. Some groups send out an admin message to their group as a whole or to individual members along the lines of: <poem>

         WHEN YOU POST AN OFFER OR A WANTED, POST IT *ONLY* TO YOUR HOME GROUP (the 
         one you are closest to). If you haven't received a response after 24‐48 hours, then post it to 
         the next nearest group and so on and so on. Some of your neighboring groups would 
         consider it courtesy to wait 24‐48 hours between each posting. 
          
         This simultaneous cross‐posting is a problem for several reasons, most of which are contrary 
         to the spirit of Freecycle: 
          
         ‐  It drastically increases the number of messages in each group 
         ‐  It is not fair to the members of your home community to get beaten to a good item by 
            someone far away 
         ‐  It wastes fuel and increases pollution because people drive long distances to pick up items 
         ‐  It forces too many people to compete for the same item 
         ‐  It causes the person cross‐posting to deal with excess responses 
         ‐  It is the cause of many no‐shows when people realize how far they'll have to drive 
         ‐  It impedes the building of a local community through recycling items to our neighbors. 
         ‐  It severely restricts members with no transport and limited funds 

</poem>

Distance ­ how far away is it acceptable for a member to live?

A member does not have to live anywhere near a particular Freecycle group in order to be a member of that group: if, for example, they regularly work or visit family or friends in a town that is several hundred miles away from their home address, they can still participate fully in that town's group.

Firearms ­ what is the rule?

Firearms are not permitted on Freecycle. Firearms include shotguns, rifles, and pistols. All weapons are banned from Freecycle. When in doubt, the local moderator should feel empowered to not allow the post in order to be extra safe.

Food ­ is it allowed?

There is no official policy on whether or not food can be offered on Freecycle. It meets the requirements of being 'free, legal, and appropriate for all ages' so there is no obvious reason to ban it other than safety grounds. Each moderation team must decide what their local policy is going to be.

Some moderator's believe that open foods are dangerous and could be tampered with. When people OFFER or WANTED food, the uses may not always be obvious and it may not be for human consumption. For example, people use baby formula as a fish or rat food, cola's can be used for removing lime scale and in a number of science projects, any organic matter can be used for composting. Various foodstuffs and their packaging could be used for craft projects or art installations.

Another question that arises is whether food should be offered if it is beyond the BEST BY or the USE BEFORE dates. USE BEFORE dates are generally important dates after which there is a substantial risk of food poisoning, whereas BEST BY dates are suggestions and may not indicate an increased risk of food poisoning.

Fur – what are the guidelines?

Occasional posts may come up offering fur. For some people this may be divisive and some members may have strong objections to the use of fur. However, there is no reason for a moderator to reject a post asking for, or offering, fur. A moderator's job is not to police a site nor is it to impose their views on their member. As a moderator your job is to make sure things are free, legal, and appropriate to all ages.

If you have reason to believe that the fur being offered or asked for is endangered, you can check the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) website http://www.cites.org/ or W.E.S. (World Endangered Species) website http://library.thinkquest.org.uk/.

UK specific site: DEFRA (Department of the Environment, Fishing and Rural Affairs) website http://www.defra.gov.uk/ .

Landfill test – what is this?

Now this is one of the easiest things about Freecycle. It's the moderators' mantra "Does it save anything from landfill?" If yes, allow, no, deny. However, some local groups choose to allow local free events and local free services to be posted, especially free recycling events, like Green Fairs and Earth Day events.

If you can potentially save it from landfill, no matter how small it is and if it is also "free, legal and appropriate for all ages" and doesn't fall foul of any other rules or guidelines, it is allowed.

Things like people asking for information, rooms to rent, advertising bands, wanting advice or tradesmen's numbers are all non‐tangible, therefore do not save anything from landfill so are generally not posted on main Freecycle groups. They are ideal, however, on your nearest Freecycle cafe group, so do encourage them to be sent there! Borrowing and swapping similarly. However, a good community building option would be to encourage members decide where they would prefer such posts to be sent.

Personal details on the list ­ what are the rules?

Keep them off the list if at all possible. There may be exceptional circumstances which would mean that you might chose to allow an individual to include a phone number in an OFFER posting, for example, but this should not be the norm.

Link to the relevant section of the Mod Manual: Safety Notice

Fuel/Diesel/Gas/Petrol costs; is it okay to request this?

By and large it is acceptable to offer to pay fuel costs if someone has offered to deliver an item to you, but it is unacceptable to attach any "strings" to a Freecycle offer, so no, you cannot request them.

Pets & animals ­ offers, wanteds & pet mods ­ what is allowed?

The question whether or not to allow pets and other animals to be offered on Freecycle is controversial.

Aside from pets, moderators may have to consider whether they are going to allow rodents (such as pet mice), feed animals (mice, rats, etc are often fed to snakes and other reptiles) and livestock (generally poultry of some sort).

There is no uniform Freecycle Policy regarding the offering of or asking for pets and animals. Each group is free to form their own opinion based on local circumstances and perhaps a member vote.

When deciding how to deal with animals a moderator should take into account their geographical area, the predominant views of the area they live in, and their own 'comfort zone'.

Some groups have decided to allow people to OFFER pets, but not post WANTEDs as some people asking for pets could be looking for 'puppy mill' stock. Putting some links to local animal rescue centers in the links section is helpful. As a general rule, adverts for lost pets have no place on Freecycle, however, these types of posts can be appropriate on Café Groups.

There is a 'pet moderator' handbook available at: Pet Moderator Handbook

Pet moderators can share and learn about available animal resources including shelters, rescues and other animal lover issues on the Pet Mods group

To have your Pet Moderator invited to this invitation‐only group, please submit the following information to freecyclepetmods‐owner@yahoogroups.com

• Group name & Link
• Pet moderator Name and email
• Group owners name

Recommendations for services/tradespeople ­ is that ok?

It is best to refer the poster to your Café group, if you have one.

Reselling – what are the guidelines?

While claiming or asking for items in order to resell or redistribute them does not violate Freecycle guidelines, some members prefer to give their items directly to the people who will use them personally. For this reason, members are entitled to ask responders if they intend to resell the item in question before agreeing to the transaction.

Resellers MUST disclose their intention to resell/redistribute any item when accepting an offer and when making wanted posts.

Members who fail to disclose this information when asked or when posting a wanted need to be issued a strike*, reminded of the rules and kept on moderation.

A strike is warning for a serious misdemeanor; two strikes can lead to a member being unsubscribed – at the owner's discretion.

Link to the relevant section of the Mod Manual: Reseller Guidelines

Sob stories ­ what constitutes one and why are they not recommended?

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

Tickets and vouchers ­ are they allowed?

This is up to you. Often moderators refer messages for tickets and vouchers to café groups. Please see the answer to the question ‐ What items are NOT allowed on Freecycle?

“No Trading” – what does that mean in the rules ­ no selling or no swapping?

This tends to mean swapping. In fact, members who are traders (i.e. sell items away from Freecycle) CAN be members and they CAN even get items with the intention of selling them on, although some groups choose to prohibit this.

Members can't sell, buy or swap items ON a Freecycle group but they are allowed to do any of these things with the items afterward under the following conditions.

• If someone posts a WANTED planning to sell the item afterward, they must declare it up front.
• If someone answers an OFFER posting planning to sell the item they must declare this if asked by the person offering the item.

The following admin message is useful to explain this: Resellers

What does misusing the word `Freecycle' mean?

The term "Freecycle" must be used as an adjective or proper noun; never as a verb. For example:

• Please don't use the words `Freecycler', `Freecyclin', `Freecycling', `freecycles', `Freecycling group.'
• Please don't say anything like `Please Freecycle your xxx.'

New groups may use the word Freecycle in their group name/title, but should not be approved with any variations of the word Freecycle in their name, title or description, like freecycler, freecycles.

The term "Freecycle" in text must always be capitalized to set it off from the surrounding text. Example: Yes, Freecycle groups are great!

Link to the relevant section of the Mod Manual: Trademark

What items are NOT allowed on Freecycle?

Please do not allow anything that:

• is not free
• has 'strings attached'
• is illegal
• is not appropriate for all ages (the post or the item)

Deciding whether to accept vouchers and tickets is up to individual groups. Most groups choose to route them to Cafes. The acceptance of animal posts is also an individual group decision. The only thing that might be of concern is if the voucher has a name on it. This means it is intended to be used specifically by the person whose name is on the voucher. It is illegal to use a voucher that does not hold your name.

Please see the answer to the question ‐ Landfill test – what is this?

Which rules are down to individual groups to decide?

Contrary to popular belief, most of them. The core rules that are mandatory for all groups are shown in BOLD in the Mod Manual at: Rules and Guidelines

Everything else is at the discretion of individual group owners/moderators. It is entirely up to individual groups whether, for example, they have a "No Pets" rule, or a "must give location" rule, or rules restricting the number or frequency of WANTED postings that may be submitted by individual members.

Which rules are fixed and not negotiable?

The core Freecycle rules that are mandatory:

1. KEEP IT FREE, LEGAL & APPROPRIATE FOR ALL AGES.

2. SUBJECT LINE OF YOUR POSTS. Use these phrases:

 OFFER: Thingamajig - Location
 TAKEN: Thingamajig - Location (Used in conjunction with Offer)
 WANTED: Thingamajig - Location
 RECEIVED: Thingamajig - Location (Used in response to Wanted)
 ADMIN: (Used by Owners and Mods ‐ local policy dictates)

3. NO POLITICS, NO SPAM, NO MONEY, NO PERSONAL ATTACKS/RUDENESS, NO PROSELYTIZING/RELIGION.

4. NO TRADING PLEASE.

5. RESPONSES GO ONLY TO OFFERER.

6. PICK UP...SAFETY. Be aware!

7. NO OFFERING YOURSELF OR YOUR CHILDREN.

8. A BRIEF NOTE ON FREECYCLE ETIQUETTE: "Be nice."