Group policies on behaviour

As well as considerations of etiquette, the following policies cover your behaviour while on Freegle, and are common to all groups in Norfolk:

• Etiquette
• Off-topic messages
• Cross-posting and repeat postings
• Wanted messages
• Phone numbers and personal details
• First come, first served
• Businesses and organisations
• Selling items obtained on Freegle
• Postage, payment and swaps
• Borrowing and lending

Etiquette 

Please be polite in your dealings with other members. Needless to say, messages that badger, harass, threaten, offer money for advertised items, or are otherwise unacceptable, are not tolerated. If you receive such messages, please do not respond to them. Instead, forward them to your group's moderator and let them handle the issue. This way we also know if someone is harassing several people. People who engage in this kind of conduct will be given a warning in the form of a Strike - two Strikes and you're out.

Off-topic messages 

We ask all members to stay on topic, whether posting to the list or direct to another member. Freegle groups should only be used for OFFER, TAKEN, WANTED or RECEIVED messages, plus ADMINs from the moderators. Do not email other members about non-Freegle things (e.g. money-making schemes, sponsorship, "funnies", etc.) There is a Café group for chat - all welcome!

Cross-posting and repeat postings 

Cross-posting is sending the same Offer or Wanted message to multiple groups at the same time. Repeat posting is sending the same message (i.e. same item/s) to the same group twice or more in succession. Members are requested not to do this, as it creates extra traffic and is annoying to other members. Simply post to your most local group first - if you don't get any responses, then you can post your message to the same group again, or move on to another group. Please wait 3 days for Offers, and one week for Wanteds (in line with the "one Wanted per member per week" policy - see below). When posting to a non-local group, please make sure that you say which group you have already tried. Members who persist in cross-posting or repeating messages too soon will be placed on moderation.

Wanted messages 

In response to members' concerns about the number of Wanted messages posted by some people, we have introduced a policy of one Wanted message per member per week. Please do not post more that one Wanted request in any 7-day period. You are welcome to include multiple requests in one Wanted message. See this page for more information on the reasons behind our Wanteds policy.

Phone numbers and personal details 

Please do not include phone numbers (or other personal details such as full postcodes or exact addresses) in messages to the whole group. Once you are in personal contact with another member regarding an item, then of course you are welcome to exchange details, but we cannot guarantee the security of personal details posted publicly. Remember that messages are archived at Yahoo indefinitely, as well as emailed to potentially thousands of people. Moderators will remove phone numbers in messages that are held for moderation, and will delete non-moderated messages which contain phone numbers (and invite the author to re-post).

First come, first served 

It is always up to the Offerer of an item to decide who gets it. However, Offerers should make a decision and work with one person at a time in terms of exchanging details and arranging a time to collect. Please do not give your address to multiple people at once with the idea that the first person to arrive at your house can have the item. This will result in wasted journeys and annoyance.

To be absolutely clear: giving the first person to reply your address and/or phone number to arrange collection is absolutely fine. Giving your address to everyone and waiting to see who turns up is not acceptable. (Note that you do not have to pick the first person to reply if you prefer to choose another way - see below.)

Fair Offer Policy (FOP) 

Some members choose to use a Fair Offer Policy, or FOP, and you will see this stated in their messages. This means that they will wait for a while, at least 24 hours, to collect a number of replies before choosing a recipient, because they feel it is fairer to members who are not online often. A common complaint to the moderators is that items are given away "too quickly", with Taken messages sometimes appearing only a few minutes after Offers.

The moderators support the Offerer's right to choose a recipient for their item however they wish. FOP is certainly not compulsory. At the end of the day, Freegle is about rehoming unwanted items, and as long as both giver and receiver are happy with things, then so are the mods!

Businesses and organisations 

We are continually looking for new ways in which we can get more community participation, and we are pleased to say that Freegle is open to non-profit organisations and businesses, as well as individuals. We welcome all participation, as every item passed on is one less thing landfilled, no matter who takes it. (That said, we recognise that businesses will most likely see Freegle as a place to re-home replaced equipment/furniture rather than somewhere to obtain items.)

Our policy on use of the groups by businesses and other organisations, is that if anything is to be resold, then the requesting person must state this on their request to the Offering member, or in their Wanted post. We feel it is only fair that members get the chance to make a fully informed decision about where their items go, whether it be to a person in need, or for resale (which may be to low income families and suchlike, but is still resale).

Selling items obtained on Freegle 

As above, if anything is intended to be sold on (or used to make something which is then sold on), then the person requesting it must state this. We feel it is only fair that members get the chance to make a fully informed decision about where their items go. Some people feel that making money out of Freegle items is "against the spirit of Freegle" - we disagree. Freegle is solely about trying to reduce the amount of waste we create. Whether that makes a profit for someone or not is of no concern to us. Our only concern is that members are 100% honest in their dealings with others, and that items don't go to landfill unnecessarily.

Postage, payment and swaps 

Just a quick reminder that Freegle is for free items and the following are not allowed:

• requests for postage
• requests for delivery
• requests for swaps
• anything involving payment

Freegle is for truly free items only! Occasionally people offering an item may generously also offer to deliver or post the item - this should be treated as a private agreement beyond the bounds of Freegle, and the moderators will not intervene in any resulting disputes. However, it can be useful when requesting items to tell the offerer if you have no transport and may need extra time to arrange collection.

Swaps can seem like a nice idea but items given on Freegle should never have any expectation of an exchange attached. If it just so happens that a recipient has something else the giver wants, then that's fine, but all Offers/Wants should always be strictly no-strings-attached.

Offers of/requests for skills or time are not appropriate on this board and should be directed to the Café group or the local LETS scheme (which has been discussed before on the Café as well).

Offering items on Freegle when you have related items for sale (e.g. on eBay) is a grey area. Freegle items should certainly not be used as "bait" to get people interested in other items which are for sale (not that we have ever seen this on our group), and we would recommend that you sell whatever you wish to before putting the other items on Freegle, so that the paid-for and free things are kept 100% separate.

Borrowing and lending 

Freegle is not a forum for borrowing or lending items. This is for two reasons:

1 - Freegle's main purpose is to keep stuff out of landfill. Borrowing things that someone has no intention of throwing away doesn't help this aim.

2 - We really can't afford to get heavily into borrowing/lending due to the potential for misunderstandings and disagreements (how long the thing was loaned for, what condition it was in, whether instructions were clear, etc.).

What we would suggest is that you post a Wanted ad for the item you'd like. You may get the item offered to you, in which case you could put it on Freegle again when you are finished with it! You could also try the Café group.

If you do agree privately with someone to lend or borrow an item, then Freegle has no responsibility in the matter. As lending falls outside Freegle's purpose, the moderators will not intervene in any dispute, nor will we take action against any member for breaches of any agreement made, whether verbal, by email, or otherwise.

We hope that's clear. It's not that we don't think community lending isn't a good idea, but it's just that we are not equipped to handle it (or the various sticky situations which could arise) properly.

Last modified: 11th March 2010

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