Is a wonderful concept. Just off loaded some outgrown kids stuff to good
homes very quickly, prior to our move next week. Sort of stuff you'd get 10
quid for if that after waiting a week on ebay and impractical to post...

Pity that the mailing list software is so crap though. Yahoo groups is the
devil's rectum (what an awful signup procedure and then have to wait for
moderator approval on each and every group which can take 48 hours...) and
the emails are very bursty - eg many hours for a TAKEN message to appear if
it ever does, so spend ages replying to loads of people that it's gone

The new web/email interface some of the other groups are using has
potential, but the emails are totally erratic (yes I have emailed the
admins). Anyone else noticed that?

Cheers

Tim

--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

"Tim W" wrote in message
...
Is a wonderful concept. Just off loaded some outgrown kids stuff to good
homes very quickly, prior to our move next week. Sort of stuff you'd get
10
quid for if that after waiting a week on ebay and impractical to post...

Pity that the mailing list software is so crap though. Yahoo groups is the
devil's rectum (what an awful signup procedure and then have to wait for
moderator approval on each and every group which can take 48 hours...) and
the emails are very bursty - eg many hours for a TAKEN message to appear
if
it ever does, so spend ages replying to loads of people that it's gone

The new web/email interface some of the other groups are using has
potential, but the emails are totally erratic (yes I have emailed the
admins). Anyone else noticed that?

Cheers


I am a member of my local group, now called Freegle. I have set it up so
that emails come direct into their own folder within Outlook Express.
Filters dump 'Taken' and 'Wanted' messages into 'Deleted Items'. Works
fine. Just remember that these groups are run by volunteers and don't
really appreciate 'advice'.

I don't go to Yahoo Groups at all, and get the messages as soon as they are
posted.


mark

mark
wibbled on Thursday 29 October 2009 22:56


I am a member of my local group, now called Freegle. I have set it up so
that emails come direct into their own folder within Outlook Express.
Filters dump 'Taken' and 'Wanted' messages into 'Deleted Items'. Works
fine. Just remember that these groups are run by volunteers and don't
really appreciate 'advice'.

I've done that before too (though TAKEN messages are useful IMO so I didn't
dump those). But that only works if the server bothers to send the message!

These days, I have a generic exim filter that auto sorts by the List_ID
header so folders are automagically created whenever I join a list.


I don't go to Yahoo Groups at all, and get the messages as soon as they
are posted.

Yes - I appreciate that. Breaks my heart though when people (like my missus)
are put off joining because the procedures are so over complicated and
unreliable. There must be a lot of people who tried to join who gave up, at
least with a couple of my local ones...

--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:45:25 +0000, Tim W wrote:

Is a wonderful concept. Just off loaded some outgrown kids stuff to good
homes very quickly

My brain missed out "stuff" when I first read that :-)

next week. Sort of stuff you'd get 10
quid for if that after waiting a week on ebay and impractical to post...

I loathe ebay, I really do. It seems like such a huge hassle and they must
make a bloody fortune off it.

Pity that the mailing list software is so crap though. Yahoo groups is
the devil's rectum (what an awful signup procedure and then have to wait
for moderator approval on each and every group which can take 48
hours...) and the emails are very bursty - eg many hours for a TAKEN
message to appear if it ever does, so spend ages replying to loads of
people that it's gone

The weird thing is, I never had any trouble with the Cambridge one I used
to be on - messages were very quick. Users we clued up enough to stick
to suggested formats, there was a sensible balance of offered/wanted
posts etc.

My local one these days is an effin mess - same slow / bursty message
delivery that you mention, lots of folk who don't use sensible subject
lines (or even explain what it is they're talking about in the message
etc.) . Oh and the ones who just post and say in the subject "taken 3452"
or whatever so eveyone has to go look up the message in yahoo's
archives to see wtf they're talking about. Oh and 90% of the offered posts
are for bleedin' kittens.

ISTR that trying to use it with a non-Yahoo email addy was a bit of a
fiddle, too.

OK, I feel better now :-)

cheers

Jules

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Tim W saying
something like:

Yes - I appreciate that. Breaks my heart though when people (like my missus)
are put off joining because the procedures are so over complicated and
unreliable. There must be a lot of people who tried to join who gave up, at
least with a couple of my local ones...

One of my Freecycle groups made a bid for independence and set up on
their own. Problem was, the admins of the new group were impatient and
arrogant arseholes, so sunk without trace after a couple of months.
Example, they sent a very snotty email if you expressed interest and
then didn't sign up pronto, like within three days and you got another
snotty email after that. As far as I was concerned, they could go
swivel, as I suspect many others thought, too.

On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:01:01 +0000, Tim W wrote:

I don't go to Yahoo Groups at all, and get the messages as soon as they
are posted.

Yes - I appreciate that. Breaks my heart though when people (like my
missus) are put off joining because the procedures are so over
complicated and unreliable. There must be a lot of people who tried to
join who gave up, at least with a couple of my local ones...

Yes - I belonged to two groups round here. One was (and still is) run in
such a bureaucratic fashion that most people post to the other one. They
have an online form that you are expected to use - it's actually a
program that checks you've obeyed all their rules, very patronising. And
they also send out countless emails to 'guide' ytou - far too frequently.

In contrast, the other one runs in a relaxed fashion and is very
successful. A second good one has now started, although there's a lot of
traffic overlap.

Well, that's the story in East Kent - locals will be able to work out
which groups are which!



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:01:01 +0000, Tim W wrote:

mark
wibbled on Thursday 29 October 2009 22:56


I am a member of my local group, now called Freegle. I have set it up so
that emails come direct into their own folder within Outlook Express.
Filters dump 'Taken' and 'Wanted' messages into 'Deleted Items'. Works
fine. Just remember that these groups are run by volunteers and don't
really appreciate 'advice'.

I've done that before too (though TAKEN messages are useful IMO so I didn't
dump those). But that only works if the server bothers to send the message!


It has very little to do with "the server". It has everything to do
with the moderators, who are all volunteers. They aren't sitting
poised at their PC waiting for your message to come through so it can
be posted out to the group within seconds.

If you feel that the moderators are too slow, why don't you volunteer
yourself? I guarantee you would be warmly welcomed.

Or perhaps you just want to moan and whine about a service that is
provided entirely by volunteers, and is entirely free of charge.

On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:45:25 +0000, Tim W wrote:
Is a wonderful concept. Just off loaded some outgrown kids stuff to good
homes very quickly, prior to our move next week. Sort of stuff you'd get 10
quid for if that after waiting a week on ebay and impractical to post...

Pity that the mailing list software is so crap though. Yahoo groups is the
devil's rectum (what an awful signup procedure and then have to wait for
moderator approval on each and every group which can take 48 hours...) and
the emails are very bursty - eg many hours for a TAKEN message to appear if
it ever does, so spend ages replying to loads of people that it's gone

The new web/email interface some of the other groups are using has
potential, but the emails are totally erratic (yes I have emailed the
admins). Anyone else noticed that?


I agree about the mailing software. I find that most of the "good stuff" has
been grabbed long before my email notification arrives. The frequency that
emails are sent (and when items appear on the webite seems to be down to the
whim of the administrators: when they log in to approve new postings.
There are the occasional people who take the ****, f'r instance recently
Wanted: Quad Core pc:

I've also got a few perl scripts that summarise the emails and there seem
to be some professional "wanters" around. However, there are also a few
"givers" who seem to post dozens of items a month, so I suppose it cancels
out.

Bruce
wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 08:49


It has very little to do with "the server". It has everything to do
with the moderators, who are all volunteers. They aren't sitting
poised at their PC waiting for your message to come through so it can
be posted out to the group within seconds.

I'm sure that each message is *not* moderated on the T Wells group. Messages
posted on the web appear immediately. A percentage of messages posted on
the web get emailed immediately. Some appear on the web and never get
emailed. That *is* a crap server/software.

If you feel that the moderators are too slow, why don't you volunteer
yourself? I guarantee you would be warmly welcomed.

I've just read the modertor's FAQ. Only new member's posts should be
moderated and I'm pretty sure I'm past that having been on one for a while
and having previously posted. In fact the FAQ describes the way I'd run it
pretty much to a tee. Approve the member, then either monitor or moderate
the first few posts (personally I think the 1st post is sufficient) to
ensure they are not a SPAMMER, then unmoderate that user and step back.
Keep an eye on it as and when.

Or perhaps you just want to moan and whine about a service that is
provided entirely by volunteers, and is entirely free of charge.

No, I'm saying why spoil a good idea by using Yahoo groups (which sucks in
every way possible).

--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

pete
wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 09:13


I agree about the mailing software. I find that most of the "good stuff"
has been grabbed long before my email notification arrives. The frequency
that emails are sent (and when items appear on the webite seems to be down
to the whim of the administrators: when they log in to approve new
postings. There are the occasional people who take the ****, f'r instance
recently
Wanted: Quad Core pc:

I've also got a few perl scripts that summarise the emails and there seem
to be some professional "wanters" around. However, there are also a few
"givers" who seem to post dozens of items a month, so I suppose it cancels
out.

I have 2 exim forward rules for those:

if $header_List-Id: contains "freecycle" and
$header_Subject: contains "wanted"
then
seen
finish
endif

# Generic self organising list filter
if $header_List-Id: matches "([^\.]+)"
then
save Mail/LISTS/$1
finish
endif

That sorts everything nicely

I think the latest attempts by freecycle.org to implement their own mail
list system is showing promise. I wrote and asked if they would consider
including the RFC standard "List-ID" header as it was missing. They did, in
a matter of a week or so. When my life has settled down a bit in a few
months, I should offer my time to help them - they are trying, especially
by ditching Yahoo spit

--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:14:04 +0000, Tim W wrote:
Bruce
wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 08:49
It has very little to do with "the server". It has everything to do
with the moderators, who are all volunteers. They aren't sitting
poised at their PC waiting for your message to come through so it can
be posted out to the group within seconds.

I'm sure that each message is *not* moderated on the T Wells group. Messages
posted on the web appear immediately. A percentage of messages posted on
the web get emailed immediately. Some appear on the web and never get
emailed. That *is* a crap server/software.


Some groups are fully moderated. Some others are unmoderated. The
rest moderate new members, and allow them to post unmoderated after a
trial period. All the groups can moderate a particular member's posts
if there is some doubt about compliance with the rules.

If you feel that the moderators are too slow, why don't you volunteer
yourself? I guarantee you would be warmly welcomed.

I've just read the modertor's FAQ. Only new member's posts should be
moderated and I'm pretty sure I'm past that having been on one for a while
and having previously posted. In fact the FAQ describes the way I'd run it
pretty much to a tee.


Then stop moaning and whining, and volunteer as a moderator.

Bruce
wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 10:09


Then stop moaning and whining, and volunteer as a moderator.

I might do that in a few months. But why scupper the service with
unnecessary work? IME one rarely needs to fully moderate a group. Once a
poster is verified not to be a spammer, there's simply no need. If the
poster turns out to be posting inappropriate material or acting in an
inappropriate way, then ban them or switch moderation on for them alone.
The very occasional bad post slipping in is better than running the whole
system in a bursty fashion, especially as the timely delivery of TAKEN
messages *is* important.

It would be more effective use of my skills to help them run the system in
general seeing as that's my area, which I've already said I should offer in
a few months.


--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

Tim W wrote:
I have 2 exim forward rules for those:

I have similar (it's procmail not exim, but same difference). They're split
into three streams which go to three local newsgroups: freecycle.offered,
freecycle.taken and freecycle.wanted. There's about 14000 messages in the
4-month expiry. Then I just read them with the rest of my newsfeed.

I also have a rule to pull out articles of interest and email them to me so,
when a friend needed a dishwasher, I had it email everything with the word
'dishwasher' it in.

I do wish they'd encode some geographic information though, a bit like eBay.
So you can say 'please send me emails just in my village' rather than
receiving everything from 20 miles away. You could set up a rule to search
for the name of the village, but it doesn't work when there isn't a single
name for the place (eg Walthamstow, E17, NE London, XYZ Estate etc etc)

Theo

Tim W
wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 10:25


It would be more effective use of my skills to help them run the system in
general seeing as that's my area, which I've already said I should offer
in a few months.



It looks like freecycle.org are running exim on *nix (linux probably) so
there is *much* hope for them. I would definatley be interested in getting
in on that.

--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

"Bruce" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:14:04 +0000, Tim W wrote:
Bruce
wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 08:49
It has very little to do with "the server". It has everything to do
with the moderators, who are all volunteers. They aren't sitting
poised at their PC waiting for your message to come through so it can
be posted out to the group within seconds.

I'm sure that each message is *not* moderated on the T Wells group.
Messages
posted on the web appear immediately. A percentage of messages posted on
the web get emailed immediately. Some appear on the web and never get
emailed. That *is* a crap server/software.


Some groups are fully moderated. Some others are unmoderated. The
rest moderate new members, and allow them to post unmoderated after a
trial period.

That last is that way that all groups should be run. It's specifically
against Freecycle rules to run a fully moderated group. Of course this
doesn't apply to non-Freecycle groups.

When I created and ran the local group in Ayr, I never felt the need to
approve new members and never had reason to regret the decision.
Unfortunately, a lot of Freecycle groups are run by people who are control
freaks and find the thought of unmoderated members & unapproved sign-up
scary.

Tim

On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:14:40 -0000, "Tim Downie"
wrote:


"Bruce" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:14:04 +0000, Tim W wrote:
Bruce
wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 08:49
It has very little to do with "the server". It has everything to do
with the moderators, who are all volunteers. They aren't sitting
poised at their PC waiting for your message to come through so it can
be posted out to the group within seconds.

I'm sure that each message is *not* moderated on the T Wells group.
Messages
posted on the web appear immediately. A percentage of messages posted on
the web get emailed immediately. Some appear on the web and never get
emailed. That *is* a crap server/software.


Some groups are fully moderated. Some others are unmoderated. The
rest moderate new members, and allow them to post unmoderated after a
trial period.

That last is that way that all groups should be run. It's specifically
against Freecycle rules to run a fully moderated group. Of course this
doesn't apply to non-Freecycle groups.

When I created and ran the local group in Ayr, I never felt the need to
approve new members and never had reason to regret the decision.
Unfortunately, a lot of Freecycle groups are run by people who are control
freaks and find the thought of unmoderated members & unapproved sign-up
scary.


I'm sure there is a lot of truth in that, but at least one group in my
area was 'anarchy in action' until the moderators took control. They
did so only very reluctantly.

In message , Tim W
writes
It looks like freecycle.org are running exim on *nix (linux probably)
so there is *much* hope for them. I would definatley be interested in
getting in on that.

Does this mean that some are no longer Yahoo bound? Here, we seem to
have migrated to freegle on Yahoo Groups, if I've understood what is
going on.

I have never felt any affinity to Yahoo Groups, my initial sign in to
Freecycle forced me into some obsolete user name that now means nothing
and in the context makes me look as if I might be a bit of a weirdo. Add
to this that other unmoderated Yahoo groups let through spam that is
bounced by my ISP's filter and thus Yahoo keeps requiring me to confirm
that I still exist, and it's almost unworkable.

I've recently pointed a young underpaid shop worker at Freecycle. His
hours clash with the moderator's hours, so he has always been too late
to take advantage of the pulses of postings. It's been a complete
washout for him so far.

I've just given away 20+ AMD K6-based PC's to 9 takers. I delivered
some, and 3 had old Land Rovers in the paths, so I feel they have gone
to good homes.
--
Bill

"Tim W" wrote in message
...
mark
wibbled on Thursday 29 October 2009 22:56


I am a member of my local group, now called Freegle. I have set it up so
that emails come direct into their own folder within Outlook Express.
Filters dump 'Taken' and 'Wanted' messages into 'Deleted Items'. Works
fine. Just remember that these groups are run by volunteers and don't
really appreciate 'advice'.

I've done that before too (though TAKEN messages are useful IMO so I
didn't
dump those). But that only works if the server bothers to send the
message!

These days, I have a generic exim filter that auto sorts by the List_ID
header so folders are automagically created whenever I join a list.


I don't go to Yahoo Groups at all, and get the messages as soon as they
are posted.

Yes - I appreciate that. Breaks my heart though when people (like my
missus)
are put off joining because the procedures are so over complicated and
unreliable. There must be a lot of people who tried to join who gave up,
at
least with a couple of my local ones...

problem is, making it better costs money and as there is no money involved
in these transactions, who's going to pay?

tim

Tim W wrote:

Is a wonderful concept.

But entirely ruined by the freetards who use it and moderate it. I'd
rather throw my crap into a wastebin.

On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:14:40 -0000, "Tim Downie"
wrote:


"Bruce" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:14:04 +0000, Tim W wrote:
Bruce
wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 08:49
It has very little to do with "the server". It has everything to do
with the moderators, who are all volunteers. They aren't sitting
poised at their PC waiting for your message to come through so it can
be posted out to the group within seconds.

I'm sure that each message is *not* moderated on the T Wells group.
Messages
posted on the web appear immediately. A percentage of messages posted on
the web get emailed immediately. Some appear on the web and never get
emailed. That *is* a crap server/software.


Some groups are fully moderated. Some others are unmoderated. The
rest moderate new members, and allow them to post unmoderated after a
trial period.

That last is that way that all groups should be run. It's specifically
against Freecycle rules to run a fully moderated group. Of course this
doesn't apply to non-Freecycle groups.

When I created and ran the local group in Ayr, I never felt the need to
approve new members and never had reason to regret the decision.
Unfortunately, a lot of Freecycle groups are run by people who are control
freaks and find the thought of unmoderated members & unapproved sign-up
scary.

Tim


The Glasgow Group is fully moderated and some things they do are
really irksome like when I posted a "Wanted" message and said I could
collect from all around the greater Glasgow area but didn't put in
which part of Glasgow I stayed in and it got rejected and I had to
edit it and resend ..Now why did that matter when I said I could
collect .?

On 30 Oct, 12:42, (Steve Firth) wrote:

I'd rather throw my crap into a wastebin.

That's a strange habit.

In message , Bruce
wrote

Then stop moaning and whining, and volunteer as a moderator.


It's much easier to just dump it in landfill!
--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

"Alan" wrote in message
...
In message , Bruce
wrote

Then stop moaning and whining, and volunteer as a moderator.


It's much easier to just dump it in landfill!

If I lived that close to a landfill site I think I'd move

tim

Bill
wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 12:27

In message , Tim W
writes
It looks like freecycle.org are running exim on *nix (linux probably)
so there is *much* hope for them. I would definatley be interested in
getting in on that.

Does this mean that some are no longer Yahoo bound? Here, we seem to
have migrated to freegle on Yahoo Groups, if I've understood what is
going on.

Yes. T Wells is Yahoo free now. It's a bit erratic on the mailing front, but
it's a hell of a lot better than Yaboo.

The server seems to be a common resource for allfreecycle groups, if they
want to use it.

--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

tim....
wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 12:41


problem is, making it better costs money and as there is no money involved
in these transactions, who's going to pay?

tim

Seems to be some sponsorship mentioned on one of the pages.

--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

In article ,
Tim W writes:
Is a wonderful concept. Just off loaded some outgrown kids stuff to good
homes very quickly, prior to our move next week. Sort of stuff you'd get 10
quid for if that after waiting a week on ebay and impractical to post...

Pity that the mailing list software is so crap though. Yahoo groups is the
devil's rectum (what an awful signup procedure and then have to wait for
moderator approval on each and every group which can take 48 hours...) and
the emails are very bursty - eg many hours for a TAKEN message to appear if
it ever does, so spend ages replying to loads of people that it's gone

The new web/email interface some of the other groups are using has
potential, but the emails are totally erratic (yes I have emailed the
admins). Anyone else noticed that?

I tried to join the Farnborough one a couple of times, when I had
things to get rid of which I thought someone might want.
On neither occasion did my subscription email ever get replied to,
and the stuff eventually went to the tip.
For all I know, that group may be dead anyway.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Mon, 2 Nov 2009 10:48:57 +0000 (UTC)
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

In article ,
Tim W writes:
Is a wonderful concept. Just off loaded some outgrown kids stuff to good
homes very quickly, prior to our move next week. Sort of stuff you'd get 10
quid for if that after waiting a week on ebay and impractical to post...

Pity that the mailing list software is so crap though. Yahoo groups is the
devil's rectum (what an awful signup procedure and then have to wait for
moderator approval on each and every group which can take 48 hours...) and
the emails are very bursty - eg many hours for a TAKEN message to appear if
it ever does, so spend ages replying to loads of people that it's gone

The new web/email interface some of the other groups are using has
potential, but the emails are totally erratic (yes I have emailed the
admins). Anyone else noticed that?

I tried to join the Farnborough one a couple of times, when I had
things to get rid of which I thought someone might want.
On neither occasion did my subscription email ever get replied to,
and the stuff eventually went to the tip.
For all I know, that group may be dead anyway.


They all seem to use Yahoo Groups. It's not known for any useful
functionality. It probably runs on Windows.
R.

On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:08:52 +0000, Usenet Nutter
wrote:

On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:14:40 -0000, "Tim Downie"
wrote:


"Bruce" wrote in message
. ..
On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:14:04 +0000, Tim W wrote:
Bruce
wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 08:49
It has very little to do with "the server". It has everything to do
with the moderators, who are all volunteers. They aren't sitting
poised at their PC waiting for your message to come through so it can
be posted out to the group within seconds.

I'm sure that each message is *not* moderated on the T Wells group.
Messages
posted on the web appear immediately. A percentage of messages posted on
the web get emailed immediately. Some appear on the web and never get
emailed. That *is* a crap server/software.


Some groups are fully moderated. Some others are unmoderated. The
rest moderate new members, and allow them to post unmoderated after a
trial period.

That last is that way that all groups should be run. It's specifically
against Freecycle rules to run a fully moderated group. Of course this
doesn't apply to non-Freecycle groups.

When I created and ran the local group in Ayr, I never felt the need to
approve new members and never had reason to regret the decision.
Unfortunately, a lot of Freecycle groups are run by people who are control
freaks and find the thought of unmoderated members & unapproved sign-up
scary.

Tim

The Glasgow Group is fully moderated and some things they do are
really irksome like when I posted a "Wanted" message and said I could
collect from all around the greater Glasgow area but didn't put in
which part of Glasgow I stayed in and it got rejected and I had to
edit it and resend ..Now why did that matter when I said I could
collect .?

One of our local groups is like this. The moderators also edit the
posts (for example to remove the reason you are wanting something).

Our's have also gone downhill. Nowadays I get no-shows and impolite
responses. This did not use to a happen.

Yahoo groups is a real pain and I wish all freecycle groups would move
away from it.

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]

On 30 Oct 2009 10:53:05 +0000 (GMT), Theo Markettos
wrote:

Tim W wrote:
I have 2 exim forward rules for those:

I have similar (it's procmail not exim, but same difference). They're split
into three streams which go to three local newsgroups: freecycle.offered,
freecycle.taken and freecycle.wanted. There's about 14000 messages in the
4-month expiry. Then I just read them with the rest of my newsfeed.

I also have a rule to pull out articles of interest and email them to me so,
when a friend needed a dishwasher, I had it email everything with the word
'dishwasher' it in.

How many freecyclers can actually spell "dishwasher"?

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
[Reply-to address valid until it is spammed.]

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:40:03 +0000, Mark
wrote:

Our's have also gone downhill. Nowadays I get no-shows and impolite
responses. This did not use to a happen.


That's because Freecycle started off among middle class professionals.
The rot set in when Freecycle was effectively advertised to the chavs
(through articles in their red-top newspapers) as a way to get
something for nothing.

This is what gave rise to the ridiculous Wanted ads such as
"WANTED - Laptop with Windows Vista and at least 2 GB RAM".

Instead of being primarily a means of avoiding low value but useful
items going to landfill, Freecycle has become a means of cynically
obtaining something valuable for nothing.

"Mark" wrote in message
...
On 30 Oct 2009 10:53:05 +0000 (GMT), Theo Markettos
wrote:

Tim W wrote:
I have 2 exim forward rules for those:

I have similar (it's procmail not exim, but same difference). They're
split
into three streams which go to three local newsgroups: freecycle.offered,
freecycle.taken and freecycle.wanted. There's about 14000 messages in the
4-month expiry. Then I just read them with the rest of my newsfeed.

I also have a rule to pull out articles of interest and email them to me
so,
when a friend needed a dishwasher, I had it email everything with the word
'dishwasher' it in.

How many freecyclers can actually spell "dishwasher"?



Freecycle went down hill when all the professional wanters and other beggars
started treating it as some sort of cosmic ordering service or a freebie
version of the Argos catalogue.
What ****es me off is the cheeky *******s who want something for nothing and
it isn't even for themselves, as in this case. What does it matter if
someone can't spell dishwasher.


mark

On Oct 29, 10:56*pm, "mark" wrote:
"Tim W" wrote in message

...



Is a wonderful concept. Just off loaded some outgrown kids stuff to good
homes very quickly, prior to our move next week. Sort of stuff you'd get
10
quid for if that after waiting a week on ebay and impractical to post....

Pity that the mailing list software is so crap though. Yahoo groups is the
devil's rectum (what an awful signup procedure and then have to wait for
moderator approval on each and every group which can take 48 hours...) and
the emails are very bursty - eg many hours for a TAKEN message to appear
if
it ever does, so spend ages replying to loads of people that it's gone

The new web/email interface some of the other groups are using has
potential, but the emails are totally erratic (yes I have emailed the
admins). Anyone else noticed that?

Cheers

I am a member of my local group, now called Freegle. I have set it up so
that emails come direct into their own folder within Outlook Express.
Filters dump 'Taken' and 'Wanted' messages into 'Deleted Items'. *Works
fine. *Just remember that these groups are run by volunteers and don't
really appreciate 'advice'.

They seem to like giving it out, though. Bunch of wannabee little
Hitlers.

MBQ

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:38:20 +0000, Bruce wrote:
Instead of being primarily a means of avoiding low value but useful
items going to landfill, Freecycle has become a means of cynically
obtaining something valuable for nothing.

The problem I find is that some mods try and police it by deciding what's
valuable and what isn't, then making blanket bans on some subjects (no
computers, no vehicles etc.) which has the downside of sending legitimate
stuff to the dump.

I'm starting to think that a list that limits things to a max of 50
quid/dollars/whatever per item might be the best way - low enough that
unwanted things that might be seen as "worth something" are nearly
free, but high enough that it might stop the same pikey twunts from
grabbing everything they can get their hands on.

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:50:51 +0000, mark wrote:
What ****es me off is the cheeky *******s who want something for nothing and
it isn't even for themselves, as in this case.

What ****es me off is the cheeky *******s who want something for nothing
and then just stick it on ebay to make themselves some cash. Asshats.

Mark wrote:
On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:08:52 +0000, Usenet Nutter
wrote:

On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:14:40 -0000, "Tim Downie"
wrote:

"Bruce" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:14:04 +0000, Tim W wrote:
Bruce
wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 08:49
It has very little to do with "the server". It has everything to do
with the moderators, who are all volunteers. They aren't sitting
poised at their PC waiting for your message to come through so it can
be posted out to the group within seconds.
I'm sure that each message is *not* moderated on the T Wells group.
Messages
posted on the web appear immediately. A percentage of messages posted on
the web get emailed immediately. Some appear on the web and never get
emailed. That *is* a crap server/software.

Some groups are fully moderated. Some others are unmoderated. The
rest moderate new members, and allow them to post unmoderated after a
trial period.
That last is that way that all groups should be run. It's specifically
against Freecycle rules to run a fully moderated group. Of course this
doesn't apply to non-Freecycle groups.

When I created and ran the local group in Ayr, I never felt the need to
approve new members and never had reason to regret the decision.
Unfortunately, a lot of Freecycle groups are run by people who are control
freaks and find the thought of unmoderated members & unapproved sign-up
scary.

Tim
The Glasgow Group is fully moderated and some things they do are
really irksome like when I posted a "Wanted" message and said I could
collect from all around the greater Glasgow area but didn't put in
which part of Glasgow I stayed in and it got rejected and I had to
edit it and resend ..Now why did that matter when I said I could
collect .?

One of our local groups is like this. The moderators also edit the
posts (for example to remove the reason you are wanting something).

Our's have also gone downhill. Nowadays I get no-shows and impolite
responses. This did not use to a happen.

Yahoo groups is a real pain and I wish all freecycle groups would move
away from it.

I gave up some time back. I could handle traders because at least the
items would not go to landfill. I could not however handle the repeated
rudeness and no shows. Very sad.

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:51:10 -0600, Jules
wrote:

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:38:20 +0000, Bruce wrote:
Instead of being primarily a means of avoiding low value but useful
items going to landfill, Freecycle has become a means of cynically
obtaining something valuable for nothing.

The problem I find is that some mods try and police it by deciding what's
valuable and what isn't, then making blanket bans on some subjects (no
computers, no vehicles etc.) which has the downside of sending legitimate
stuff to the dump.


Well, there's always the charity shop - but not for vehicles.

It is sad to have to moderate a Freecycle group, but I have seen one
group local to me descend into anarchy. When it first started it was
well ordered and polite, but then the grasping chavs arrived and that
was the end of it.

It is now 100% moderated and works OK, but it's a lot of work for the
moderators.


I'm starting to think that a list that limits things to a max of 50
quid/dollars/whatever per item might be the best way - low enough that
unwanted things that might be seen as "worth something" are nearly
free, but high enough that it might stop the same pikey twunts from
grabbing everything they can get their hands on.


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 feel sorry for the moderators!

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.

Andrew

[1] I am always amused by the emails that I get saying "Re the item you
are offering on Freecycle. I can collect tomorrow" Smacks too much of a
form email that goes out in response to anything interesting if they
can't even name the item.

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:38:20 +0000, Bruce wrote:

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:40:03 +0000, Mark
wrote:

Our's have also gone downhill. Nowadays I get no-shows and impolite
responses. This did not use to a happen.


That's because Freecycle started off among middle class professionals.
The rot set in when Freecycle was effectively advertised to the chavs
(through articles in their red-top newspapers) as a way to get something
for nothing.

This is what gave rise to the ridiculous Wanted ads such as "WANTED -
Laptop with Windows Vista and at least 2 GB RAM".

Instead of being primarily a means of avoiding low value but useful
items going to landfill, Freecycle has become a means of cynically
obtaining something valuable for nothing.

Just for once I agree with you. We recently had a WANTED: for the NatWest
pig moneyboxes - the rare ones, going for several hundred each, no doubt
in the hope that some innocent would part with theirs..


--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

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.

"Bruce" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:51:10 -0600, Jules
wrote:

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:38:20 +0000, Bruce wrote:
Instead of being primarily a means of avoiding low value but useful
items going to landfill, Freecycle has become a means of cynically
obtaining something valuable for nothing.

The problem I find is that some mods try and police it by deciding what's
valuable and what isn't, then making blanket bans on some subjects (no
computers, no vehicles etc.) which has the downside of sending legitimate
stuff to the dump.


Well, there's always the charity shop - but not for vehicles.

Most charity shops have stopped take anything electrical

The cost of testing them costs more then they are worth

tim