Indeed. Social schemes of this type need a light touch with as few rules as possible.

Sadly (as I found when I started a LETS group some years ago) there is a class of people more interested in forming a committee to run things than in participating in the activity for which the group was conceived.

Freecycle is a neat idea but the last thing it needs is politicking or bureaucracy.

Not sure who you are blaming for the politicking here? As an ex-mod I blame Nan Bixby and the US hub.

The other thing you need is for people to be able to find the website. It seems that the US organisation is being highly protextive of the name “Freecycle”, so what do we Google for to find the alternatives?

Mods are currently voting. Realcycle & myfreecycle are ones some are using. As long as its tagged “freecycle” google should find it even if called “avoiding-landfill-with-a-very-long-name” (I hope!)

I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner, to be honest. The parochial and petty attitude of the US-based management was always going to stifle the growth of the organisation, so in the absence of a revolution at the top the only way forward is for the grassroots to go it alone.

All you here is wah wah wah by a few ungrateful people that couldnt get their way. I bet if they were to jump ship and start a new group, they wouldnt get the amount of people they would get with the Freecycle name. If you dont like it, leave. No one asked you to stay. I say quit blaming the americans becuase many of us are not american and we support the efforts by Deron Beal and The Freecycle Network. I dont think my group would be where it is today if it wernt for the name!. So quit whining, go away and im sure Freecycle will be better off without you.

The new network is called Freegle. www.freegle.org.uk Please spread the word!

I think T you will find some have jumped ship already, in fact, a hell of lot have jumped ship in the last hour.
I have been watching with interest what was going on.

You need to shut up and listen to them because you are with respect talking out of your backside and presuming the moderators are in the wrong.

And before you ask, NO I am not a moderator who has jumped ship.

Or are you a Freecycle monkey T?
Maybe a F stooge?

Mike

I am one of the UK moderators who is leaving the Freecycle Network. These actions are not being taken by myself or others lightly. I also happen to be american and am disgusted by the actions of Deron Beal & the US Freecycle leadership. But this isn’t a cultural problem but one of bad leadership.

I’m a mod of a small Freecycle group and don’t have the time or energy to jump ship. I wouldn’t give a flying fig if that up his own ass yank (Deron) marched in and took the group. He’s welcome to it. Freegle WILL be better as it has the support and more importantly the RESPECT of its volunteers.

In response to Tim Rowe, “how do we Google it?” - yes, it takes some time for new websites to be indexed and get to the top of Google search results. However, if you go to Yahoo!Groups - http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/ - and type freegle in the Find a Yahoo Group search box, you’ll get a listing of the current Freegle groups (which will be increasing in numbers over the next days). As for the main Freegle UK website, it is still under construction, but can be found here: http://www.freegle.co.uk/

If you own your own website/homepage, then adding a link to www.freegle.co.uk will help increase Freegle’s visibility - so if you have a website/myspace page/homepage/twitter account, please do post some links to Freegle :).

*Blushes* - of course, I meant www.freegle.org.uk !!!! (not co.uk)

Hi, I was asked to explain “stuff” by a nearby group’s owner. Here’s what I
sent, and I hope it helps anyone else out…

After more than two years of talks with Deron Beale (the originator and boss of
The Freecycle Network [TFN]) four leading members of Freecycle in the UK
resigned because they were getting nowhere in trying to get some degree of self
autonomy here in the UK. DB’s control is in fact getting ever tighter and the
micromanagement ever deeper. We are in fact subject to American laws and would
be tried in a court in Arizona if, for instance, someone sued us over an event
within our group’s activities.
They have changed various rules and most of the “support” groups put in place
are now more like “regulatory” groups. Interim Mods now routinely move groups
onto MyFreecycle where there are no “owners” - only “lead mods”. This goes
against a promise that moves to MyFreecycle would only ever be voluntary. New
groups are now opened ONLY on MyFreecycle. Again against the promise.

The moderators in the UK Mod Squad (UKMS) got together and a fair number of them
formed an Independent Association of Freecycle Moderators (IAFC Mods) and tried
to open talks with TFN. They emailed all UK group-owner addresses to let them
know about the IAFC and the polls to elect a committee.

TFN has *never* engaged at all with IAFC in any discussion.

TFN demanded control of the group that puts out the official Newsletter for
Freecycle in the UK. The owner refused. He later applied for the vacant UK
Director position and was told that he was not a “person of good standing”. He
queried this. His own local group was then de-listed from TFN and he was told
that it would not be listed again until he stepped down as an owner. He was also
banned from UKMS and any other national groups that TFN had control over, such
as his area mod squad.

Subsequently three other owners were sent the “Dear John” letter which de-listed
their groups until they stepped down and they too were banned from all groups
under the control of TFN. This because they were vocal and active in the defence
of the UK Freecycle ideal and very much involved in notifying groups about what
was happening.(one of them was me).

Then the resigning UK Freecycle Director was sent an absolutely bog standard
“Dear John”. Not even a personalised letter after all his time and hard work on
behalf of Freecycle in the UK.

Then the seven elected members of the IAFC Mods Committee wear “Dear John’ed”.

Now other active members on the IAFC are being summarily dismissed. A total of
23 groups as of late last night and more today, I see, but I’ve lost count.

TFN have gagged UKMS by placing it on full moderation and have told the
owners/mods of UKMS that if they allow any discussion of IAFC or the dismissals
that they too will be dismissed.

IAFC are now attempting to set up a new network in the UK for those groups who
would like to carry on the basic idea and ethos of Freecycle - which is GREAT…
but without the tight American micromanagement and control that goes with it.

Right now it’s proving to be very difficult to find and decide on a new name for
this network, and it looks (from here) like a right mess - but it *will* get
sorted out.

In the meantime the techy types among us (including me) have a network server
and all associated bits set up ready to go (when we have a name) along with a
full set of group documents and a basic home page that groups can quickly put in
place to remove all TFN trademarks and logos. Plus a “how to move home” page and
a “quick help” group on yahoo for mods who might need it.

Several groups have “jumped ship” already in fear of retribution and the news
has now hit the press.

That’s the high points. The detail is gawd know how many thousand posts long!

[…] is not enough check It Pro… Life is sizzling at the moment – read the thread at ItPro, and contribute if you so […]

Well put Richard….
Long live Freegle !!!

You would not expect a thief to tell the truth, would you?

The truth is that they stole their Freecycle Groups, full of Freecycle members, that only joined because of the Freecycle Name.

Now they are trying to justify their thievery and dishonesty with weasely words and half-truths. Oh, and as they can’t produce any real reason for leaving: they drop back to good old Yank-Bashing.

The honourable thing to have done was to set up their own “Freegle” groups. Hand their Freecycle Groups back to Freecycle and invite those group members to join their Freegle Groups.

But, hey, who expects honour from thieves? Or the truth?

Treat them with the utter contempt they deserve.

Pat
Freecycle Group Owner and proud of it!!!!!!!!

You would not expect a thief to tell the truth, would you?

The truth is that they stole their Freecycle Groups, full of Freecycle members, that only joined because of the Freecycle Name.

Now they are trying to justify their thievery and worse with weasely words and half-truths. Oh, and as they can’t produce any real reason for leaving: they drop back to good old Yank-Bashing.

The honourable thing to have done was to set up their own “Freegle” groups. Hand their Freecycle Groups back to Freecycle and invite those group members to join their Freegle Groups.

But, hey, who expects honour from thieves? Or the truth?

Treat them with the utter contempt they deserve.

Pat
Freecycle Group Owner and proud of it!!!!!!!!

Hey Pat - wake up and smell the roses. We are not the ones who have stolen anything. It is clear in the TFN rules that the Group Owners “own” their own groups. If anyone has stolen anything it is the “Yank in Tucson” and his lackies by immediately opening up his own MF groups with our members. Who is the thief now.

Pat, the members don’t belong to anyone, they joined the groupls to offer and request items and to keep stuff out of landfill, they certainly didn’t join because they liked the name.
Now be a good girl and trot off back to your own little world.

Hmm, feelings running high. The thing is there is nothing to stop ordinary members being part of freecycle and freegle (or whatever) so it’s not a eitehr or situation. As long as stuff stays out of landfill, we manufacture a bit less and reuse a bit more I’ll be happy. The mods who do the work need to be happy to so who they work “for” or under what banner is up to them.
Time to chill with a cup of tea anyone? You don’t ahve to shake hands or anything

Pat, please get your facts straight before you impune all the good group owners out there. In the terms and conditions stated in Yahoo Groups, which the Freecycle groups are actually built on, the person who starts the group is the ‘owner’ and takes full responsibility of that group. ‘The Freecycle Network’ in America simply allow us (or did) the use of the name Freecycle as long as we do as they say. Many of us have either left of our own accord or have been told to please hand your groups over as I was. Erm, no, I run my groups for my local community not for somebody in America to amke money both out of my group members and from my hard work in promoting it. I was told to leave months ago so I formed my own network calling it ‘www.freeworld-recycling.org’. Any recycling groups is free to join me without having to change their name or having any rules forced upon it. Each recycling group is, in my very hummble opinion, a local initiative and should not be told how theyrun their local group.

I think we’ll leave the bashing to you, Pat. You seem a quite accomplished basher in a number of ways!

[…] Click here to read various viewpoints […]

As a moderator of a local community Yahoo group (nothing to do with freecycle/recycling etc) as far as I can see, other than make threats, the greatest actual sanction that TFN Hub in the US can take against any UK Freecycle group moderator who gets up their nose is to delist the local freecycle group from the Find or Browse function on the freecycle.org website. Yes, this is a drag, but if the local moderators ignore the threats will this prevent the local group from continuing to function as if nothing had happened? The word Freecycle might have been copyrighted in the US but is it copyrighted in the UK? What if a UK moderator, disapproved of by the TFN hub, hands over his/her role to someone that TFN knows nothing about? Moderator A has resigned - can Moderator B be sued by TFN Hub in US?

Here’s a scenario to play with, and this is my suggestion for the way forward. Example: Ambridge Freecycle, is moderated by Lynda Snell who has sorely rankled the TFN Hub, but Her Stroppiness has refused to resign from being a moderator, so she carries on as if nothing had happened. The TFN Hub responds by delisting the Ambridge Freecycle group. Lynda Snell takes no notice. TFN Hub responds by sending a lawyer’s letter to Lynda Snell. Fearing that she will be taken to the cleaners and lose her house, she hands over the moderatorship to the penniless Jessica who can be sued to kingdom come. OK, so Jessica wouldn’t know an internet from a butterfly net, but she gets by with a little help from her friends…

Now Eddie Grundy, ever interested in FREE STUFF checks out freecycle.org and can’t find an Ambridge group. He tries googling Ambridge and any other useful words which might include freecycle and if the group has been around a while he may well find the Ambridge Freecycle group. However, he has heard that someone has set up a mega directory of all groups that have the freecycle function i.e. this directory works like the Freecycle.org two functions of Search and Browse, but unlike Freecycle.org it will simply be a listing of ALL such groups around the world, by geographical location. The Browse function would need to have a proper drill-down function, showing at minimum, countries and towns, or countries/regions/towns & local areas. So, what name should it be? Freegle has been suggested, but a check of freegle.org shows an Italian under-construction page. It would be fine if the owners of that site are actually setting up something along the lines I suggest. Otherwise any other snappy domain name would do. I don’t have the time or expertise to set up such a website, but for someone a tad more web literate than me it shouldn’t be too tricky, should it?

Tickled Pink - I think you’re talking about Overcycle!

I didn’t join Freecycle because of a name. I joined because I believed in what it was doing. I will happily join any other groups in my area which provide the same service. Long live people who give stuff away free!

Google “Northampton Freecycle” and the 1st two hits are for the east & west groups. 3rd is for Central and a click takes you to
“northamptonUKfreecycle · has moved to northamptonUKfreegle ”
I can’t see there is going to be a problem finding the new groups googling freecycle. Owning a name doesn’t stop it being part of an index does it?

BrightonFreecycle was deleted but I had yahoo reinstate it. Freegle have still refused to list our group even though we have 17,000+ members and have been one of the uks, if not THE most successful freecycle groups. I have always kept the group independant, but my mods who deleted it and started greencycle sussex are listed on freegle. Smell a rat anyone?

www.freebrighton.org

ive got to say im one of those people who has been helped out alot by using freecycle and we have managed to give a home a lovely cat and dog and have also gave away things when there no longer use to us sometimes it has been a godsend and its great to help others.

Thanx for the valuable information. This was just the thing I was looking for, keep posting. Will be visiting back soon.

Oh, how it pains me to see good stuff–or stuff with perfectly good salvageable bits sitting by the curb. Aargh! I once carried a hefty bookshelf several blocks while pushing a stroller. I knew we couldn’t use it, but figured someone wanted it. Turns out that within 24 hours, our new neighbors had painted it to match their li’l girls room. It’s a precious piece of furniture now.

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