and that’s why it was called “the web” in the first place

In my effort to save an item from the landfill and maybe make someone else’s life just a little brighter, I posted an item on our local freecycle group yesterday. It happens to be a wedding cake top decoration that my wife and I got as a gift before our wedding but never used. To make it easier for people to see what it looks like, I added a link to the manufacturer’s web site so they could see a picture. Makes sense, right? Here’s what I got today from the moderator:

Links are not allowed to be used on this group. Most of the time, link go to a sales site and this is a Free site.
Please use our PHOTO tab for your photos or just add ‘photo available upon request’.

You may repost.

Thanks!

Um… isn’t that what the whole point of the world-wide-web was in the first place? Instead of stealing the image from the manufacturer’s web site and posting it somewhere else, I chose to simply link people to it. And the whole “free” and “sales site” just doesn’t make any sense to me. Interesting, Yahoo hosts the freecycle group page and there are plenty of links within Yahoo to services they sell. Actually, there’s 3 “sponsor results” on the yahoo group site. So, the difference would be???

I just can’t help but think of Jesus and the religious “establishment” he challenged time and again. They took God’s law and built up all these traditions around it–some good and some not so good. Here our local power-hungry moderator has added a whole set of rules (ala traditions) on top of the freecycle.org guidelines (ala law). And, yes, there’s nothing in there about not posting links, I checked.

that’s an interesting device you’re after

I saw this last week as a subject line on a posting on our local freecycle group.

Wanted: refrigerator lawnmower

I just had to read the message to learn what a refrigerator lawnmower was. But, when I read the message (“We are in need of a working refrigerator and a lawnmower that runs.”) I was just a little disappointed–nothing more than a missing conjunction. Dang, I thought there was a new lawnmower that could keep my lemonade cool.

no such thing…

I saw someone posted this on our local freecycle group yesterday:

WANTED: Squirrel proof bird feeders

Yeah… I guess this person doesn’t realize there is no such thing as a “squirrel proof” bird feeder. The best you can ever hope for is “squirrel slow-them-down-and-make-them-think-about-how-to-outwit-the-contraption-and-frustrate-you-to-no-end” bird feeder.

Oh well, it’s nice to hope…

multifunctional

Here’s another result from our local freecycle nazi, er, moderator’s rule that you have to combine all your offer postings together:

Offer: 65 gallon fish tank/dog food container

So, if I get tired of taking care of the fish, I could use it to store dog food. That’s pretty handy. I’ll take it! 🙂

WANTED: a heart

That’s what I’m tempted to post to our local freecycle group. I’m not looking for a heart for myself, but for our “tin-person” moderators. Let me explain. Over the past few weeks, there have been a series of arson fires in a nearby town–including one that cost 8 or 9 families everything but their lives and the clothes on their backs. Several people posted to the county freecycle group to solicit donations to help these people out. To which one of our moderators posted:

ADMIN: Donations for victims of [town name] Fires
Several members have made posts asking for donations for the victims
of the [town name] fires. While we have sympathy for those affected
by the fires, we must remind members that Freecycle(TM) is not a
charity organization. This is not the appropriate venue for
coordinating a relief effort.

Information posts are not allowed on this group, but may be submitted
to our chat site:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/%5Bgroup name]

Thank you for your cooperation,
The Moderator Team

Yes, I know freecycle isn’t a place for a relief effort. However, it is a grassroots movement. Therefore, it should be very much tied into local events, especially tragedies. But, let’s take a look at the freecycle mission statement.

Our mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community.

Let me break down these posts seeking help for these fire-impacted families as I see it:

• gifting movement: yes definitely encourages gifting
• reduces waste: no
• saves precious resources: yes/perhaps I would argue that it does by easing the burden on the Red Cross, etc.
• eases the burden on our landfills: no
• enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community: most definitely yes

I’ll admit, that doesn’t result in a resounding yes towards meeting the mission, but it’s far from a responding no either. I can respect the moderators wanting to keep the groun on-topic and keep the “junk” messages to a minimum. But, chastising people for seeking to help a group of families which just lost all their earthly possessions is just cold and heartless.

spiked girl scouts?

One of the (IMHO) annoying policies that our local freecycle list moderator (aka Freecycle Nazi) put in place is that if you are offering multiple items you must combine them into one post. You get a nastygram if you have more than one posting per day, unless you’re offering a major list of items. So, that leads to some very interesting combinations of items. This one struck me as funny.

OFFER: Girl Scout book and 10″ spikes in [—]
Book – Leader’s Guide Girl Scout Badges and Signs 86 pages
Thirty 10″ x 3/8″ diameter metal spikes

Yeah, I know it’s not spiked girl scouts, but…

cute witch?

In honor of Halloween (not that I celebrate it), here’s a local freecycle posting from a couple weeks ago.

Wanted- Cute Witch Costume for 8 yr old girl
No scare creepy witch but something more friendly would be nice.

Naturally. You want your child to dress as a witch but not be scary. Brilliant.

garbage full of boys?

This just struck me as funny. I missed the offer post and just saw the taken post. I hope they just forgot a couple words in there… like “bag” and “clothes” maybe?

Taken garbage full of size 8-10 boys

what, not a house too?

This just might be one of my favorite excessive freecycle wanted posts.

**wanted:patio set/riding lawn mower/pool/front & screen doors
patio set, riding lawn mower, hard shell pool, front door and 2 screen
doors. I live in the ___ area. Thanks

**Added items to subject line

I think the part that is funniest to me is that the moderator edited this posting (hence the ** in the subject and the tag in the message of what the moderator did) and didn’t write back to the person posting that they are just a tad [oozing sarcasm] excessive.

recent silly freecycle postings

Here’s a trusting sole:

WANTED: storage space for motorcycle
I have a Suzuki 650 motorcycle that I need to get off the road for the
winter months. I prefer somewhere in [...] but will take
what I can get

This one was right before Christmas. I’m sure people have tons of these just lying around to give to people to cheap to spend a few bucks for their gag gifts:

WANTED: Athletic supporter (Jock Strap) new, please
Need athletic supporter as a gag gift for a holiday party!
New, please, but opened package is fine.
Will pick up within 5 miles of [...].
Thanks.

I guess this one out of the realm of possibility, but… how likely?

wanted: orlando theme park tickets
Does anyone have any leftover Disney, Universal, Seaworld tickets left
over from an orlando trip? Either admission or fastpass tickets would
be put to very good use by my 16, 15, 11 & 5 year olds. We will be
visiting family in Orlando and my kids would be thrilled to be able to
go to the theme parks. Thanks to anyone who can help!