Freecycle - Vital Information for members (Long but please read)

Freecycle - Vital Information for members (Long but please read) This mail is sent out at intervals to all members of this Freecycle group to remind them of the groups' rules. Please read it from time to time to refresh your memory.

This Freecycle group matches people who have things they need to get rid of with people who can use them. Our goal is to keep usable items out of the landfill. By using what we already have on this earth, we reduce consumerism, manufacture fewer goods, and lessen the impact on the earth. Another benefit of using Freecycle is that it encourages us to get rid of items that we no longer need and promote community involvement in the process.

Catchment area for Reading UK Freecycle

Reading UK Freecycle is a local group for local people of the Reading area. To comply with the local rules of Reading UK Freecycle if you do not live within the catchment area of the group we are afraid that your membership to this group will either be rejected on application to join or when we find your membership is outside of the catchment area you will be removed from the group.

We hope and trust that the local members of Reading UK Freecycle will enjoy their Freecycle experience more as a result of this decision. If you have any concerns or enquiries with regards to this rule, please do not hesitate in contacting the moderating team:

THE BASIC STUFF:

*KEEP IT FREE, LEGAL & APPROPRIATE FOR ALL AGES. This INCLUDES your profile!!! This also means, no pornography/adult material, alcohol, tobacco, drugs (legal or otherwise), firearms or other weapons (including a parts for, or replicas of, items) no unregistered scrap metal dealers. No advertising your car boot sales etc either, please, as this involves money.

*NO Spam is to be posted to the group OR sent privately to group members EVER. Offenders WILL be put back on moderation.

*NO Politics. NO Religion. NO personal attacks or rudeness (to other members or the Moderators). NO money. NO trading/bartering. EVER!

The rules above are enforced and there will be *NO* exceptions. If you break the rules you are placed back on moderation immediately. Please respect the rules - they are here to ensure the using the group is a pleasant experience for everyone. Abuse sent to moderators or other members will result in your membership being removed immediately.

*E-mail Settings** You can choose your email delivery options ...

'Individual mail', 'Daily Digest' or 'No Mail'. With Individual mail you will receive each post in a separate email message. With

Digest you will receive a group of messages once 25 messages have been posted.

No Mail will mean you need to read all the messages on the groups website, you will still receive any Admins that are sent out by the Moderators.

We set your membership to digest when you join but you can change it to what you prefer at any time. Ask us if you don't know how to change the settings and we will change them for you.

*DO NOT use more than one profile or email address in an attempt to post more wanted messages and receive more items. That is dishonest and quite rude to the other members and we *WILL* figure it out anyway. When we do, you WILL be removed from the group and you will be reported to all Freecycle moderators.

*DO NOT use taglines, email names, signature lines and/or footers that are excessively long or contain business information, addresses, websites. They WILL be edited or removed at the moderator's discretion.

*DO NOT use an auto responder to reply to posts. Anyone found using one will be removed instantly.

*DO NOT EVER contact another member or Moderator only to be rude or judgmental. If you have opinions about what someone posts or says, we expect you to be mature enough to keep them to yourself. Personal attacks or harassment of our members and Moderators WILL NOT BE TOLERATED and will result in your removal from the group.

*If you have a problem or an issue with another member please contact the Moderators who will do their best to resolve it off list. DO NOT post a complaint to the board. These will be removed and you will be put back on moderation until the problem is sorted.

WANTED POLICY.. Each member is limited to ONE wanted post per fortnight (two weeks, 14 days). Each wanted post will be limited to requesting 2 specific items. Also, the use of words such as Desperate and Urgent are banned from wanted posts, along with other emotive language and emotional appeals (as is consistent with the current policy) We hope that you will enjoy your Freecycle experience more as a result, of these actions.

The board is ONLY for OFFERED, WANTED, TAKEN, RECEIVED and ADMIN messages - all other messages will be removed. ONLY the Lead Moderators may post Admin messages. Please remember that the Moderators cannot help you if they do not know you have a problem.

*We advise you not to put your telephone number in your post but if you do you must realise that well in excess of 26,000 other members of this group will see it.

*Remember that when we speak to people face-to-face, around 75% of the meaning is conveyed by non-verbal means - tone of voice, inflection, nuances, body language, etc - but those cues are not available in an email or instant message which makes it much harder to interpret someone's attitude or feelings. We should therefore be careful about drawing hasty conclusions to any messages we may receive from other users. Please also remember that there are people using the board for whom the written word is a difficult way to express themselves, these can include, amongst others, those who write or speak English as a second language, are inexperienced on computers and the internet or those that have specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia or any of the Autistic Spectrum disorders. If someone sends you an email and you're not sure how to take it, assume it was meant the best possible way. Also Freecycle is not just limited to over 18's, there are a great many younger members to consider within this group and all other local groups.This will help you feel better about other members and prevent you from firing off angry emails. If you still have a problem after doing this then bring it to the attention of the Moderators.

*DO indicate what area you are located in when posting offers, wants and when responding to messages. PLEASE note this in the subject line of your post. It is VERY important to do this so that you don't get tons of replies from people to far to come pick it up anyway. If your post does not include your location it will be rejected.

*Please be totally honest in the descriptions of the items offered. If it is broken, bits are missing or it needs a jolly good clean then say so! It will probably still find a home, as there are people out there who relish the challenge of fixing things up or repairing broken items. However there is nothing more disappointing than getting something home and finding out that it doesn't work or needs far more work than you are capable of. Do not be the one to spoil someone else's Freecycle experience.

*Please post more Offers than Wants! We cannot stress this enough. Keep the Wanted posts to a minimum and follow the guidelines on them. Be realistic and considerate when making requests. Police yourself on this one so we don't have to because we DO enforce the wanted rules.

*NO Cross-posting. Freecycle works best when kept at the local level. If you belong to more than one Freecycle group, POST TO ONLY ONE GROUP at a time. Wanted messages cross-posted to several groups at once may be deleted without notice at the moderator's discretion.

To avoid cross-posting, please follow these simple suggestions. If you want to Offer an old freezer (or whatever), send your message to the group closest to you first and consider that one your "home" group. If after a few days you don't get any takers for your item, move on to the next group. This is more for your benefit than anything else - if you send the Offer to 1000's of people across the South East you'll get more replies than you can answer and most of them too far away to make it worthwhile. The same goes for wants - try your home group first and post to the other groups ONLY if you don't find it in the first group. We don't mean waiting an hour or two either - we mean days!

*DO NOT post for the same item repeatedly. Once per month is more than enough. Please be patient. Not every wanted message can (or will be) answered right away. Your messages remain in the archives, which are open to our members to browse at their leisure so they are still out there. Repeated messages will be deleted without notification and your status returned to moderated.

*If you post on behalf of or representing a charity your post MUST contain your charity number. This includes asking for items to be sold or given away as prizes to raise funds e.g. Wanted: Items for a charity Raffle. This post must include the name of the charity and its charity number. Your post will not be approved or will be removed if it does not contain it.

Anyone found fraudulently posting as a charity or misrepresenting themselves will be banned from this group, reported to the charities commission and will have their details passed on to the owners of all Freecycle groups in the area. WHAT TO POST AND WHAT NOT TO POST:

*DO post offers for all the good stuff you don't need anymore... furniture, appliances, toys, clothes, lawnmowers, car parts, etc. If it's still good, then someone probably could use it.

*DO mark your post as Taken message when your item is gone and mark your Wanted post Received when your Want has been met. We cannot keep the archives up-to-date if you do not.

*Please DO NOT write an entire message in capital letters. That is considered screaming in Internet etiquette and it is very hard on most people's eyes. If you use all caps because of medical conditions, please let us know and we will work with you on it. Posts written in all caps will returned to you for editing.

*DO NOT post your address directly to the group! Think Safety! Such information WILL BE edited out of messages and the message will be deleted from the archives. Give this info ONLY to the person willing to come pick up your item. Meet in a public place if you want or need to.

*DO NOT submit free-for-all posts (such as "It's on the doorstep, whoever gets here first can have it.') Posting in that manner encourages hundreds of people to head that direction, and 99% of those people will walk away disappointed and empty-handed, after having expended a great deal of time and petrol for nothing. Please pick out a few items, post them and set up a specific time for people to pick the items up. That approach may seem like more work but if people are making unneeded trips for nothing it will sour them towards you and towards Freecycle in general and that's not good for anyone. Ultimately, these posts will be edited by a moderator or returned to you for editing.

The basic mission of Freecycle is to keep items out of landfills. A corollary of that is *environmentalism* which is best served by not having members driving around wasting fossil fuels unnecessarily for items that will be gone when they get there anyway.

*NO requests for money EVER!

*NO requests for Frequent Flyer miles, phone cards or special events tickets such as football games or concerts. We are sorry and wish we could help but Freecycle is just not the place for things like that. If anyone has something like that to share they will post an offer.

*NO requests or Offers for G-mail accounts or similar non- tangibles such as help in the garden, or with charity events and no loans or borrows of items.

*DO NOT offer prescription drugs. It is illegal to transfer a prescription to another person, not to mention unsafe.

*DO NOT offer or request opened and/or partially used cosmetics or personal care products, as there could be hygiene issues with those products. Offers of unopened/unused cosmetics and personal care products are welcome though.

*NO advertising your garage sale unless it is to offer what is left over for free. DO NOT post your address to the group, just the general area and what time to show up. People close enough to come by can email you for the exact address.

If you are an EBAY seller, thrift store owner, or a reseller of any kind, FULL DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INTENTION TO SELL ITEMS RECEIVED FROM FREECYCLE MEMBERS IS REQUIRED UP FRONT. You MUST disclose your intent to sell either in your original Wanted post or when responding an offer so the donor can make an informed decision as to whom they give their item to. Members have the right to enquire as to the intended use of any item they offer. If you believe an item of yours has been sold with out you being told then PLEASE contact us and we will look into it.

ANYONE FOUND SELLING ITEMS OBTAINED ON THIS LIST ON EBAY, AMAZON, THE CLASSIFIEDS ,OTHER YAHOO OR INTERNET GROUPS OR CAR BOOT SALES WITHOUT DISCLOSING THEIR INTENTION TO DO SO WILL BE REMOVED FROM THIS SITE AND THEIR DETAILS WILL BE PASSED TO THE OWNERS OF ALL THE FREECYCLE GROUPS IN THIS LOCALITY.

*NO TRADING!!!! Bartering has its own set of laws and regulations and such transactions are taxable and reportable to the government. Freecycle is simply not set up for that sort of activity. However, there are webs sites and groups for trading/bartering out there to be found if that interests you.

*Do NOT contact people in response to a want they posted and offer to sell them something! If you are not willing to give it for free at this time, please don't bring it up. Offences on this rule will get you removed and reported.

*DO NOT request money for your offers either, or set rules about who can take the item. Freecycle means FREE, with NO strings attached!!

*Do NOT expect people to deliver stuff to you. If they offer then that's great but it is not a right to be demanded.

A FEW LAST THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:

*Gifting does NOT have to be 1st responded, 1st served!! It's been suggested that the first person to reply to your offer may not always be the best person to take your item, so consider the people who can't stick by their computer all day. To simply choose the first responder every time stops MANY deserving people from ever having an opportunity of participate. Many groups ask their members to wait 24 hours before deciding who will receive their item (Fair Offer Policy or FOP). This cannot really be enforced but sometimes it would be helpful to those that don't have as much computer access so please consider it if your circumstances allow. The ultimate decision is up to the person giving the item and to choose the recipient as they see fit.

*If you have responded to an offer this is no guarantee the item is yours until you hear from the gifter and they tell you it is! Give your personal information (privately, not on the list) to one potential gifter / recipient at a time, and ask for their phone number in return.

*Once you are set to give or receive an item, make arrangements to collect as you like but please practice common courtesy in accommodating people's schedules.

*Arrange pickup with only one person at a time. Often it is possible to gift an item without having to rearrange your schedule by simply leaving the item in a designated location, such as the porch or along side the garage. Share this info only with the receiver, not with the entire group.

*DO NOT promise your items to one person and then give them to another! Again, please treat others the way you would wish to be treated.

*DO NOT take more than you were promised! If someone agrees to leave an item on the porch for you, don't rudely take advantage and swipe the things left for others!!

*Mailing a small item is perfectly fine if both parties involved agree to it, someone is willing to pay the postage AND the item still remains FREE. If you promise someone you will repay them for the postage, be a good citizen and make sure you do just that.

Thank you for being here and being a part of this movement. The generosity and kindness we have seen since getting involved with

Freecycle is quite amazing... and we are proud to be a part of it.

Keep up the good work and enjoy your Freecycle experience.

Kind Regards, Reading UK, Moderating team.

DISCLAIMER.

FREECYCLE MEMBERS USE FREECYCLE GROUPS AT THEIR OWN RISK. Please take reasonable measures to protect your safety and privacy when posting to group lists or when completing a direct gifting with another member. By joining a Freecycle list, you agree to hold neither the list owners, moderators, nor anyone affiliated with The Freecycle Network responsible or liable for any circumstance resulting from a Freecycle-related gifting or communication.