Birmingham

Birmingham Freecycle Group Rules

Birmingham Freecycle.org: Group Rules and Guidelines

Aim:

This Freecycle group matches people who want to get rid of things 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.

Moderators:

i. Moderators have produced these rules to promote the group's aims.

ii. Moderators will remove content or restrict posting privileges if it is deemed to conflict with these rules or be detrimental to the group or to the experience of others.

iii. If you think your post has disappeared, see spam or an inappropriate post, or have any other group-related concerns, please contact the mods: we're happy to help.

iv. Don't post a complaint to the board. These will be removed.

v. Please remember that the moderators cannot help you if they do not know you have a problem.

vi. Owing to limited moderator resources, please keep to the point and avoid unnecessary noise. Similarly, sending emails to the ModTeam about moderation delays is counter-productive and we will not enter into discussions about moderation status.

Privacy:

vii. Never, in any circumstances, post your phone number or address directly to the group. 

viii. Only provide your home address to a group member if you are comfortable and when you are confident that an exchange will happen. Give the address of a public place or other safe space if you aren't completely sure.

ix. Be careful what your post informs others about your life. Throwaway comments about your financial circumstances can attract fraud, scams, and predatory individuals and organisations. Posts that reveal personal data may be rejected by moderators. 

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)'s advice about social networking should be read and remembered: https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/online/social-networking 

Basics:

1. All submissions must be FREE, LEGAL & APPROPRIATE FOR ALL AGES. This also includes any content on your profile.

1.1. This also includes, but isn't limited to: no pornography/adult material, alcohol, tobacco, drugs (legal or otherwise), firearms or other weapons (including a part(s) for, or replicas of, items).

Defining "Free":

2. As all submissions to the group must be offered or requested free, these corollaries apply:

2.1. No advertising car boot sales.

2.2. No offering to pay for delivery or asking for payment for delivery.

2.3. No requests for 'tips'.

2.4. No trading/bartering. Bartering has its own set of laws and regulations and such transactions are taxable and reportable. Freecycle is not set up for that sort of activity.

2.5. No requests for borrowing or lending services.

2.6. No advertising services. All exchanges must be closed exchanges, self-contained within a post to the group and complete at the single point of exchange.

2.7. If you are an EBAY seller, thrift store owner, or a reseller of any kind, full disclosure of your intention to sell these items received from Freecycle members is required up front.

Communications:

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. However 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. This 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.

If someone sends you an email and you're not sure how to take it, assume it was meant the best possible way. 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.

3. Material that can be classified as spam is not to be posted to the group or sent privately to group members.

3.1. Spam here includes repeated attempts to contact a group member about a product.

3.2. You can choose your email delivery options to suit your needs. The options include: "Individual mail", "Daily Digest" or "No Mail".

3.2.2. 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.

3.2.3. "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.

3.3. Birmingham Freecycle.org is not your soapbox, personal army, or advertising platform. Therefore:

3.3.1. Interactions should absolutely include no mention of politics or religion.

3.3.2. No personal attacks or rudeness (to other members or the Moderators). 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 result in your removal from the group.

3.4. Do not use more than one profile or email address in an attempt to post more wanted messages and receive more items. When discovered, moderators will remove all accounts related and report the member to Freecycle.org.

3.5. Do not use taglines, email names, signature lines and/or footers that are excessively long or contain business information, addresses, websites, or phone numbers.

3.6. Do not write an entire message in capital letters. Caps Lock should not be cruise control. 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.

Posting:

Location:

4. All posts must indicate what area you are located in. This is hugely important. Posts without location details are rejected if brought to moderators' attention.

4.1. Location details can include either the postcode or part of the postcode, e.g. "B14". They could also include the name of suburb, e.g. "Harborne". However it should not just list "Birmingham". Your membership of a Birmingham group makes this self-evident.

Item Description:

4.2. Please be totally honest in the descriptions of the items offered.

4.2.1. Please state whether items are broken, parts are missing or if it needs a jolly good clean. 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. There is nothing more disappointing than getting something home and finding out that it doesn't work or requires far more work than you can give. Don't be the one to spoil someone's Freecycle experience.

Post Types:

4.3. Please post more Offers than Wanteds! Keep the Wanted posts to a minimum and follow the guidelines on them. Be realistic and considerate when making requests.

Cross-Posting / Other Freecycle.org Groups:

4.4. There is to be no cross-posting to other groups. Freecycle works best when kept at a 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.

4.5. 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.

Repeat POSTS:

4.6. Do not post for the same item repeatedly. Once per month is more than enough. Please be patient. 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.

Charity Posts:

4.7. 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. charity number. Fraudulent behaviour is taken seriously.

Posts for Bulk Items:

4.8. Posts requesting bulk items might be legitimate but can imply that the requestor is seeking to make some financial gain. If this is the case it must be stated in the post. If not, the post will be removed and the poster will be moderated.

Food Items:

4.9. If offering food items, please group small quantities of food into a single post.

4.10. While individuals aren't regulated like food businesses around use-by dates, we'd also ask you to consider only offering food items within a use-by date period.

What to Post:

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

4.12. Do mark your "Offer" post as "Taken" when your item is gone.

4.13. Do mark your "Wanted" post as "Received" when your want has been met.

What not to Post:

4.14. 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.

Special Posts:

4.15. No requests for Frequent Flyer miles, phone cards or special events tickets such as football games or concerts.

4.16. 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.

4.17. No offers for prescription drugs. It is illegal to transfer a prescription to another person, not to mention unsafe.

4.18. 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.

A Few Final Thoughts:

5. Offering doesn't 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.

5.1. If you have responded to an offer this is no guarantee the item is yours until you hear from the offerer 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.

5.2. 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.

5.3. 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.

5.4. Don't promise your items to one person and then give them to another! Again, please treat others the way you would wish to be treated.

5.5. Don't 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.

5.6. 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 group. The generosity and kindness we have seen since becoming involved with Freecycle is quite amazing and we are proud to be a part of it.

Best Regards, Your Birmingham Freecycle Moderators