Freecycle Needs Some Moderation
Good evening.
Today was full of negative experiences. Some good stuff too. You know how I will buy just about anything if it only costs a buck? Well if its free, even better! I'll take it! The other day a friend told me about a site called freecycle. I had heard about this somewhere before, not sure if it was in the news or what. Anyhow, I looked it up. It turns out to actually be a Yahoo Group. Its a message board where you can post items you have or want and everything is free. For example I have this huge corner unit TV stand and I would give it away. There are different groups/sites for different areas, so I went to the one nearest me. You must "apply" to join. I applied, and waited. I told Hubby all about it so he applied also. This morning as I was still here waiting to be "approved", Hubby got his approval and was merrily checking out the site, grrrrrrr. Then my sister phoned. My father has been in the hospital for a couple of days and it looks like he'll be there for a couple more days, so she thought she should let me know. Apparently he had gone to his doctor for a follow up visit after his major surgery and the doctor found something wrong and called an ambulance. Obviously this upset me and Hubby and I immediately headed off to the city to see my dad and find out what is wrong. I took him a book. He was still in the emergency department, waiting for a bed in a room. I figured he may be a little bored and lonely. When we got there, he was in good spirits, he was a little weak, other than that, he was doing pretty good. I think he was very pleasantly surprised to see us, especially since its an hour drive down there. We sat with him and we adjusted his bed so he could sit up to eat his lunch, we were having a lovely visit. Then a nurse came to get him to go for some tests. Hubby and I slipped out for a smoke at that point. We were happy to see him in pretty good shape and good spirits. After about a half hour we headed back to his cubicle in the emergency department. He wasn't back from his tests yet. We sat there for a few minutes when another nurse came to tell us they needed the cubicle for someone else and my father would be moved, could we go wait for him in the other department he was being moved to. Sure, no problem. From what I could tell, it was just an extension of the emergency department. Then my sister and her son, who is a paramedic, showed up. My nephew still had his uniform on, which was helpful, because it allowed him to go where ever he wanted to in the hospital and to talk to people and get information. Now that they were there Hubby and I again slipped out for another smoke. After a few more minutes of waiting, my nephew went off to find out what was going on. He came back with my father and took him to his new cubicle. My dad seemed very much weaker and worn out after the tests. At this point we just said our good byes and left. We still had an hour drive to get home and Little R would be home from school and wondering where we were. There wouldn't be any test results right away anyway. I didn't hear anything from my sister this evening so I will call her in the morning. The first thing I do when I get home is check my email. STILL no approval from the freecycle site. So now, I'm just pissed off. Why does Hubby get approved right away and I'm still waiting? I'm upset and worried about my father, I don't need this. So I sent off a rather rude email. I had been looking forward to checking out this site. I have all kinds of things to offer and was really looking forward to seeing what was available, for free. I then went ahead and joined another freecycle group in another nearby town. And guess what? It was free to join. There was no applying and being approved. It was just simply join, no fuss, no muss. Cool. Unfortunately, this group doesn't have as many members as the other one and so not as many cool things to look through. Then I get an email from the original group saying oops sorry about that, and boom now I'm an approved member, yay. So I'm reading through all the rules and whatnot, ok, I get it, I can do this, great. One rule is your first post must be an offer, rather than a request. Ok, I can do that. I posted my huge TV stand, take it, please. Then I saw a bunch of stuff I'd like to have, mostly crafting type stuff, cool. I send off my email saying I am interested in all this stuff. There were several listings, but all from the same person, so I mentioned everything I wanted in my one email. Another rule, if you have multiple stuff, put it in one post. That was not done in this case, there were multiple listings from the same person. When I get a reply, its, sorry all but one is taken already. And of course its the one thing I didn't really really want, a bag of knick knacks, and upon reading the description it was all Dollarama stuff to boot, I'll pass, no thanks. You are supposed to post when things are taken. This was not done, and still hasn't been done. How disappointing! And how hard is it to follow a few simple rules, "etiquette" rules? The nature of the site, the idea behind it, even the reasons for all the rules, makes perfect sense. It's a great idea. In theory. How sad that people cannot follow a few simple rules and have a bit of simple etiquette to make the site work and flow. Now me being a newbie, and already blasting one of the moderators for the long waiting period before being approved to join, I just want to send another email to the moderator bitching about this. This stuff should be posted as TAKEN now, but it isn't. So I was duly disappointed and wasted my time. I should mention, another posting rule is, the only headings for posts allowed are OFFER, WANTED, TAKEN and RECEIVED. Like why have all these rules if you're not going to enforce them? I understand the rules and am prepared to live by them. I understand the reason for the rules. So now I'm just pissed off, disappointed, disgruntled with the whole thing. Its a great idea! Co-operate people! Help needy people get stuff they need for free. Save our landfills by keeping good, useful junk out of them. Reuse and recycle, for free. So being a newbie, I don't want to ruffle feathers just yet. But I'm having trouble refraining from complaining. Like its just not that difficult to follow these simple rules and etiquette, really. Supposedly, if you don't you will be booted from the group. Like I was booted from that gardening group, because of the rule about posting at least once a month. I was without a computer for a couple of months when mine crashed and it took a couple of months to get a new one. Sheesh.
So I don't know, the whole thing is leaving a sour taste in my mouth from the get go. And some of the stuff being offered too is a little bizarre, like, 3 Easter baskets. What? Easter baskets are a dime a dozen. Or broken speakers (for a computer I think). What? Who needs broken speakers? To me those are the kinds of things to go in the trash or to a thrift store.
Well, I definately plan on having my yard/garage sale in May, and was hoping to post anything I couldn't sell on this freecycle site. Not so sure now. Maybe I'll just do what I did before and donate my leftovers to the nearest thrift store. I love this kind of stuff. Its so true that one mans junk is another mans treasure. I love thrift stores, yard sales, auctions, the whole thing. That's one reason I NEED to have my own yard sale lol. But this site is just silly. Unless someone is going to step up and do some moderating.
Meanwhile, we don't know what is wrong with my father, other than it involves his heart and could be quite serious/dangerous. Please think of him and offer your prayers for him (and me). Thanks.
Have a nice night.
Today was full of negative experiences. Some good stuff too. You know how I will buy just about anything if it only costs a buck? Well if its free, even better! I'll take it! The other day a friend told me about a site called freecycle. I had heard about this somewhere before, not sure if it was in the news or what. Anyhow, I looked it up. It turns out to actually be a Yahoo Group. Its a message board where you can post items you have or want and everything is free. For example I have this huge corner unit TV stand and I would give it away. There are different groups/sites for different areas, so I went to the one nearest me. You must "apply" to join. I applied, and waited. I told Hubby all about it so he applied also. This morning as I was still here waiting to be "approved", Hubby got his approval and was merrily checking out the site, grrrrrrr. Then my sister phoned. My father has been in the hospital for a couple of days and it looks like he'll be there for a couple more days, so she thought she should let me know. Apparently he had gone to his doctor for a follow up visit after his major surgery and the doctor found something wrong and called an ambulance. Obviously this upset me and Hubby and I immediately headed off to the city to see my dad and find out what is wrong. I took him a book. He was still in the emergency department, waiting for a bed in a room. I figured he may be a little bored and lonely. When we got there, he was in good spirits, he was a little weak, other than that, he was doing pretty good. I think he was very pleasantly surprised to see us, especially since its an hour drive down there. We sat with him and we adjusted his bed so he could sit up to eat his lunch, we were having a lovely visit. Then a nurse came to get him to go for some tests. Hubby and I slipped out for a smoke at that point. We were happy to see him in pretty good shape and good spirits. After about a half hour we headed back to his cubicle in the emergency department. He wasn't back from his tests yet. We sat there for a few minutes when another nurse came to tell us they needed the cubicle for someone else and my father would be moved, could we go wait for him in the other department he was being moved to. Sure, no problem. From what I could tell, it was just an extension of the emergency department. Then my sister and her son, who is a paramedic, showed up. My nephew still had his uniform on, which was helpful, because it allowed him to go where ever he wanted to in the hospital and to talk to people and get information. Now that they were there Hubby and I again slipped out for another smoke. After a few more minutes of waiting, my nephew went off to find out what was going on. He came back with my father and took him to his new cubicle. My dad seemed very much weaker and worn out after the tests. At this point we just said our good byes and left. We still had an hour drive to get home and Little R would be home from school and wondering where we were. There wouldn't be any test results right away anyway. I didn't hear anything from my sister this evening so I will call her in the morning. The first thing I do when I get home is check my email. STILL no approval from the freecycle site. So now, I'm just pissed off. Why does Hubby get approved right away and I'm still waiting? I'm upset and worried about my father, I don't need this. So I sent off a rather rude email. I had been looking forward to checking out this site. I have all kinds of things to offer and was really looking forward to seeing what was available, for free. I then went ahead and joined another freecycle group in another nearby town. And guess what? It was free to join. There was no applying and being approved. It was just simply join, no fuss, no muss. Cool. Unfortunately, this group doesn't have as many members as the other one and so not as many cool things to look through. Then I get an email from the original group saying oops sorry about that, and boom now I'm an approved member, yay. So I'm reading through all the rules and whatnot, ok, I get it, I can do this, great. One rule is your first post must be an offer, rather than a request. Ok, I can do that. I posted my huge TV stand, take it, please. Then I saw a bunch of stuff I'd like to have, mostly crafting type stuff, cool. I send off my email saying I am interested in all this stuff. There were several listings, but all from the same person, so I mentioned everything I wanted in my one email. Another rule, if you have multiple stuff, put it in one post. That was not done in this case, there were multiple listings from the same person. When I get a reply, its, sorry all but one is taken already. And of course its the one thing I didn't really really want, a bag of knick knacks, and upon reading the description it was all Dollarama stuff to boot, I'll pass, no thanks. You are supposed to post when things are taken. This was not done, and still hasn't been done. How disappointing! And how hard is it to follow a few simple rules, "etiquette" rules? The nature of the site, the idea behind it, even the reasons for all the rules, makes perfect sense. It's a great idea. In theory. How sad that people cannot follow a few simple rules and have a bit of simple etiquette to make the site work and flow. Now me being a newbie, and already blasting one of the moderators for the long waiting period before being approved to join, I just want to send another email to the moderator bitching about this. This stuff should be posted as TAKEN now, but it isn't. So I was duly disappointed and wasted my time. I should mention, another posting rule is, the only headings for posts allowed are OFFER, WANTED, TAKEN and RECEIVED. Like why have all these rules if you're not going to enforce them? I understand the rules and am prepared to live by them. I understand the reason for the rules. So now I'm just pissed off, disappointed, disgruntled with the whole thing. Its a great idea! Co-operate people! Help needy people get stuff they need for free. Save our landfills by keeping good, useful junk out of them. Reuse and recycle, for free. So being a newbie, I don't want to ruffle feathers just yet. But I'm having trouble refraining from complaining. Like its just not that difficult to follow these simple rules and etiquette, really. Supposedly, if you don't you will be booted from the group. Like I was booted from that gardening group, because of the rule about posting at least once a month. I was without a computer for a couple of months when mine crashed and it took a couple of months to get a new one. Sheesh.
So I don't know, the whole thing is leaving a sour taste in my mouth from the get go. And some of the stuff being offered too is a little bizarre, like, 3 Easter baskets. What? Easter baskets are a dime a dozen. Or broken speakers (for a computer I think). What? Who needs broken speakers? To me those are the kinds of things to go in the trash or to a thrift store.
Well, I definately plan on having my yard/garage sale in May, and was hoping to post anything I couldn't sell on this freecycle site. Not so sure now. Maybe I'll just do what I did before and donate my leftovers to the nearest thrift store. I love this kind of stuff. Its so true that one mans junk is another mans treasure. I love thrift stores, yard sales, auctions, the whole thing. That's one reason I NEED to have my own yard sale lol. But this site is just silly. Unless someone is going to step up and do some moderating.
Meanwhile, we don't know what is wrong with my father, other than it involves his heart and could be quite serious/dangerous. Please think of him and offer your prayers for him (and me). Thanks.
Have a nice night.
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