FREEUSE.ORG: THE FREEUSE NETWORK
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| ...the simple, age-old principle that's changing the world one gift at a time. |
Do's and Don'ts for FreeUse Moderators
Congratulations on becoming a FreeUse Moderator!
We're all part of an evolving organization, and THE best way to keep track of what's going on is to join the
FreeUse Mod Squad, where the owners and moderators of FreeUse groups help each other solve
problems, POLITELY debate policies, and contend with issues as they arise.
The Mod Squad's files and databases contain generic flyers for posting on bulletin boards and press
release samples in the Files section that you can modify and send out to local newspapers. There's also a
welcome kit for newbie mods as well as lots of other tidbits that'll help, including leads to many of the great
people in The FreeUse Network and our friends in other freeuse and freecycle groups, who can help you
out. You can join here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreeUsemodsquad/
For now, check out these DOs and DON’Ts that all FreeUse moderators really should try to follow to make
their lives a bit easier and so that your groups will run so much smoother (By the way, we welcome
feedback on these, since we don't mind evolving them as we all learn a little more.):
Congratulations on becoming a FreeUse Moderator!
We're all part of an evolving organization, and THE best way to keep track of what's going on is to join the
FreeUse Mod Squad, where the owners and moderators of FreeUse groups help each other solve
problems, POLITELY debate policies, and contend with issues as they arise.
The Mod Squad's files and databases contain generic flyers for posting on bulletin boards and press
release samples in the Files section that you can modify and send out to local newspapers. There's also a
welcome kit for newbie mods as well as lots of other tidbits that'll help, including leads to many of the great
people in The FreeUse Network and our friends in other freeuse and freecycle groups, who can help you
out. You can join here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreeUsemodsquad/
For now, check out these DOs and DON’Ts that all FreeUse moderators really should try to follow to make
their lives a bit easier and so that your groups will run so much smoother (By the way, we welcome
feedback on these, since we don't mind evolving them as we all learn a little more.):
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| DOs: *** DO KEEP IT FREE, LEGAL, & APPROPRIATE FOR ALL AGES. This means, for example, no alcohol, tobacco, firearms, or drugs, legal or otherwise. Two "strikes" and you're out of the group. This is the main rule to live by and it's a pretty easy one to enforce. *** IT IS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED THAT YOU MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE A BACKUP CO-OWNER OF SOME KIND LOCALLY. Either have someone not living in your own household locally be a co-owner or you may also use freeuseinfo@yahoo.org as a neutral backup co- owner. This is not required but is encouraged. It can save us a lot of time and effort when there are problems that can't be solved locally. For example, someone may report your address to Yahoo, which has been known to respond by locking out owners. Or perhaps, as has happened in the past, owners leave their groups, and forget to include a forwarding address or appoint another person to be the owner. If we all have a backup CO- owner, all local groups are protected. *** DO MAKE SURE THE GROUP IS SET UP SO THAT RESPONSES GO ONLY TO OFFERERS. It keeps down the sheer number of emails, and will make your life a lot easier. And require/encourage members to use the standard FreeUse phrases in the subject line of their posts - e.g., OFFER, SEEK, and TAKEN. *** DO INCLUDE THIS DISCLAIMER in your Files section and send it to members when they join your group: “FREEUSE NETWORK MEMBERS USE THE LIST AT THEIR OWN RISK. Please take reasonable measures to protect your safety and privacy when posting to the list or participating in an exchange. By joining the list, you agree to hold neither the list owners, moderators nor anyone affiliated with FreeUse.org responsible or liable for any circumstance resulting from a FreeUse-related exchange or communication. SAFETY. Be aware! It is up to each individual member of FreeUse when arranging for pickup of the item being given away to be appropriately aware of the potential risk of having "a stranger" come to your home to pick something up. FreeUse as a listserv assumes no responsibility for this risk. Please review our Safety Tips.” *** DO STICK TO THE MODERATOR OATH OF HONOR AND FREEUSE ETIQUETTE. ENCOURAGE MEMBERS TO DO LIKEWISE: "Be nice." As moderators, you want to want to encourage good manners in terms of scheduling pickups, and being punctual. (Leaving someone hanging is never a nice thing.) Remember your pledge to be a really nice and patient person when moderating your new FreeUse group. You agreed to remain open to input from members or the occasional democratic polling of your members, but to make the tough calls and decisions in order to spare the rest the long debates. With great honor, you pledged to keep spam, ads and moneymakers out of your group with the "two strikes, you're out" rule. And, finally, you promised to come clean of your pack-rat ways and clean out your own garage before asking the same of others. *** DO LIVE WHERE YOUR GROUP IS LOCATED. We ask that moderators only have a group in an area they actually live in. You then know best the local recycling facilities, local Earth Day dates, local meet-up sites, local recycling nonprofit groups, etc. |
| DON'Ts *** DON'T ALLOW POLITICS, PROSELYTIZING, SPAM, MONEY, PERSONAL ATTACKS OR RUDENESS. FreeUse policy is “two strikes & you're out,” i.e. moderators are expected to unsubscribe members after two inappropriate postings. *** DON’T ALLOW THE ADVERTISING OF “FOR SALE” OR OTHER MONEY-RELATED SITES IN YOUR GROUP. Once someone starts planting the “try to sell it first” seed locally, it really changes the paradigm of what we are about. We are not for or against selling items. Instead, we simply have no ties whatsoever to it – be it mentioning other sites or asking for money or offering money. We don't strive for personal gain first through encouraging people to try to sell items. We only encourage magnanimous giving with absolutely no strings attached. You may however choose to encourage members to go to local nonprofit trading or bartering organizations as an alternative - we tend to find that local barter groups are kindred spirits and, while not directly gifting, they are doing lots of good in their own way. With FreeUse, though, there are no strings attached. Folks just give stuff away! *** DON'T "FORBID" SEEK postings as a category from your main board for any period of time, be it a day or a weekend, etc. SEEK posts serve a valuable purpose, one that becomes clear when you meet the first appreciative recipient whose SEEK post you fulfilled. They remind potential givers of things they might be ready to let go of, and they *really* help local nonprofit groups ask for what they need rather than having to take what they get. So reinforce how great OFFERs are, and instill in your members the importance of paying forward, but never put down WANTEDs. That's the juggling act we all have. If you do this you'll find that with as your group grows, it will have as many or more Offers as SEEK posts - it's the nature of the beast. We bipeds are basically caring and giving individuals, with just a little bit of *positive* reinforcement. That's what we mods inject into the formula -- positive stuff. "Inject negative karma into the group and ye shall receive unto yourself negative karma." (Someone famous said this at some point, or surely at least thought it). The beauty of our job is that it forces us to always respond in a non-confrontational, non- accusatory, positive, and respectful way. It's good training for the non e-World, too. And it's a great karma boost to boot. You may find that it helps to limit the frequency of individual member SEEK posts, however, as well as the frequency with which members can post the same SEEK, say once a month or once every couple of weeks. *** DON'T FULLY MODERATE YOUR GROUP. Full moderation of all posts is not allowed. Moderation of new member posts is fine - just remember to take the folks off moderation once they post correctly a few times and you are comfortable that they can be trusted to use proper format and not spam. Important: The moderation of troublemakers is highly advised..if you keep them in the group in the first place. FreeUse works best without full moderation. Empower your members to give directly to another member without moderator intervention, quickly, easily and enjoyably. Trust and empower the members directly as much as humanly possible and it'll pay out (forgive the metaphor) in spades when your group gets really big. Why? Because when that time comes, all members will know how to use the rules correctly. You have taught them how to fish rather than giving them fish for a day, right? This is why we don't promote FULL moderation. Moderating new members' first post or two gives you a chance to: -- Weed out spammers. -- Share a pointer or two about how to post, extravagant SEEKs, etc. -- Tell folks that there's a FreeUse group closer to where they live. If choosing the New Member moderation, remember that when removing the 'moderated' status from your members to check 'Use Group Settings'. This allows you to still resort to Full Moderation in case of an extreme situation. If you have checked 'unmoderated', then those members will still be able to post to the group even in the case of a required Full Moderation. *** DON'T BE A DICTATOR. If we mods act like dictators, we can only lose. Members will be less energized. Old members we ticked off flame the group, etc. It's really a lesson in life: Be nice under all circumstances or you've already lost. Even if you just act nice in e-mails, after a while, you'll see everyone being nice in the group, and you'll start really genuinely being nice yourself as a result. Meanies get flamed and their groups don't flourish. |
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