On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:43:45 +0000, Andrew May
wrote:

Bruce wrote:

But what value do you put on, for example, a posh dishwasher that is
five years old, was £500 when new but needs a new pump? More or less
than £50?


I don't think you do. What I would like to see is the facilities for the
person giving way the item to make an informed decision as to who it
should go to. Some way to look up the history of an individuals offers,
requests, wants and received items. That way when you have half a dozen
people asking for your posh dishwasher that needs a new pump you can
filter out the person who has taken four out of the last six dishwashers
offered and favour the person who regularly offers items.

It won't be perfect and people will probably have to offer things to
build the brownie-points that people will be looking for but it will
stop those who are just grabbing everything they can.[1]

Of course it will require dedicated software although a decent search
facility on Yahoo! would be a start.


That sounds like "making it as complicated as eBay, but for free". I
agree that some kind of feedback would improve Freecycle, but all I
would need is a list of people who have been no-shows, perhaps more
than twice.

Alternatively, "Three no-shows and you're out", and they get banned
altogether. But that would put even more stress on the unpaid
volunteer moderators, who are difficult enough to retain as it is.