Got a garage full of stuff you don't need? Try posting it on Freecycle. No Freecycle group in your area? Start your own.
A new deal has some Freecyclers down
in the dumps.
This has been the happy mantra of Freecyclers since the grassroots online exchange started up in 2003. More than a million people all over the world have become members, via some 2,600 local groups. Thousands of tons of useful goods have been kept out of the garbage. The media has been charmed.
But behind the scenes at the Freecycle Network, as it's formally known, the honeymoon may be over. Founder and executive director Deron Beal recently accepted the network's first corporate support, in the form of a $130,000 sponsorship from the largest garbage company in the U.S., Waste Management, Inc. While some say the move is necessary for success, others are crying "hypocrisy" and leaving by the score. Meanwhile, moderators of local Freecycle groups, which have long operated independently, are bridling at a move toward centralization. Has Freecycle run its course?
First, the funding: Beal says WM came to him with the sponsorship proposal in 2004. At the time, he was gearing up to secure the trademark on the Freecycle name. Success in that endeavor has been elusive: an unrelated Florida company beat Beal to the trademark office by just a few months. He plans to mount a legal challenge to prove he has a prior right to the name, and said the sponsorship money is critical to that battle. The first check arrived in February, and visitors to Freecycle.org will now find WM linked as a sponsor. Actually, as the only sponsor.
The money also allowed Beal to quit his day job and begin drawing a paycheck from Freecycle. He had been working for RISE, Inc., a Tucson, Ariz., nonprofit that combines recycling and job training.* Shifting to Freecycle full-time, he said, will mean better service for the network's 4,000 moderators and 1.2 million members. The money will also help improve the website, which has until recently been somewhat rudimentary.
The garbage giant announced its sponsorship in late April and, says company spokesperson Heather Browne, plans to roll out a public-relations campaign that will urge people to cut down on waste by using Beal's creation. "We have to exhibit a daily commitment to environmental stewardship, and Freecycle allows us to be able to further exemplify that," Browne said.
Indeed, WM has a long history of funding environmental causes; it has been a leading sponsor of Earth Day for years. But in 1990, it was denied membership in the Environmental Grantmakers Association, the group of foundations whose support is critical to the movement. The association said WM had "engaged in a pattern of abusive corporate conduct involving repeated violations of both criminal and civil laws, with the effect of endangering and degrading the environment," the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported at the time.
Recent events suggest that the Houston, Texas-based company, which posted $939 million in profits last year, hasn't changed. For nearly 20 years, it has been plagued by scandal, from accounting misdeeds to chronic pollution problems to allegations of mob ties. In 1999, for example, it was accused of illegally dumping medical waste in a Virginia landfill not suited for that purpose; in 2003, Texas levied its largest-ever landfill fine for noxious odors at a WM dump near Austin; and this spring, fire erupted underground at a WM-operated dump in Hawaii, where state officials also found fluid leakage and said the dump had been overfilled, making it unstable.
Waste Management, Want Not
The new sponsor hardly seems a good fit for a movement like Freecycle, some members say. While the community of local moderators, known as the Modsquad, usually gets to vote on important administrative matters, it wasn't allowed to vote on the grant. Beal said there wasn't time, and that it wouldn't be appropriate to have moderators vote on such "binding" matters.
Does Waste Management want a seat at
the table?
"I certainly felt a bit deceived," said Eric Burke, founder of the Freecycle group in Anderson, S.C. "Had the sponsor been an environmental benefactor, a software company, or just about anyone else, I think most of the [local group] moderators would have seen it as good news."
Since learning of the WM grant, Burke has left Freecycle and founded FreeSharing.org, one of several splinter groups that serve as refuge for disillusioned Freecyclers. Accurately measuring the dissent is difficult; one former moderator estimates that hundreds of local groups have left the network.
"It's terribly disappointing," said fellow defector Rosemary Hill, who founded the Freecycle group in Bakersfield, Calif. She, too, has left the network and renamed her group. "Freecycle was a good thing, a wonderful thing. I think it's all about money now."
But others say the sponsorship is not such a bad deal. "Waste Management does not have a good reputation in Alabama," acknowledged Tami Tilkin, Freecycle moderator in Birmingham. "The name is practically synonymous with a notorious hazardous waste landfill in the western part of the state. However, I don't think the relationship ... is a negative association. As I see it, Waste Management is paying money to 'greenwash' their image a bit. They have not bought control of Freecycle."
Beal echoed that, saying WM's sponsorship allows the company to claim it is addressing all three "R's" in the recycling triangle, including reuse. "They have the right to tell the world what a wonderful thing they are doing in support of us," he said. "We have our first underwriter, and we're tickled about what that enables us to do for our members."
This conflict illustrates that environmental grantmaking is a "messy business," said Robert Brulle, associate professor of sociology and environmental science at Drexel University in Philadelphia. "Corporations only give to enhance their public image. That's sort of a general rule, and there's nothing surprising about that," he said, adding that many green groups rely on grants from corporations with imperfect records. The key, Brulle said, is whether the gift comes with strings attached, and whether it reflects the first step toward gaining a controlling influence. In this case, he pointed out, "on the basis of one grant, it's kind of hard to say." However, past appointments of WM executives to the boards of the National Audubon Society and the National Wildlife Federation have generated controversy.
Fast, Cheap ... and Out of Control?
Control is also at stake in the other major issue currently eating at Freecyclers. Most local groups operate under an umbrella run by Yahoo!, with the moderator having control over member info and transactions. But last summer, Beal required every local moderator to add him as an "owner" with full moderator powers. Beal said this was essential, because some moderators had abandoned their groups, or failed to control spammers.
Though the Modsquad approved Beal's change, many moderators worried they'd be giving him power to collect private information, distribute advertising, and take over their groups at any time. Beal said he has no such plans. "I only initiate the bare minimum rules that we all need to follow for this thing to work," he said.
While Freecycle functions like an online discussion forum, its structure is unique. Such forums are often like a train; they might add more cars, but the train remains under the founder's control. For example, Craigslist, the wildly popular discussion and advertising forum born in the San Francisco Bay Area, expands to serve other cities only when the founders see sufficient demand; each new city is moderated by Craigslist, not a local person. In other words, Craigslist is always driving the train.
Freecycle, on the other hand, basically said, "Take the name, but drive your own train." So it became a community of small discussion groups, each with its own conductor. Now, two years later, it's hardly surprising that some people don't want another conductor on board. Those who refuse to add Beal as moderator have been told to stop using the Freecycle name, and in some cases, he has convinced Yahoo! to shut down groups that don't comply.
Despite Freecycle's growing pains, Tilkin said most moderators and users remain unruffled by the changes. She calls Beal a "wonderful role model" who has guided Freecycle through incredible growth, while keeping its purpose intact. "It's not the same little grassroots effort it was, but Freecycle remains true to its mission," she said. "It provides a 100 percent free service to keep usable items out of landfills."
And though many former boosters are now feeling down in the dumps about Freecycle, Beal tries to remain positive. "There's a hell of a lot of flying by the seat of your pants going on, and we're doing the best we can to work with all the interests and wishes that are out there," he said. "It really is half a miracle that this is working at all."
*[Correction, 20 May 2005: This article originally stated that RISE, Inc., is based in Minnesota.]
Comments
View as Flat
shepherdstownwv Posted 7:55 am
19 May 2005
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FreecycleRemoved Posted 10:15 am
19 May 2005
What a shame that something that started out so beautiful became so filthy. Once money was brought into the picture, and greed rears it's ugly head all bets are off.
When people are forced to make another an owner of a Yahoo group which they started, and this is strictly against Yahoo's TOS, and then publicly announce it, they should be shut down by Yahoo. Instead he has had Yahoo unjustifiably shut good groups down that don't do as he says. Again about the money.
As Eric said, there are so many groups leaving Freecycle because the threats and unethical things done by them, new spin off groups are starting up all over, keeping themselves free and fun! A few others Eric didn't mention are http://www.freeshare.savethisplanet.com/, www.sharingisgiving.org/, http://www.masscentral.org/ and so many more. Why is it that these are staying free and not taking money from anyone?
Nice job Matt, too bad you had to pull the real punches, but nice job.
Freecycle Removed
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tnc Posted 2:12 pm
19 May 2005
I am one of the former freecycle list owners that have decided to go my own way along with another local list owner. We could no longer tolerate the way freecycle was being run. At one point I believed that freecycle was an environmental group. I now have another opinion on this whole freecycle organization. Freecycle started out to be a great thing, but the greed and need for control is spoiling freecycle.
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nattydad Posted 4:45 pm
19 May 2005
Nate
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leafygreenlady Posted 4:51 pm
19 May 2005
I've seen so many complaints about Freecycle seeking sponsors and can't imagine what the problem is. Someone please show me an organization that can run on no money because I don't believe there are any. Waste Mgmt might not have had a wonderful image but it's been legally punished with fines and such and is working on cleaning up it's image. If they want to clean it up by associating with Freecycle so be it.
How many organizations do you know that give as much freedom of choice as Freecycle does? Freecycle puts the least amount of restrictions on it's mods and members than any other non-profit group. I do think though that Freecycle would do best to get it's own website and leave those complaining yahoos behind.
Freecycle is a great concept and if it continues to grow it can become a way of life for millions of people. Imagine how that will impact the world.
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deron Posted 7:52 am
20 May 2005
As the founder & executive director of The Freecycle Network, I applaud your desire to cover the challenges that a nonprofit organization faces in seeking underwriters/funding for its cause -- particularly one like ours with 1,250,000 members, no budget and no staff at least until two months ago...
I do, however, feel compelled to set the record straight on some of the issues addressed in your Grist article "Waste Lines" of May 19th, 2005 on The Freecycle Network.
You claimed that groups are "are crying 'hypocrisy' and leaving by the score" as a result of our receiving our first ever substantial funding of any kind --aside from my own personal savings-- from our first ever underwriter of any kind, Waste Management and the Recycle America Alliance.
That I weighed carefully the decision to accept any external underwriting funds is very true. But, that groups are "leaving by the score" couldn't be further from the case. I can count the groups on one hand out that have left "in scores" of our several thousand local groups in over 50 countries worldwide.
Any local moderator would confirm this as local moderators are all members of a worldwide moderator group which we use to trade thoughts and ideas with each other -- no secrets here, believe me. Also, in your interview with me you yourself stated that the fact that groups actually were not leaving was also reflected by your own research and is certainly reflected by the exuberant growth in groups across the globe.
Finallly, the former Freecycle moderator you chose to quote as an example of the same, Eric, was actually asked to leave because he wasn't following the rules in his local group (rules voted on and agreed to by all moderators worldwide). He wished to stay and when told he either has to follow the rules or go, he asked if his wife could still moderate the local group (we declined his offer). His statement that he left of his own volition was not the case.
It is true that he is attempting to promote his own "copycat" network which, unlike The Freecycle Network, is not incorporated as a nonprofit organization. Consider this when reading his quotes. You make a plug for his site and even link to it later in the article as "a refuge for disillusioned Freecyclers". This refuge is a site that he pasted together with every single former Freecycle site that was no longer allowed to use the name because they don't follow the basic rules voted on by all. This "refuge" has received a sum total of 1729 total hits ever per his own counter -- most as a result of your own article. This compares to our nonprofit site with tens of thousands of hits a day and over a million members. This "refuge" is a collection of links to unaffiliated groups from former moderators who were asked to step down for not following the basic rules, and most certainly not a link to those who are pure of heart, I assure you.
So he didn't follow the rules that all mods voted on, he was asked to leave by fellow volunteer group-outreach moderators and he responded by setting up a competing copycat network which is not nonprofit. This is what one might consider to be a questionable journalistic source. I pride myself in being straight and having no profit motives whatsoever. The effort you plug as an alternative can most certainly not claim the same. It is important to question why someone says what they say -- follow the facts not the hearsay.
In regards to our having a trademark, you say that "Success in that endeavor has been elusive: an unrelated Florida company beat Beal to the trademark office by just a few months." This is an "almost truth" but tainted by misinformation from your interviewees. Actually we have a trademark whether or not another company applies a couple months before us for "future use." Had you viewed the publically viewable uspto.gov site, you could have verified this by reading the actual documents to this effect. We have this trademark in the US, Canada and the European Union. A "TM" only maintains its value when defended in court regardless of any other TM's out there and an "R" only is given once pending cases are settled. In all fairness you could have stated that a) we have been using our TM "in commerce" for over two years and that the very much for-profit corporation has never used it at all, and that b) this company in Florida that applied for future use has a snowball's chance in Miami of being registered, based on any competent copyright and trademark lawyer's opinion. So, actually, we are in very good shape trademark-wise and success is not at all "elusive" but rather all but assured.
You then base your next comment on the actions of 2-3 mods -- mods who did not take their groups and leave out of polictical inspiration but rather were asked to leave by other volunteer mods in The Freecycle Network for not following the basic rules that all groups vote on. The comment you then make is "Has Freecycle run its course?" I am proud to say that we are growing by 100,000+ members a month. If you are doing a good thing, people know it. The Freecycle is still very much a grassroots wildfire. Your comment would seem to imply otherwise.
You indeed say that I have organized this organization or 1,250,000 good-hearted & nonprofit members as a volunteer for nearly two years. That's quite true, with the help of literally thousands of volunteers moderators locally, 70-80 volunteers who approve new groups, 30 volunteers who help existing groups another 10 or so who administer the database or help with general inquiries to the website. We are creating a worldwide gift economy with a paid staff of one. That is awesome. You neglected to mention that point in your article. However, you did mention that my previous day job was in "recycling and job training, run by Rise, Inc., a Minnesota-based nonprofit." The nonprofit is called RISE, but, last time I checked it was a nice, little local recycling group right here in Tucson, Arizona, not Minnesota...
You refer to past legal issues that WM has had. Also true. And indeed which every single major multinational corporation has on an ongoing basis. This is where I believe the article could have sprouted some interesting wings. It's a dilemma that I feel both multinationals and nonprofits face together. A multinational like WM knows it will be labelled "green washer" by supporting a cause which eliminates waste from their own landfills and reducing their own bottom line. And a nonprofit knows that such report will inevitably lead to articles such as your own. What does it mean for a multinational corporation to be willing to take such a huge risk and to promote something that reduces their own bottom line. This would have been an interesting article on corporate civic responsiblity versus the risk which the same holds for them.
What, however, is key is not to simply claim that corporations are taking over a grassroots movement, but rather to ascertain for the reader whether or not this is actually the case. Journalistic questions such as: What does WM get in return from the support? Partial ownership? Control of decisions? Board position? Logos on all brochures? The reader needs this information in order to decide for him- or herself.
In this case they received none of the above. What WM does receive is the satisfaction of knowing they are keeping good stuff out of landfills and --drumroll please-- they are noted on our sponsor page which can be found by clicking on "sponsors" at freecycle.org. That's it.
In making the difficult decision as to whether or not to accept underwriter funding, please note that I also consulted a nonprofit ethicist who does contract work for green mutual funds, and he stated that WM and the Recycle America Alliance were appropriate as funders (relevant but omitted fact in your interview with me). So, my response would be that there money is well spent with us. They have no interest in owning us or controlling us and are choosing to help give back to communities where they haul our waste in this fashion. I applaud this support.
You noted accounting/legal issues of concern with WM, but you didn't note that upper management was replaced as a result about a year ago. This does not mean that we whitewash our concerns -- indeed we must always proceed with the caution and care that so many dedicated members deserve. But not noting the new management is disregarding an extremely relevant ethical fact in your article.
I was misquoted as saying that there wasn't time to ask the moderators if they would vote for or against such support. The quote:
"Beal said there wasn't time, and that it wouldn't be appropriate to have moderators vote on such 'binding' matters." The fact is that like all other fiduciary issues with all major conservation nonprofits, including your own (Grist), those liable for the results must vote for or against binding contracts: this means The Freecycle Network's board. All the time in the world doesn't change that situation. What was unfortunate was that the announcement of WM's support came out in the press without my knowledge before I was able to talk to the moderators. This was not fair to the moderators that they didn't know what was coming.
As regards "control" you stated:
"But last summer, Beal required every local moderator to add him as an 'owner' with full moderator powers. Beal said this was essential, because some moderators had abandoned their groups, or failed to control spammers."
Here again, consider your source: ex mod promoting copycat concept which isn't a nonprofit. In reality I didn't require this of anyone nor am I an owner of any group but my own local group. Moderators saw an issue, discussed it in the main moderator group and they voted on it there: the poll still exists in the group. They felt it made sense to have this backup address as a co-owner of every real "Freecycle" group worldwide and, in fact, it does. Otherwise there would be countless citites with overlapping groups or moderatorless groups all claiming to be the real McCoy. They aren't adding me as a co-owner at all, but rather a backup address for which there is an automated program that deletes all incoming mail automatically.
A further quote from you:
"Freecycle, on the other hand, basically said, 'Take the name, but drive your own train.' Those who refuse to add Beal as moderator have been told to stop using the Freecycle name, and in some cases, he has convinced Yahoo! to shut down groups that don't comply."
This is simply not correct. The only local group I am a moderator of is my own local group as explained above. There is a detailed new group approval process run by other volunteer mods and there have always been rules which are required of all groups like "Keep it free, legal and appropriate for all ages." If the moderators vote on a new rule, this then applies to all groups as well, not just the new ones. They voted on the backup address and it makes darned good sense. Other moderators are volunteering to make sure everyone follows the rules. It can't work without a bare minimum of rules we all agree to. I'm tickled to say the process is working quite well.
And finallly, a nice parting quote from you:
"And though many former boosters are now feeling down in the dumps about Freecycle, Beal tries to remain positive."
Well, duh! As we continue to grow by leaps and bounds as we continue to keep 50 tons a day out of landfills and as the humblest among us becomes a philanthropist/gifter, I find strength in these countless acts of beauty. But in every program must come a little static. But I'm hearing lots of beautiful music, I assure you, no "trying" required. All you have to do is tune in a little closer...
By the way, I still think Grist is very cool and urge you to reference other articles by Grist itself about Freecycle that present a much different picture...
Sincerely,
Deron Beal
Founder & Executive Director
The Freecycle Network
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Razmear Posted 11:33 am
20 May 2005
First, regarding the hit counter that he refers to in an attempt to make my site seem less than worthy. There were 1625 on the counter before the story hit, it has now, thankfully hit 1773 due to the publicity of this article. The counter on my site is a Visitor counter, not a hit counter like FreeCycles. If the same user reloads my site the counter will not increase, which gives a far more accurate number of unique visitors than a hit counter.
Second, no FreeSharing.org is not a registered non-profit organization, nor do I have any desire to hire lawyers or fill out a bunch of paperwork to be one. FreeSharing.org also has no desire to seek a trademark or other legal protection for the name, again no lawyers, no massive legal fees, and no need for shady corporate sponcers.
The operating expence of FreeSharing.org is in the neighborhood of $100 a year, which comes out of my own pocket. Unlike FreeCycle I have never asked for donations, sponcers, or tried to sell FreeCycle T-Shirts for $17 each. FreeSharing.org is a true Grass Roots network where the local moderators have total control over their groups.
Deron consistantly uses the hypocritical line that because I am not a registered non-profit I must be out to make money on my site. Seeing how FreeCycle is NOT an IRS recognized non-profit organization and Deron now makes enough money to quit his day job, I see no logic to his statements.
By the way, I work about 50 hours a week in a factory and update the site in my spare time. Unless I hit the lottery I have no plans on quitting my day job any time soon.
Quote Deron: But, that groups are "leaving by the score" couldn't be further from the case. I can count the groups on one hand out that have left "in scores"
I can also only guess that Deron must have the most deformed hands on the planet. 7 groups in Florida alone left as a result of the WMI issue, and 4 groups in South Carolina have left, and thats just the tip of the ice burg. There are over 120 groups listed on FreeSharing.org, so Deron, how many fingers do you have??? Or are you counting the hairs on the back of your hand to make such a laughable statement.
Regarding my exit from FreeCycle. I was following every rule, and even had Deron as a co owner as required. I started FreeSharing.org PRIOR to leaving FreeCycle and was told that I would have too choose between giving up FreeSharing.org or turn my group over to FreeCycle Administrative control. I refused to surrender my group and did offer to have my wife take over control, which was denied by Deron. No published rule was broken by my FreeCycle group. Because there was some discussion prior to my leaving FreeCycle, Deron's staff took the time to download my membership list of over 900 members. Once I changed my groups name to FreeShare the freecycle staff used that membership list to invite all of my members to the newly created FreeCycle group. Even my test/backup account recieved an invite to join the new group.
Even with their massive campaign to recruit my members, my group still has over double the number of members than the replacement group.
The most common comment from new groups entering the FreeSharing.org directory is that they feel an enormous weight off of their shoulders now that they are free of the FreeCycle network. Too much petty bickering in the Mod Squad, fears of FreeCycle phasing them out once the "new site" is online and local mods become obsolete, tired of the TM BS, with having to have official FreeCycle logos with 3 lines of legal text below the logo, and not being able to use FreeCycle as a verb because it might damage the legal battle to win an official Trademark, just way too much hassle to keep in line with the growing burocracy.
If there was a single point when FreeCycle started to go downhill it was when Deron decided that the name needed to be Trademarked. From there the legal costs started to rack up, and the beurocracy started to grow.
FreeSharing.org will never seek a trademark, and will survive and grow by keeping it simple, 100% locally controlled, and lawyer free.
Best Regards,
Eric Burke
web guy - FreeSharing.org
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Tulip Posted 1:05 pm
20 May 2005
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fa Posted 2:32 pm
20 May 2005
An excellent editorial you wrote portraying Freecycle to a tee. Deron Beal did not get the write-up that he wanted and is now furious. That is what makes this article so important for those who need to know the real Freecycle. Asking questions instead of spreading Derons doctrine will now be the mainstay. Thank you so much for finally allowing the world to read the truth behind a movement that has finally been pulled out of it's grass roots for all to see what is underneath.
http://freecycleanonymous.blogspot.com
http://freecycletm.blogspot.com
Freecycle Anonymous
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freecyclevolunteer Posted 2:40 pm
20 May 2005
I found it interesting that you indicated "scores" of scorned FreecycleTM moderators had left the network on their own accord. This is truly not accurate. In reality there has been a handful which were removed for the good of FreecycleTM and its members. For example there was a board moderator that belonged to a state group, moderated a board, and belonged to several of the complaint boards. He had never had a problem with FreecycleTM, was more than content to have his board listed as an authorized group for his area, and would continually bash Deron Beal, the New Group Approvers, and the Group Outreach Assistants. He spoke in generalizations in these groups and when asked to give examples he never could. He absolutely refused to join the International Board for moderators, yet he was more than content to continue to bash without foundation or supporting documentation. After all this bashing he was doing he felt he had been wronged when he was asked to remove FreecycleTM from his group and all of its materials.
Yet another example would be another board moderator who scooped up boards in her state and her neighboring state. She would go from board to board and swipe the membership lists and email everyone on the list to join her rogue groups. She too spoke in generalizations and referred to Deron Beal as a Nazi. She would create boards and bogus profiles to attempt to infiltrate the FreecycleTM Moderators groups. She would then take portions of material out of context and spread vicious lies about Deron Beal, the New Group Approvers, and the Group Outreach Assistants. Her practices to get into the FreecycleTM organization were at best deceptive. On one of her Yahoo groups she actually allowed a post with the name, address, and phone number of one of the FreecycleTM volunteers to remain. In my personal opinion she was placing this volunteer who spends endless hours making FreecycleTM a better place in harms way.
These are two expanded examples of two of the most active individuals that are most active on these anti-freecycle board. One of these examples owns most of the boards that have been designed to hurt this profound movement that is saving our environment and helping others in our communities. These are the type of individuals that you took at face value for the foundation of your article without finding out the real reasons they have been removed from the network.
Perhaps there is another side to FreecycleTM that was not to be expected. However the other side is a handful of moderators that were opportunists who were disgruntled because they could no longer misuse this system, harvest thousands of email addresses to spam and flame, and misrepresented themselves to access and use unauthorized copyrighted materials in a malicious and deceptive way.
I feel this article should have included a balance of happy board moderators as well as feedback from Group Outreach Assistants and New Group Approvers. For example, did you interview board moderators to find out what is entailed and how many hours a day they volunteer absolutely free of charge? Or did it occur to you to talk to some of the New Group Approvers to find out the process they go through before they are able to approve a group. Many hours are tied into each approval if it is done properly. Did you think to research and include in your article the reality of what it costs to maintain a server, much less the reality of fees incurred with bandwidth?
Finally I will say this; It has been my experience the individuals belonging to these flaming groups would have found something wrong if Bette Midler, the Presbyterian Church, or Walgreen's Drug Stores had decided to sponsor FreecycleTM. They would have dug until they found derogatory material on each one of them. What I don't understand is if FreecycleTM is so horrible why they would spend endless hours obsessing. At which point is this healthy or compulsive? Apparently FreecycleTM is doing something right. --If these individuals spent half as much time being involved in environmental outreach they would make a wonderful impact on the world. Unless of course the word "free" is what they are really about. At one time I was sympathetic to these few scorned individuals until I began to realize how they operated and the blatent lies they told. I walked away and never looked back.
Please consider writing a follow-up article containing a less biased approach and research the rest of the facts. These corrections and further research will help us continue to keep usable items out of the landfill and will have a great impact on our society for generations to come.
I am proud to be a Volunteer for Freecycle.org!
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CurbCycle Posted 2:55 pm
20 May 2005
I actually post polls on my groups and they voted to leave Freecycle. We do not believe in offering animals on a recycling site, we do not think that it is right that Deron is receiving donations and sponsorship when he is running a FREE site and websites are dirt cheap these days, you can get web space for as little as $50 a year. And with all of the people who worship him, I'm sure someone would design one for him for free. So, he got to quit his job and live high on the hog while everyone else runs this organization for him.
Also, on the more local level, he has these henchwomen, many of them are the same person running several groups (a big no-no) under different names, who run other mods (usually women) out of town by bullying them. Deron and the mods force the group owners to put Deron on as a "co-mod" and then take their groups away without even a thank you for all of their hard work. Of course, I was not stupid enough to let them do that to me.
It is very interesting to see how some of the group owners (oops, they are not allowed to say that they "own" a group, that is forbidden) anyway, it's interesting to see how so many treat Deron like a god. They never question him, and if you do, no matter how legitimate the question, they will attack you. Never question him about the money.
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fa Posted 3:38 pm
20 May 2005
Telling one person one thing and another person another. He leaves the general populous not knowing the truth.
Hey all,
We got our first bad press. Not too bad for two years and several hundred articles, I guess. Still though it got my goat a bit in a very un-zenlike way, I'm afraid to say. Bad, Deron, bad! It's one thing for a mod we've asked to leave to spout off. It's another to have a respected/cool online mag like Grist to do a poorly written
and poorly researched article that makes us look bad for no good reason.
I hope he was paid well for his work. Mumble, growl, mumble.
Anyway, for what it's worth, here is what I responded with to the journalist and to the editor of Grist.
Enjoy the read!
Deron
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fa Posted 3:41 pm
20 May 2005
Dear Owner of the Yahoo group
This is your second and final notification to cease and desist using the trademark-protected Freecycle name and logo, any confusingly similar derivations thereof, and The Freecycle Network's copyrighted texts/rules/guidelines in your Yahoo group, including in the title/name of the group. Please do make the necessary changes to your group name, group URL, and applicable texts to avoid any confusion with Freecycle services or delete the group immediately.
Realize that unauthorized use of these protected materials is confusing to the public and may be damaging the Freecycle Network's reputation and goodwill. Moreover, your unauthorized use is a violation of the Yahoo Terms of Service, and a trademark and copyright infringement report will be filed with Yahoo if we cannot verify that these materials have been removed with 48 hours of the sending of this notice.
As we noted in our first letter to you, you are welcomed to continue the operation of a gifting or exchange-oriented site similar to that operated by our organization. However, any Freecycle mark, logo or name, as well as any and all materials copyrighted by The Freecycle Network, must be removed before the end of the 48-hour period.
Thank you for your attention to this matter,
Database Admin
Freecycle.org
(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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Permalink
fa Posted 3:44 pm
20 May 2005
Here is all the information for you on the Freecycle Trade Name
http://tinyurl.com/9k5nf
Permalink
fa Posted 3:49 pm
20 May 2005
"Deron Beal"
*OK, here we go again: we are registered in AZ as a nonprofit -- we have showed her this directly numerous times. The IRS bit is pending. So tax deductible gifts are not yet assured. This doesn't make us any less of a nonprofit. It does make us a particularly poor anddisadvantaged nonprofit because who wants to donate if they can't deduct it from their taxes. Particularly foundations and individuals want to see this tax deductible status.*
Permalink
fa Posted 3:51 pm
20 May 2005
"Deron Beal" December 2, 2003
Hey all,
I've got a request for you all. I've put together the attached letter to ask for money from freecycle members. I've already used it in Tucson and have gotten about $425 total in donations. I would like to ask that those of you more gifted than I proof read it and e-mail me your improvement suggestions. I would then update the letter and will in the coming days ask that you consider forwarding this letter to your groups to ask for donations.
Permalink
fa Posted 3:52 pm
20 May 2005
THE CSM Article...Mr. Kaufman, they called us an online junkyard! I feel so violated...Deron
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1027/p13s01-stin.html
Permalink
fa Posted 3:53 pm
20 May 2005
"Deron Beal"
I'm afraid the answer is no, we aren't even close to having nonprofit status in Canada and haven't even begun the process.
Permalink
fa Posted 3:54 pm
20 May 2005
"Deron Beal"
The Freecycle Network receives $10K per month and a $10K on signing or $130K total for the year. Either WM or we can end the contract at any time with 60 days notice. If something egregious is done, then immediately. The contract is limited to one year and they in no way limit what we do as an organization.
Permalink
fa Posted 3:55 pm
20 May 2005
The whole idea of two strikes is more psychological. If someone is being a pain, you want a way to stay, "Stop it, please." And you want them to be thinking that if they do it again that they might be booted from the group. It's like telling a child that if they are bad again they will have to go to their room. Well, a child suddenly
perceives the potential penalty as an awful thing (going to their room) and it's a great little preventive measure.
Permalink
fa Posted 3:56 pm
20 May 2005
"Deron Beal"
PS: Folks, could ya cut me a little slack here? Why don't you ask me this stuff instead of announcing it to the board? You are not making the Freecycle Network stronger or better nor are you making my life any easier.... Fer cryin' out loud. Some woman is mean and rants and you believe her, but don't even bother asking me off board. Or you don't even bother reading the old posts on this exact topic from this exact same person. Thanks a lot. I'm gettin just a little ticked and will not be looking at the board again for a while so don't expect any further comments on this topic from me. Don't allow yourself to be suckered is all I can say. Sheesh.
Permalink
fa Posted 3:57 pm
20 May 2005
"Deron Beal"
We of course are not giving away the rights at all. We are sending letters to non-Freecycle approved groups to cease and desist on an ongoing basis and are working closely with Yahoo, Inc. to keep this enforced. This is important that we continue to defend the name and its use, not because of these whiner types, but because if we don't, money interests could use the name to do their own big whoppin
website.
Permalink
fa Posted 3:58 pm
20 May 2005
He also states that he never had control over Freecycle. Like what was his first clue. But then why does he force people to have (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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fa Posted 4:01 pm
20 May 2005
Word Mark
FREECYCLE
Goods and Services
IC 042. US 100 101. G & S: An online service where users are able to give items away for free that they no longer need
Mark Drawing Code
(5) WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS IN STYLIZED FORM
Serial Number
78415420
Filing Date
May 7, 2004
Current Filing Basis
1B
Original Filing Basis
1B
Owner
(APPLICANT) New Media Worlds, Inc. CORPORATION FLORIDA P.O. Box 21382 St. Petersburg FLORIDA 33742
Type of Mark
SERVICE MARK
Register
PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator
LIVE
Deron Beals Filing for a Freecycle (tm)
Word Mark
FREECYCLE
Goods and Services
IC 042. US 100 101. G & S: DESIGN, CREATION, HOSTING AND MAINTENANCE OF A FREE WEBSITE THAT PROVIDES OTHERS WITH A GLOBAL INTERNET BASED SYSTEM OF GIVING AND RECEIVING PERSONAL PROPERTY FOR FREE. FIRST USE: 20030501. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20030501
Mark Drawing Code
(3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS
Design Search Code
180301 220106 270305
Serial Number
78475113
Filing Date
August 27, 2004
Current Filing Basis
1A
Original Filing Basis
1A
Owner
(APPLICANT) THE FREECYCLE NETWORK CORPORATION ARIZONA 901 NORTH PERRY AVENUE TUCSON ARIZONA 85705
Attorney of Record
JOHN C. LACY
Description of Mark
The color(s) GREEN, TAN, BLACK, ORANGE, YELLOW is/are claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of The word "freecycle" is in lower case Ravie (Open Type) font in green with a slight black shadow. The double "ee" is superimposed over the spokes of the wheels of an old fashioned bicycle facing to the left. The wheels of the bicycle project below the "ee" to a level even with the bottom of the "y" and slightly above the "f." The wheels and frame of the bicyle are tan outlined in black. The letter "l" within the "freecycle" name has been replaced with the fretboard facing downward. The headstock and fretboard are black with two white stripes suggesting strings running along its length. The headstock with six tuning pegs is reflexed to the left and is level with the bottom of the letter "y." The body of the guitar is shaded in black around the edge with an insertion of a white and orange line running from the top left corner of the body to the neck of the guitar. The interior of the body is orange with an image of a gold reflection surrounding the left side of the bridge and completely surrounding the strings. Four black lines, suggesting strings, begin above the sound hole and stop below the bridge. The body of the guitar projects above the name approximately the same width as the type face for the name..
Type of Mark
SERVICE MARK
Register
PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator
LIVE
Go to this url http://www.uspto.gov and on the left hand side click on search where it says Trademarks. Then click on New User Form Search (Basic) Where it says Search Term: Key in the word Freecycle. Then click on Submit Query. And you will see these two records for yourself.
Permalink
fa Posted 4:03 pm
20 May 2005
Corporate World Comes Courting Beal's baby has gotten so big it's taking over most of the space in his home, and most of his spare time."We've got nearly a million members now," he says. "We've grown 2,300 per cent in the past six months, so you can figure that eight months down the line, we're going to have eight to 10 million people who are doing this."So he's a tad enthusiastic. But there's no doubt Freecycle is growing, and fast. Which means the inevitable is happening: the corporate world wants a piece of the Freecycle action - and it's willing to pay for it.
Beal's negotiating a sponsorship deal with Waste Management Inc. (WMI), which Beal says is "one of the largest recyclers in the world." Beal hopes the deal will bring in enough cash that he can quit his day job: "and my dream, of course, is to have enough money so that I can hire somebody to be doing the programming for the new web page."So Beal's happy, but what do the members think of a corporate sponsor for Freecycle?
For Oshawa Freecycler Nancy Daniels, it all depends on the details: "If they leave it the way it is right now, it's going to be an awesome tool for a lot of people. If they start wanting to make money off of it, then I think we've got problems. "Beal agrees that Freecycle can only survive if it keeps its grassroots appeal: "There is absolutely no way I could find enough sponsors to pay for all the volunteers that are required in every city worldwide. It just would be a mind-boggling sum. So there's no doubt that this is and will remain a grassroots movement, or it'll just disintegrate."Wes Muir is director of communications for Waste Management of Canada, the Canadian division of WMI.
Headquartered in Burlington, Ontario, it's Canada's largest garbage collection, recycling and disposal company. Muir says that for about $130,000 a year, the Freecycle website will feature a link to WMI. "We jumped on to this program was because a lot of our commercial customers, we help them with waste reduction and how to reduce their waste in the plant before it gets disposed of," says Muir. "And we do a lot of that work on the recycling and we thought this is a nice service offering we can offer our customers. "But could there be another incentive - a little recycling of the company's image, perhaps?
After all, Waste Management of Canada is the same company that wanted to open a huge landfill in northern Ontario that would have taken some of Toronto's garbage. Part of the debate surrounding the "Adams Mine" proposal focused on WMI's environmental record - in particular, fines for environmental violations at its landfills in the United States. Wes Muir says he can't speculate on whether Freecycle's environmentally sensitive members will strike up against his company's sponsorship of the Freecycle movement. And he insists the company's not motivated to polish its image by making a connection with Freecycle.
Muir says WMI is merely "trying to raise awareness among the public about the waste we generate. And to think beyond just dropping it off at the curb and walking away and saying, `Well, my job is done.'"Deron Beal insists on focussing on the positive too: "It's a beautiful thing to have a company step forward --that's into recycling-- and say, `don't give us your recyclables, reuse it. 'That's a pretty inspiring thing for a company to step forward and do."
http://tinyurl.com/3qyzd
Permalink
fa Posted 4:06 pm
20 May 2005
Waste Management supporting 'Freecycle'
Waste Management announced its support of Freecycle this week.
Waste Management, which handles trash collection in Woodland, has signed a one-year sponsorship agreement through which it has agreed to contribute $130,000 to help Freecycle manage its rapidly growing membership, while promoting the benefits of reuse among Waste Management customers and employees.
Everything posted to Freecycle groups has to be free, legal, and appropriate for all ages. All groups are listed on http:/www.Freecycle.org.
"Waste Management is pleased to be the "Founding" corporate sponsor of the Freecycle Network," said David Steiner, Waste Management CEO. "This online community's commitment to waste reduction, mirrors Waste Management's commitment to helping our customers with their waste reduction and recycling needs."
Founded in May of 2003, by Deron Beal of Tucson, Ariz., Freecycle groups have sprung up in more than 2,500 cities throughout the U.S., Canada and 45 other countries.
Freecycle groups around the world provide individuals and nonprofits an electronic forum to "recycle" used appliances, clothing, furniture, toys, and other household goods.
"Freecycle's goals are consistent with our commitment to environmental stewardship and the communities we serve. In less than two years more than one million people have joined the Freecycle movement," Steiner stated.
"Their commitment to reuse and recycling is important and should be supported. Moreover, reuse and recycling really matter to public sector customers and we look forward to supporting their recycling and reuse objectives, through Freecycle programs," he added.
Deron Beal, the founder and Executive Director for The Freecycle Network, said, "I am so thankful that Waste Management saw our needs and offered to help us in these vital ways."
Permalink
fa Posted 4:09 pm
20 May 2005
All Moderators of Freecycle groups are being told to place this (TM) a pending "trademark" on their groups i.e. Freecycle(TM).
and at the bottom of home page as follows:-
Copyright © 2003-2005 The Freecycle Network (http://www.Freecycle.org. All rights reserved. Freecycle and the Freecycle logo are trademarks of The Freecycle Network in the United States and/orother countries.
According to Yahoo in their TOS (Terms of Service)
Yahoo! Groups Guidelines
http://groups.yahoo.com/local/guidelines.html
6. You may not use Yahoo! Groups for commercial or advertising purposes.
If you would like to contact Yahoo about this violation send an e-mail to (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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fa Posted 4:11 pm
20 May 2005
http://www.waste.ky.gov/recycling
At least everybody will know where to go should there be more environmental violations by Waste Management they can always contact Deron Beal.
Permalink
fa Posted 4:13 pm
20 May 2005
The Free Recycling Movement Comes to Ontario TORONTO, Aug. 9 CNW - The recycling movement took a step forward today with the launch of Freecycle.ca - Ontario's first Canadian-based online clearinghouse for the recycling of free goods. The Freecycle(TM) web site, http://www.freecycle.ca, uses the power of the Internet to enable donors to donate their unwanted goods to a database that is searchable by anyone looking for free goods."Freecycling is a simple model with tremendous potential," said Freecycle.ca founder David Goyette. "People have things they want to get rid of. Other people are searching for those same things.
We bring them together online. Donors list the goods they have. Searchers find the goods they want. They contact each other. All goods are free." The primary purpose of Freecycle.ca is to demonstrate innovation and leadership in the recycling movement in order to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill sites, incinerators and dumps. It has particular application in Toronto, where less than a third of the City's waste is diverted from the waste stream, and where the daily trucking of waste to Port Huron, Michigan is a constant reminder of our City's failure to find local solutions to locally generated waste.
Said Goyette: "Freecycle.ca is cheaper than want ads and truck disposal services. It's less trouble than a garage sale. It's universally available. And it improves our ability to perceive solid waste as a resource - something
that still has value even after it has served its primary purpose."
Inspired by the growing freecycle chat group movement in the United States, Freecycle.ca is currently active in Ontario. Our initial Ontario donors include Toronto City Councillor Michael Walker and TVO Studio 2 host Steve Paikin. A British Columbia service is expected to be online this year. Freecycle(TM) is the subject of a registered trademark in Canada.
For further information: Detail: http://www.freecycle.ca; Contact: David Goyette: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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fa Posted 4:14 pm
20 May 2005
It appears that a company in Calagary, Alberta Canada owns the registered rights to "FREECYCLE" since 1995. So how is it that Freecycle.org is trying to get their FREECYCLE(TM) registered in Canada when it is already a registered trademark.
Below is the url to the Canadian Trademark Data Registration of FREECYCLE as proof:-
http://tinyurl.com/7e2g9
CANADIAN TRADE-MARK DATA*** Note : Data on trade-marks is shown in the official language in which it was submitted.
The database was last updated on: 2005-05-03
APPLICATION NUMBER: 0793126
REGISTRATION NUMBER: TMA465544
STATUS:
REGISTERED
FILED:
1995-09-21
FORMALIZED:
1995-10-12
ADVERTISED:
1996-04-24
REGISTERED:
1996-11-01
REGISTRANT:
SECURE OIL TOOLS LTD., 440, 2431-37 AVENUE N.E., CALGARY, T2E 6Y7 ALBERTA
REPRESENTATIVE FOR SERVICE:
DAWN H. GIEBELHAUS-MAINS
(BLAKE, CASSELS & GRAYDON LLP)
SUITE 3500, EAST TOWER, BANKERS HALL
855-2ND STREET S.W.
CALGARY
ALBERTA T2P 4J8
CURRENT OWNER:
Integrated Production Services Ltd. Suite 1500, 840 - 7th Avenue SW, Calgary, T2P 3G2 ALBERTA
REPRESENTATIVE FOR SERVICE:
TINA S. MCKAY
(GOODWIN MCKAY)
SUITE 360
237-8TH AVE SE
CALGARY
ALBERTA T2G 5C3
INTERESTED PARTIES
OLD OWNER
STELLARTON ENERGY CORPORATION, 440, 2431-37 AVENUE N.E., CALGARY, ALBERTA T2E 6Y7
OLD OWNER
Schlumberger Canada Limited 525 - 3rd Avenue, S.W. Calgary, ALBERTA T2P 0G4
TRADE-MARK:
FREECYCLE
INDEX HEADINGS:
FREECYCLE CYCLE, FREE
WARES:
(1) Fluid removal tools used in petroleum industry.
SERVICES:
(1) Business providing for sales, engineering and manufacture, supply,repair and custom assembly services of tools for removal of fluids from wells used in petroleum industry; provision of consultation and technical services, namely the on-site training for operation, maintenance and repair service of fluid removal tools.
CLAIMS:
Declaration of Use filed August 15, 1996.
ACTION
DATE
BF
COMMENTS
Filed
21 September 1995
Created
21 September 1995
Formalized
12 October 1995
Search recorded
11 December 1995
Approved
19 March 1996
Advertised
24 April 1996
Vol.43 Issue 2165
Allowed
19 July 1996
Allowance notice sent
19 July 1996
21 September 1998
Registered
01 November 1996
Change in title
18 February 1997
Assignment
Agent changed
01 November 1999
From: 2734 To: 9861
Rep for service changed
01 November 1999
From: 2734 To: 9861
Rep for service changed
31 August 2000
From: 9861 To: 12
Agent changed
31 August 2000
From: 9861 To: 12
Change in title
31 August 2000
Assignment
Assignment correspondence created
23 March 2001
23 September 2001
Assignment correspondence created
04 June 2001
04 December 2001
Rep for service changed
19 July 2001
From: 12 To: 11752 / Voir Preuve au dossier/See evidence on File No. 793126
Change in title
19 July 2001
Assignment / Voir Preuve au dossier/See evidence on File No. 793126
FOOTNOTES:
CHANGE IN TITLE/CHANGEMENT EN TITRE:
TYPE OF CHANGE/GENRE DE CHANGEMENT : Assignment/Cession
DATE REGISTERED/DATE DE L'ENREGISTREMENT : 18 fév/Feb 1997
DATE OF CHANGE/DATE DE CHANGEMENT : 26 sept/Sep 1996
COMMENTS/COMMENTAIRES: FROM : SECURE OIL TOOLS LTD., Voir Preuve au dossier/See evidence on File No. 793124
CHANGE IN TITLE/CHANGEMENT EN TITRE:
TYPE OF CHANGE/GENRE DE CHANGEMENT : Assignment/Cession
DATE REGISTERED/DATE DE L'ENREGISTREMENT : 31 août/Aug 2000
DATE OF CHANGE/DATE DE CHANGEMENT : 05 nov/Nov 1999
COMMENTS/COMMENTAIRES: FROM : STELLARTON ENERGY CORPORATION,
TO : Schlumberger Canada Limited Voir Preuve au dossier/See evidence on File No. 793124
CHANGE IN TITLE/CHANGEMENT EN TITRE:
TYPE OF CHANGE/GENRE DE CHANGEMENT : Assignment/Cession
DATE REGISTERED/DATE DE L'ENREGISTREMENT : 19 juil/Jul 2001
DATE OF CHANGE/DATE DE CHANGEMENT : 01 janv/Jan 2001
COMMENTS/COMMENTAIRES: FROM : Schlumberger Canada Limited
TO : Integrated Production Services Ltd. Voir Preuve au dossier/See evidence on File No. 793126
Permalink
fa Posted 4:16 pm
20 May 2005
How can Deron Beal expect to get a Freecycle Registered Trademark in Canada when Freecycle(R) is already registered since 1995 and owned by Integrated Production Services Ltd. (Canada) as already posted below in this blog. As of this filing here it is obvious that he is trying to infringe on another companies Freecycle(R)
It is high time someone opposed this filing!
CANADIAN TRADE-MARK DATA*** Note : Data on trade-marks is shown in the official language in which it was submitted.
The database was last updated on: 2005-05-03
APPLICATION NUMBER: 1246124
REGISTRATION NUMBER: not registered
STATUS:
FORMALIZED
FILED:
2005-02-04
FORMALIZED:
2005-02-07
APPLICANT:
The Freecycle Network, Inc. 901 N. Perry Avenue, Tucson Arizona, 85705 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AGENT:
OYEN WIGGS GREEN & MUTALA LLP
SUITE 480 - THE STATION
601 WEST CORDOVA STREET
VANCOUVER
BRITISH COLUMBIA V6B 1G1
REPRESENTATIVE FOR SERVICE:
OYEN WIGGS GREEN & MUTALA LLP
SUITE 480 - THE STATION
601 WEST CORDOVA STREET
VANCOUVER
BRITISH COLUMBIA V6B 1G1
TRADE-MARK:
MARK DESCRIPTIVE REFERENCE:
FREECYCLE & Design
INDEX HEADINGS:
FREECYCLE CYCLE, FREE L
VIENNA INFORMATION:
Code
Description
18.1.5
Bicycles, motor cycles, motor scooters, tricycles
22.1.15
Stringed instruments
27.3.1
Letters or numerals representing a human being or a part of the human body, an animal or a part of an animal's body, a plant or an object
27.3.15
Letters or numerals representing an object
27.5.1
Letters presenting a special form of writing
27.5.17
Letters in heavy characters
SERVICES:
(1) Design, creation, hosting and maintenance of a free website that provides others with a global internet based system of giving and receiving personal property for free.
CLAIMS:
Priority Filing Date: August 27, 2004, Country: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Application No: 78475113 in association with the same kind ofservices.
Used in CANADA since at least as early as October 19, 2003.
Used in UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Filed in UNITED STATES OF AMERICA on August 27, 2004 under No. 13 7847.
ACTION
DATE
BF
COMMENTS
Filed
04 February 2005
Created
07 February 2005
Formalized
07 February 2005
Agent name changed
16 March 2005
Rep for service name changed
16 March 2005
Here is proof of the filing http://tinyurl.com/98c6d
Permalink
fa Posted 4:18 pm
20 May 2005
According to this message from Eric Snyder International GOA for Freecycle. Waste Management will be providing the resources of their legal department to Freecycle. Oh now we are seeing the light. How long will it take before Waste Management who have environmental landfill violations runs Freecycle.
We have already started the process to get Freecycle an official status in Canada. Deron has tasked me to get this underway, and we have already had initial discussions with our sponsor, Waste Management, who are apparently going to provide the resources of their legal department to help us get set up. Once we have this in place, Canadian Freecycle groups will be able to apply for small amounts of funding for such things as booth signage, brochures, etc. from Canadian organizations like the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation http://www.fef.ca, etc. Unfortunately, a charitable organization registration number is required for applications at this time.
Eric Snyder
Permalink
fa Posted 4:30 pm
20 May 2005
#10 Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranches contents might get posted.
#9 Your a Catholic and someone might post up an offer of condoms and you might take them up on it.
#8 Your lady is looking for clothes and won't admit to her real size.
#7 Your expecting twins and needing articles you do not know the sex of the children or their sexual orientation.
#6 Your mother in-law has a basement full of relics and wants you to be the one to deliver.
#5 Surfing on over to freecycle.org you find a dead link where your town is suppose to be.
#4 You found Deron Beal going through your garbage out front and gave him a swift kick.
#3 You want to post an offer first but you only have 2 minutes to get it before the garbage truck arrives.
#2 Every time you try to sign up that stupid Yahoo X7u3o keeps kicking you out.
#1 You want shares in freecycle before it goes public so that your items are of value to you too.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RECYCLE-YOURSELF-FROM-FREECYCLE
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/RECYCLE-YOURSELF-FROM-FREECYCLE
http://freecycleanonymous.blogspot.com
http://freecycletm.blogspot.com
Freecycle Anonymous
Permalink
FreecycleLovah Posted 4:34 pm
20 May 2005
I would suggest that everyone take a click over to http://www.freecycle.org and see if there is a group in your area, if not, maybe set one up!
The Freecycle Network is changing the way that people think and do things.
The allure of saving the environment draws in those who want to find a place for all of those things that they would never dream of throwing out, and allowing them to procure "new" things without the added trash of packing materials or the pollution of making the new item.
On the other hand, the allure of free is opening people to seeing the positives of thinking environmentally, by those who may not have done so in the past.
Although the Freecycle Network is not an organization that was developed to assist people dealing with financial strain, it's members do regularly assist those who need assistance.
Recently I heard a great story of an elderly couple with health issues who offered items in their local group. A couple of members who arrived for the items realized that the couple was in need of tree removal, so they took care of it for the couple. How great is that?!
The Freecycle Network also allows other non profits to post what they need to the group, and members overwhelmingly are elated to give items to non profits that they know are needed and will be used. This is more wonderful than most may realize as people have heard of stories of donated items to non profits that have gone unused or worse (maybe even thrown out!) as the well meaning donations could not be used. Freecycle offers a way for non profits to procure the items that they need when they need them, meaning that more people are assisted in a more timely manner with less waste!
As far as problems go with the Freecycle organization... I cannot think of any group, organization, family, person, etc that runs completely and consitantly smooth. Can you?
It runs well enough for my involvement and enjoyment to continue.
It is my hope that the organization will continue to grow, so that everyone can experience the great feelings that come along with membership as well as the imediate and future environmental impact that is being made every single day.
I dare you to join.
http://www.freecycle.org
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fa Posted 4:37 pm
20 May 2005
Yes they want you to tithe every day and keep their faith that freecycle is some gift that only those who spread it can have. A new Pentecost has arrived and with it a voice cries out each day. Changing the world one gift at a time.
That is the their whole vision. They want to totally control the world by changing it to their liking. By making sure that freecycle becomes a word that is ejaculated over and over again until there will be not one person who has not been touched and manipulated.
Deron Beal the vicar of freecycle and his God $ want you to believe that you cannot have something for free without him and his church.
$ 150,000 now and maybe millions later as freecycle grabs more control of the minds of innocent people.
freecycle can only prey.
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fa Posted 4:47 pm
20 May 2005
RECYCLE YOURSELF FROM FREECYCLE $
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RECYCLE-YOURSELF-FROM-FREECYCLE
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/RECYCLE-YOURSELF-FROM-FREECYCLE
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David Roberts Posted 4:53 pm
20 May 2005
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fa Posted 4:54 pm
20 May 2005
Ever wonder where they get some of those items that they post on Freecycle groups. Well you should because they could be a hazard to your children and you just do not know it. Many items come from other peoples garbage that were thrown out the night before and who knows what could of been sprayed on them or dropped.
Maybe you like the idea of having a cockroach infestation totally free at the hands of the next Freecycle pickup you make.
How about the fact that the item that you get might have been stolen from somebody else. It could happen. Nobody produces a bill of sale. In fact many times a person who offers will tell the person to just pick up the item off of the front porch but later on they find more than that missing.
There are chances of being stalked or sexually harassed which has happened on Freecycle groups where upon a predator coming upon a list of females who offer subjects them to sexually explicit spam.
Why would anyboby want to get involved with a group named FREECYCLE it is almost like anarchy rules and there is nothing that is not free. You yourself could become the object of someone's attention. I wonder what price you place on yourself. Or are you free for the taking.
There has to be a limit and well those Freeloading Freecyle Fanatics have no limit as to how far they will go to get something for free.
Better lock the silverware in a safe, cage your pet, and place bars on your bedroom windows because you could get a visit from a Freecycle Fanatic and be cleaned totally one item at a time out. Oh by the way don't worry about the garbage you place out front. Just make sure it is cans and bottles. After all they don't touch recyclables. Don't they place those Freecycle groups in the Recycling category? hmmmmm I wonder why.
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ModSquadRevealed Posted 4:59 pm
20 May 2005
Take Mr. Beals statement "rules voted on and agreed to by all moderators worldwide". This is an outragious lie that has been discussed many times on other groups. The fact is that NOT every freecycle moderator in the world is even aware of the modsquad group let alone belong to it to cast their vote. Out of a current 1888 moderators who belong to "the mod squad" (many of which are multiple moderators of a single area freecycle group and dozens of whom belong to that and other groups using more then one ID making the represented group, let lone the actual body count much lower) the current average number of "votes" on the last 10 polls to decide the "rules" is exactly 140. So, out of a claimed 2,723 freecycle groups in over 50 countries (1-10 moderators per group) and the count of 1888 moderators who may actually belong to the voting population Beal refers to (17 who joined just in the past 7 days) an average of 140 of them are actually "voting and agreeing" on the rules......I might also point out Mr. Beals repeated use of the words "local moderators" as if to convince you that all of the moderators are "local" when in fact they are not and in some cases they have absolutely no moderation AT ALL, just the soul ownership of "erzatsfriend" which is Deron Beal of Tucson Az himself.
Note Mr. Beals use of the words "substantial funding of any kind" leading you to ponder several things 1)if the extremely controversial WM is their "first underwriter" what does he classify all those who have been donating cash to freecycle via the donation button on the main website? 2) and what does he consider "substantial". I consider 49k a year a substantial income for his first years pay but to hear Mr. Beal talk he is dirt poor and begging on the street corner! Mr. Beal uses this same deceitful "play on words" constantly when he refers to such things as freecycle being a "non-profit organization" or FreeSharing not being a non-profit. Well of course FreeSharing.org is not a non-profit, because it is not a business, it is not taking in money, unlike freecycle. As for freecycle being a "non-profit", indeed it is a recognised non-profit corporation IN ARIZONA, however when the general public hears the words "non-profit" I am willing to bet 98% of them think this means it is a federally sanctioned 501 non-profit and donations are tax deductible, but freecycle is NOT that kind of non-profit, donations are NOT deductable and given the evidence I feel the IRS would be making a huge mistake to ever approve their application.
By any name the FreeSharing.org groups want to use (FreeShare, CurbCycle, GivingisReceiving etc) they are a far better alternative to corporate freecycle. Anyone who reads any of the information given on dozens of "anti-freecycle" web sites will soon notice the same general pattern> Those supporting freecycle almost always attack those speaking out against freecycle and falsley claim them to be disgruntled former freecycle moderators who "wouldn't follow the rules" and whom freecycle threw away or asked to leave and yet Deron is always claiming they have very few rules and they are all voted on by the moderators, kind of contradicts the entire "grass roots" run by the moderators thing if Deron is the final word and the one throwing moderators away left and right, don't it?
And YES their is evidence for every point I have made here and then some. Deron Beal is, at the very least, deceitful in his statements and for myself that makes him a liar and freecycle a fraudulant venture.
The fact is Matt was the first professional writer to dare release anything other then a freecycle puff peice or a phonied up blog (freecycle creates hundreds of them to toot their own horn, much like most of Mr. Beals response to this article). Matt should not only be praised for speaking out and covering "both sides" of the freecycle story but his example should be followed by other writers, and I for one am looking forward to seeing it!!
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fa Posted 5:00 pm
20 May 2005
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varivas Posted 1:55 am
21 May 2005
What is important to me are the 500+ people in my group, who are recycling their goods to one another. The concept still works at the local level and that's what is important. I've belonged to enough organizations from being on the board of the Texas National Organization for Women to being a member of the AFL-CIO when I worked in an industrial laundry, to a small writers' groups, that I know the larger the organization, the more infighting and outfighting there will be.
And my attitude is still, if it works for you, it works for you. If doesn't, leave. And leave the rest of us to recycle our goods on Freecycle.
Victoria Rivas
Waterbury, CT
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CurbCycle Posted 4:22 am
21 May 2005
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allsunnydaze Posted 8:27 am
21 May 2005
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noyb1958 Posted 9:10 am
21 May 2005
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Paul Hurteau Posted 10:25 am
21 May 2005
Those who believe that putting TM after a word makes it legally binding truly believe it, and that's ok, however it does not make it true.
The fact that these people are making the effort and going the extra mile makes what Mr. Beal even more sad. The people who believe his lies are good people who have no real business world experience but do have the good intentions that are needed to "Do The Right Thing".
A search at http://www.whois.org for any site that has FreeCycle in the name will show there are 300+ such sites.
What Waste Management "Bought" was an email list that Mr. Beal has gathered, a "list", nothing more, nothing less. What Mr. Beal sold was his soul.
Reading his response I see his fear of loosing something he never really had as he has stated himself. He was fortunate to be at the right place at the right time and I give him that.
I wish him the best in future endeavors and hope that when all is said and done those that do work hard to keep a good idea going are not left so disillusioned that they stop the good work they are doing.
Paul Hurteau
70 Quaker Street
Millville, MA 01529
http://www.FreecycleAmerica.org
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annabelltoo Posted 3:26 pm
21 May 2005
that's why I didn't quite finish my degree, but am now encouraged to do so to defend the profession and prove that there are honest
people and the others are the few that are not ethical.
This response has been posted on to the Texas and national moderators squad and I was asked to respond here publicly, so here goes.
As a former employee of a non-profit venue, good PR goes a long way, but naysayers will do and say anything to malign good things. Our job as volunteer moderators is to go forward and prove them wrong.
If someone is trying to take responsibility of their actions and go forward to do a better job of recycling and are following in the
footsteps of our progress, fine.
Good work, Deron and God bless you for trying to do the best you can and please continue!
I read the article and I gave much thought to what all he is dealing with and thought back to all of my heartaches and headaches I've dealt with in my group over the last year.
Deron is doing the best he can and he needs the sponsorship money to do so in the legal system. He has NOT sold out as the naysayers are implying.
Maybe if Matt Weiser had interviewed a few of Mr. Beal's volunteers/moderators or members of various groups, this story might have had a sense of credibility. I hope the next story I read by this journalist shows a more even sense of its sources.
I fully support Deron's decision, which must have been hard to do, to gain sponsorship support to fight the good battle so we may
honestly use our name freely and without heartache.
Dissent will happen regardless. It is our jobs as citizens of the United States and other countries to be ethical, credible and keep an open mind, yet be trained to listen carefully.
To my fellow friends, volunteers and moderators, I challenge you to continue the great work we all do to ensure that Freecycle stands for its mission.
A) Free at no cost
B) (re) Cycle and keep it out of the landfill
The next one is my personal underlying mission, not a national one, but maybe I can encourge Deron to make it one:
C)Let's help one another regift the earth while saving our budgets. I did not refer to money, I am referring to the majority of my members who are low to middle income trying to make their incomes go farther.
Ok, that's my 2 cents on the matter. I am proud to be a volunteer for Freecycle. Our site has been holding steady just above 765 plus members and while we do have a few dissenters, my membership loves our site and keeps on having fun Freecycling daily!
We have helped people keep warm due to making blankets for the homeless, get new furniture, rebuild computers and all of this saved space in the landfill. Our site is only a year old, but we estimate that we have saved over 25,000 pounds from ending up in the McLennan County, Texas landfill and I am VERY proud of my members efforts.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Warren
Owner of Heart of Texas (Waco) Freecycle
a native Wacoan for 30 years and Texan for 40
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timoey Posted 3:57 am
22 May 2005
http://www.waste.ky.gov/recycling
is to the state of Kentucky's Waste Management Division -- it is a part of the state government and that government acknowledges that Freecycle is the real thing -- a great service to folks wanting to reduce waste.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Tim Oey
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Ashara Posted 4:15 am
22 May 2005
Freeshare and folks of their ilk are real good at twisting the words of anyone associated with freecycle. They are incapable of following rules, so they were asked to leave freecycle. I wouldn't pay too much attention to them or their half-truths and lies. To be honest, I don't think they'd know the truth if it bit them on the backside.
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timoey Posted 4:16 am
22 May 2005
A few loud whiners may complain, but much of what they say is not true or is very misleading. They are very much in the minority. It's unfortunate that the original article wove so much misleading information together. More thorough research would have uncovered more of the truth.
Bottomline: Freecycle is the real thing -- a good organization working to improve the world in an efficient manner that can make us all heroes and winners.
Go ahead and visit http://freecycle.org. Check out some or all of the existing Freecycle groups. Then decide for yourself. It's pretty simple really.
Cheers,
Tim Oey
Sunnyvale, California
http://timoey.com/
co-moderator
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecyclesunnyvale/
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Razmear Posted 5:37 am
22 May 2005
The venom from some of the mods is just unbelievable at times.
Either you agree with everything Deron says or you are excomunicated from the group and called a rebel, liar or unable to follow the rules.
This is why FreeCycle will collapse under its own weight and sites like FreeSharing.org will continue to grow.
eb
web guy FreeSharing.org
PS, I recognize Tim's name from the TM BS back when I was in the Mod Squad, when he told us not to use the term FreeCycling as it could undermine the efforts to get a TradeMark.
Well, feel free to use the phrase "Keep on FreeSharing".
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nattydad Posted 5:54 pm
22 May 2005
In this case, that means think about how gift-giving and reuse can be spread as worthy ideas, and don't throw out useful stuff yourself.
All of this blather about people grabbing power and deceit and betrayal is just ridiculous. My local group, of which I am a Mod, is doing just fine. And I daresay they will do just fine whether the national Freecycle.org group "collapses" or not. Deron just provided the idea - we locals are making everything else happen. There probably wouldn't be a FreeShare at all if there wasn't a Freecycle first, and behind that, a Deron Beal. Who can say?
So relax, people, and especially those who have nothing better to do than carp and bash and flame etc. go play some computer solitaire or something.
Oy!
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Razmear Posted 8:52 am
23 May 2005
When I refer to FreeCycle collapsing under its own weight, I refer to things like this:
http://www.freecycle.org/faq_tm.php
Which the hard working mods are forced to endure.
eb
freesharing.org
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VoiceOfReason Posted 9:07 am
23 May 2005
I ignore the solicitations on the group homepages for money for poor, poor Deron who, until recently, had to hold down a full-time job and moderate email lists in his spare time for no money at all (like, um, 99% of email list moderators on the internet.) I thought his self-promoting solicitations were pretty outrageous, much like those websites where people blatantly panhandle for someone to help them out of debt. It may not be morally wrong, but it's pretty tacky.
Since I live in an area covered by several different groups, I've noticed that despite the supposed centralized moderation and control, individual moderators have chosen to do their own thing. Some of them strongly discourage people from posting "WANTED" posts, as if it's unseemly to ask for something you need. But the person who is getting something from Freecycle rather than buying a new one in a store is doing his/her part to recycle, just as is the giver.
I've also noticed that some groups want to ban certain items that they feel are dangerous - but the bans are not system-wide and seem pretty arbitrary.
There's a supposed rule that listings should be for items that are "safe for all ages" but that rule is (quite reasonably) violated on a daily basis. I see people freecycling lawn tractors and chainsaws - do you really want your toddler playing with those? And I see from one of the links on this comment page that some freecycle groups thought that listing gay-themed rainbow stickers was soooo controversial that it required a decision from the top powers that be. Sheesh.
It's good that alternative groups are springing up. Originally, the centralizing of the Freecycle groups seemed to simply be an administrative thing, but it now reeks of 'power grab'. You can't have it both ways - a collective where every moderator has a vote and a cult where one guy decides to take dirty corporate money and never asks the people who are doing the work in the trenches.
Having said all this, I still plan to continue to use Freecycle. I will use it and the new alternatives as well. It will be interesting to see how the freecycle/freeshare/curbcycle/etc. competition goes.
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Treefrognc Posted 8:00 am
24 May 2005
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pugsmom Posted 4:41 am
28 May 2005
The sad part of it is, it should have been let go of. Put it out there and let it blossom and leave it alone. But no, he decided he could make money from this. When exactly did he decide that? I think much closer to the beginning then any of us know. Now we have a silly bunch of nonesense over giving away free stuff. And to boot a company backing him that is anything but environmentally friendly. Every freecycle site has a bunch of rules they must abide by. Their people are treated like children, and that includes the moderators and owners. This is stupid to say the least. I have several other sites that give things away. We dont try to sell tshirts,We dont ask for money. Theres no interest in owning anything. ITS FOR FUN and JOY! We dont have rules for the offshoot groups. We just give stuff away following an ancient,ancient tradition.
I am glad for Deron's web idea. It was brilliant. Thank you Deron for getting the rest of us started. Too bad You got greedy, but hey it takes all of us to make the world go round. so I will do this my way and you can go on your way. So many people from freecycle are leaving fast. See, the thing with yahoo groups is, a person can leave and never say a word. It looks like they are still there, when in fact they dont ever even go. In fact, if you look at any of these groups for any length of time, you will only see a select few posting. Derons illusion is just that, an illusion. Its all smoke and mirrors. NO trademark, no copywrite. silly silly nonesense. Just give the stuff away already and stop this. Its not giving if you have to get stuff back in order to do it.Its trading, so call it what it is.
I am waiting for him to sell this. I am betting thats not far down the road. Why else go through all this if not to make millions? Power to ya deron, you worked us well, and you still have free labor. Its good when you can get it buddy, so you go. But one day , it will come back to haunt you.
there are those of us out here, that just plain got lied to. And I read your posts and they are twistings of the truth over and over. You can convince yourself its true, but I dont beleive it and obviously there are thousands more and growing everyday who also dont beleive it. We out here angry at Deron are angry because we were lied to, and used for his own gain. If he had been upfront and given us choice, well, we woudln't be having this conversation today would we?lol
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Razmear Posted 7:02 am
01 Jun 2005
Why did the group leave? Seems that someone offered some Archery equipment, and the GOA told the mod to remove the post, and in follow ups Deron made it clear in the Mod Squad that ANYTHING that is not safe for a 2 year old should not be offered on FreeCycle because of the liablity factor.
Seeing the hypocracy, this mod has left, and there are many more considering what value being an official FreeCycle group has vs. being an Independent FreeSharing group.
Sorry Deron, you can't micro-manage 2000 groups.
eb
FreeSharing.org
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danielbarker123 Posted 12:52 am
04 Jun 2005
It's great the governemnt in Brazil managed to make some arrests and save some rainforest. The question is, is this a sign of the future or just a fluke?
We need to provide some alternatives to destroying the rainforest. It is easy for us in wealthy nations to comment on what goes on in poor nations. It is a different matter when millions of people try to get by on about a dollar a day! It is no wonder so many people around the world don't appear to share our values; they are only trying to survive.
May I offer my two-cents worth: pay the Brazilians double their salary for logging in renewable forests. At their cheap labor rate, a 100% increase is nothing. (From a dollar to two dollars a day.) That way, everybody is happy. The rainforest is saved, locals make plenty of money, everybody's happy.
Daniel Barker
6339 Egret Drive
Lakeland, FL 33809-5652
863-815-4534
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danielbarker123 Posted 12:57 am
04 Jun 2005
We all agree is is horrible for the US Congress to accept money from foreign corporations. (I thought it was illegal - when I read about contributing to campaigns, the fine print always says foreign donations are not accepted.)
The question is, does anybody really care? I have a feeling most Americans don't seem to take the environment seriously. We have elected a Republican government since 2000, and the conservatives have actually gained power each election since.
We should go ahead and publicize the dirty doings of the Congress. It remains to be seen if it will do any good.
Daniel Barker
6339 Egret Drive
Lakeland, FL 33809-5652
863-815-4534
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danielbarker123 Posted 1:18 am
04 Jun 2005
I care to comment on a national shame. The conservative congress has recently (again) cut funding for our national train, and left it up to the states to come up with the money. The Republicans have left it up to the states to fund Amtrak. This is terrible - not only does congress subsidize airports and highways, after 9-11, the congress even subidized several private airlines!
We need to reduce our dependence on oil. Airplanes and cars (and trucks) gobble up most of our petroleum. We all know before WW II, most goods were shipped by rail, and nobody complained.
Here is what we should do: contact your Congressman and tell them you care about our use of petroleum and want Amtrak funding increased. Write to your local representative and tell them to increase funding.
Next, start a public campaign to increase use of rail. When delivering a package or having one delivered, asked how it is to be sent. Demand it to be shipped by rail. This will save money, as trucks and airplanes cost more.
When Americans start using our rail system again, we will reduce our use of petroleum.
Daniel Barker
6339 Egret Drive
Lakeland, FL 33809-5652
863-815-4534
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bestfreecycler Posted 8:24 am
04 Jun 2005
The best way to ensure that freecycle remains in the public domain is to embrace it and use it in every day living.
Keep on freecyclin'!
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bestfreecycler Posted 8:37 am
04 Jun 2005
If there is no freecycle group in your area, start one today! At freecycling central we are trying to point to all freecycling groups whether they are traditional Freecycle Network ones or freesharing ones or whatever -- as long as they are working to save things from landfills in a free and legal way.
This helps set up a durable, self sustaining, distributed network that uses whatever systems people prefer to run it (Yahoo Groups, or whatever). Which ever system provides the best value overall will be the one that wins out -- it's like a natural ecosystem -- survival of the fittest. The spirit of freecycling will be the one that survives in the long run because it just makes sense, requires no central funding, and has the support of everyone in The Freecycle Network plus everyone else outside of it.
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XfreeCycleOwner2003 Posted 5:25 am
05 Jun 2005
To get some facts straight, ppl including myself were owners of FreeCycle Etc sites way back in 2003 even "Deron Beal" claims to a TM are only in 2004 ( july I beleive dont quote me). Although Mr. "Deron Beal" may once have had good intentions the reputation is slipping fast.
Mr. "Deron Beal" likes to quote facts as he seees them to be.
Fact we moved our site away from Yahoo to Private server and dumped the FC name while holding rights to our 2003 copyrights. As have many others. Fact one of FC hench men copied some of our members list when we moved.( caught red handed and even admitted to it) If "Deron Beal" FC is so strong why are his own ppl stealing lists.
So my advice take it or leave it, if you had a FC site prior to when "Deron Beal" claims to have a Trademark, Hold on to it that and any material you have with dates. Because if you used that name prior to his claim. He is out of Gas. The law is clear on this.
Want proof? There was/is a Company called Microsoft and not Bill Gates MS, but another we read up on in law classes, they had coprights but no trademark. What this means is you cant invade "Deron Beal's" groups and expand past your boundries of original opperation, After his claim if its true. But if you had a Freecycle group say in NewYork city and operated prior to that Tradmark you are safe no matter what the threats are You cannot expand however in say New Jersey after a Tm is registired.
FreeCycle was great in concept, "Deron Beal"
But a concept is just that and idea. With the excecution being placed soley on control to succeed in your case.
Invite "Deron Beal" to post the very first bi-law and then the ones of today and compare the very first Bi-laws with todays. There is a steady line of controlling actions taking place. most not needed.
Having a great idea, doesnt make one a great leader. "Deron Beal".
Signed.
One of Many Original FC owners.
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FreeUsables Posted 7:42 am
09 Jun 2005
After leaving my local Freecycle group, I shortly discovered 'the Darkside,' a group of renegade email groups where other disgruntled ex-users had landed.
At first I was intrigued, but as days went by, I began to notice that they all had one thing disturbingly in common with each other: They weren't focused on finding new alternatives, and they were no longer really even interested in recycling. Most of these groups seemed to exist for the sole purpose of breeding further resentment toward Freecycle and Deron Beal.
And it made me wonder, "Even if, in my own spite and desire for revenge, I were able to bring down Freecycle, would anyone have really gained anything?" And if I'm honest with myself, the answer is no.
Let's just say it took an entire year of fighting the trademark, running a smear campaign, and bringing Deron to financial ruin. In the end, all I'd have to show for my efforts was a wasted year that could have been spent finding new, creative ways to encourage recycling within my community.
Perhaps we've allowed ourselves to become so focused on one single organization that we've forgotten why so many of us joined Freecycle in the first place: to keep items from being tossed needlessly into the landfill.
Coming to this realization changed my perspective. It was much easier for me to let go of the frustration I had felt toward Freecycle. By releasing the negativity I'd attached myself to, it was much easier for me to focus on new possibilities instead.
I won't lie and say that I rushed back out to join my old Freecycle group. Instead, I decided to use some of my web-design knowledge to put together a website of my own, abandoning the familiar email format and opting for a web-based, bulletin board format instead.
Now that my site has launched, I've made a pledge to myself to hereby cease speaking negatively of Freecycle, regardless of my personal thoughts about the organization or how it is run. Why? Because my time is better spent actively promoting the cause of recycling instead.
So here's my advice to others who find themselves at odds with Freecycle, just as I did: We have alternatives; my site is just one of them. Now let's get our focus back. Find the alternative that works best for you, preferably one whose focus is on recycling, not on bringing down someone else's organization. Jump on a new bandwagon, and let's get back to our common goal.
When the end result is that we've made a difference to save our environment, there are no teams, there are no sides, and there are no losers -- only healthy people living in a healthy planet.
Best regards,
Rob Sanchez
(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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i love freedom Posted 12:25 am
08 Jul 2005
Nearly one and half million people are involved with Freecycle in some shape or form. That's an awful large electorate. We can change things for the better.
Please sign the Freecycle Pledge
http://www.pledgebank.com/freecycle-pledge
Darren
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timoey Posted 5:21 pm
18 Aug 2005
-------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 23:36:40 -0700
Subject: [freecyclemodsquad] Civil disobedience...
Hi all,
First my sincere apologies! I have had a significant role in a number of Freecycle directions that I now see are leading freecycle down a path that is not quite right.
Which directions were those?
Ersatzfriend (came partly out of my efforts to see that groups have backup owners/moderators -- one of my bicycling friends was killed by a drunk driver -- leaving his popular and well run bicyclingadvocacy group hanging without an owner -- it took Herculean efforts to get Yahoo to create a new owner for that group)
Freecycle trademark (Freecycle wanted to protect it -- so I contributed considerable energy and expertise, I was the main original author behind the current trademark guidelines)
Freecyclenext (Many could see that a much better system was possible, I'm a software developer, so I helped lead the charge)
I see two reasonable paths for Freecycle.
One is the traditional corporate style path that requires trademarks, money, lawyers, money, insurance, money, and strong controls. Trademarks are expensive. 24x7 systems supporting millions of users around the world are expensive. Lawyers are expensive. Insurance is expensive. But if you start raising enough money to support all of these, you become a target and need lawyers and insurance, etc. It's quite a treadmill.
The second less traveled path is one where freecycle goes back to its roots, lets go, and becomes, again, a true, open, grassroots movement. Some optional, helpful guidelines, but no absolute rules and no one telling anyone else what to do. This may not perfectly fit anyone's ideal dream. But it may just be good enough and much less resource intensive.
Here is my alternate vision for freecycle:
Allow ersatzfriend to be optional for those who do not otherwise have anyone else they can trust to be a backup owner. If a group has a 2nd backup owner then great -- that's super! If they choose not to have a backup owner, oh well, they are setting up their community for possible outages but they are adults and can take responsibility for this.
Abandon the Freecycle trademark pursuit and let all freecyclers do as much freecyclin' as they please. This will force the term into the public domain such that no one can trademark it. This action would be very natural, it would be free, it would be fun, and all freecyclers everywhere would help enforce it. Furthermore it fits well with a "viral" marketing approach to freecycle. People hear about it and want to know where it came from -- which will lead back to The Freecycle Network without strong trademark enforcement. It will also generate lots of goodwill.
Abandon the effort to create a new freecycle system. A big industrial company like Yahoo has trouble enough keeping its servers stable and running. Having freecycle create such a system puts a considerable burden on it and also introduces a significant single point of failure -- if the freecycle system goes down, all freecycling on it stops. Yahoo Groups has gotten freecycle very far so it obviously works. It may not be perfect but it seems to be good enough (like VHS, qwerty keyboards, Microsoft, and tons of other examples).
Do maintain the trademark on the full name "The Freecycle Network" (this should be fairly easy) and do take credit for birthing freecycle.
Do have The Freecycle Network become a 501(c)3 nonprofit and allow individuals and corporations to make donations to support the gentle expansion of freecycle -- enough to keep Deron and a few others gainfully employed -- and freecycle.org up -- but not enough to make it a target for those who might want to sue to win money. After all, freecycling is an open movement -- it's like trying to sue the weeds that grow in the wild.
Drop strong enforcement of many things so that GOAs won't seem to be like police to some or enforcers to others but a genuine helpful set of people that may be able to come in and help a moderator out with their group -- make being a GOA easy and fun.
Welcome back all the freeshare and splinter groups and allow them to use the freecycle term freely. Plus most of the people who have left including Nancy, Lynnie, Judy, Deanna, Pastor Ken, and others are very good, thoughtful people.
Do keep a freecycle directory on freecycle.org but make the only requirements to be listed be:
everything offered on such groups must free
exchanges keeps stuff out of landfills
centered on a single geographical location.
Everything is free is freecycle's major attraction. Let members report groups where the moderator has disappeared or is allowing selling/trading/spamming (non-freecycle stuff) to go on. Let members vote with their feet as they choose which group they wish to belong to. No group would own a territorial lock on any region -- rather they would win and keep members by serving them better than their competition. Have all groups establish a geographical center point so it is clear to everyone where that group is located. This will naturally cause groups to stay smaller. Most Freecycle guidelines would basically stay as is. It can be at group discretion how tightly they are enforced -- do they want to attract or repel members?
Make the NGA job fun and easy. Allow NGAs discretion to tune their areas where they see obvious needs for more groups (high population areas). The goal of NGAs is to see that there are as many successful groups in their area as possible -- they don't want just a few monster groups -- they also don't want millions of teeny groups that can't get enough critical mass to be effective.
In general make all freecycle volunteer roles fun and easy (not work!).
Make the organization very transparent and easy to understand so that everyone can know what's going on. Document everything publicly.
Give moderators a more direct voice in the future of freecycle. Establish a mechanism so that all moderators who choose to vote, can vote on changes and directions for freecycle. Having a discussion group focused on The Freecycle Network organization is critical to this. Moderators of this group could run it more like a "meeting" -- where there is a bit of process to introduce a topic, that one topic is discussed and debated until some options emerge, and then it is voted on. Decisions that are made in the past can be re-visited -- it is ok to change as we grow, no need to be stuck with past mistakes. The Freecycle Network then has a good way to perpetuate itself as a system.
There are undoubtedly a number of other fine additions and refinements to my suggestions above -- the overall goal should be to make freecycling light, easy, self-sustaining, resource efficient, and fun for everyone!!! If it's causing lots of stress, something is going wrong.
Like my Ben & Jerry's bicycling jersey says "If it's not fun, why do it?"
Sincerely,
Tim Oey
Reduce_Reuse_Recycle
Former California NGA
Current Sunnyvale CA co-owner
Permalink
NobodySpecial Posted 5:10 pm
25 Aug 2005
Founders Syndrome has been pointed out to Deron, who refuses to see that his current line of thinking is tearing up the beautiful thing that he helped to build and create.
Permalink
beenaroundthatblock Posted 12:27 am
27 Aug 2005
Permalink
timoey Posted 5:33 pm
24 Oct 2005
Many of us (especially the the ones who have been freecycling the longest) have continued to support the generic term freecycle so that everyone could continue to use it, well, freely.
In response to supporting this position, me, my co-moderators, and our local group at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecyclesunnyvale/
were kicked out of TFN.
TFN does not like lots of people who have differing opinions and has kicked out a number of groups for this reason.
While TFN claims that it wants a trademark on the term "freecycle" to protect it from big corporations, it seems that TFN mainly uses the term to coerce little local groups to comply with TFN dictates.
Quite a few groups continue to either leave TFN or be kicked out.
So that TFN will stop harrassing folks who wish to "keep on freecyclin" (as Deron used to say) and to make freecycling a kinder, gentler endeavor once again, some folks are mounting a formal opposition to the trademark registration application that TFN filed in the US. We believe that freecycle has (thankfully) become a generic term and does not deserve to be controlled by any corporation as a trademark in the realm of recycling. It should be freely gifted to everyone. It seems like TFN is willing to support free gifting but is no longer willing when it comes to itself -- in the beginning it did freely give away the term, its logo, and lots of other things. Now it wants those back regardless of cost.
Luckily, there are now a number of freecycling alternatives other than The Freecycle Network which include:
http://FreeSharing.org
http://www.FreeCycleAmerica.org
http://www.FreeCycleEarth.org
http://www.recyclecentral.org
http://www.sharingisgiving.org
and some others.
Enjoy!
Permalink
Sishongjerry Posted 1:00 am
26 Oct 2005
Here's a secret... every non-profit, everywhere, has a budget for personell and benefits.
The idea of a non profit is that the group will not have any excess profit at the end of a fiscal year without turning that back into the group. The idea is not to live in poverty, flat broke, scraping by on your knees to pay for your groups space. No one makes a profit, the group does not profit, etc. The people who are employed there are expected to make some stipend, otherwise, the non profit becomes a sweat shop, not a non-profit.
Whatever, you all had way too much time on your hands at the beginning of this summer, and way too much bitter aggression, on all sides. This was just silly, so much venom, so little logic, so much gossip, very little knowledge.
A piece of advice for all of you, get over it, move on, do what you mean to do, forget about "selling out" that's a joke, just do what needs to be done to survive. Survival of the fittest came up alot, and when it comes to that the one who is willing to do anything, and I mean anything, in order to elevate the ideas behind free-recycling, wihtout going down in the process, even if that means flipping off God, or giving the Devil a wedgy. Survival of the fittest, regardless.
Get over it.
Permalink
Bob8744 Posted 12:04 pm
12 Dec 2005
Evidently our mod made a huge mistake posting the link and was "removed".
I suppose I should stop calling it "our" group as it evidently now belongs to some type of corporation and not to the members anymore.
When the corporation sees this post I will probably be banned and have to find another way to get rid of my excess items. Que sera. It was good while it lasted.
Permalink
timoey Posted 4:49 pm
20 Jan 2006
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Permalink
inanna Posted 1:11 pm
24 Jan 2006
He was questioned by several of his moderators as to why he needs free legal services since he received all of that money last year and can only account for $45k which he claims he kept as salary. Where's the other $100k plus. No answer from him.
When he or anyone representing him does reply to inquiries such as this regarding the money they send out a long statement with a bunch of words with no clear explanation. Of course he claims that the money was to go for legal fees and the new website. But even shortly after getting the money he was asking for donations to pay for legal fees and the new website. So, exactly where is the money? Many would like to see some receipts.
Other Facts that have been brought to light:
Did you know that Daron gives the big OK to group members who want to post animals?
Daron's official stamp of approval has also been granted to members who wish to take free items from the group and sell them, using the groups as a sort of no-overhead suppler for their re-seller business.
Permalink
SthrnTami Posted 3:05 am
01 Feb 2006
Why can't those of you who oppose Freecycle get off of your high horses and do your own thing? Why must you destroy a good movement in order to assuage your own disappointments? Even if you are successful in bringing down Freecycle, it's unlikely that any other non-profit free recycle organization will ever reach the number of people reached by Freecycle. As the innovator of this movement, Freecycle had the momentum that will never be achieved by the copy cats. So, by destroying Freecycle, you are hindering the very concept of a free-gifting economy that got us all interested and involved in the first place. Shame on you.
Permalink
timoey Posted 3:05 pm
06 Mar 2006
Most of you know this, but let me post this summary to educate new people and remind us all of what we are doing and why.
The freecycle case against The Freecycle Network (TFN) is about trademark protection, not copyright protection. Words/terms cannot be copyrighted, but they can be trademarked. The legal documents covering the case are posted at http://greenribbon.us, in particular see the PDF files posted there.
In brief layman terms, having the word freecycle be protected by a trademark in the area of generic recycling is a bad thing because:
Words should not be trademarked in their own area. Imagine if the following words were trademarked: "blog", "recycle", "newspaper" to cover what the words actually mean. If that were the case then people might need permission from their owner to use these words to describe the things that they are. Doing this is not legal and damages people's right to use their own language.
Words don't need trademark protection because they mean what they mean.
Freecycling is about things being free. The word was freely used and freely given away a long time ago. When you give something away, it is wrong to ask for it back. And even more wrong to punish people who were given it for free. Neither Deron Beal nor TFN nor RISE, Inc originally invented the word although they did help popularize it.
TFN violates its own principles on a regular basis. If freecycling is about letting go of ownership and giving things away, why doesn't TFN actually practice this more? http://freesharing.org and many others are much more open and giving than TFN is. Others are willing to author documents to help people run freecycling groups and not require those groups to be controlled by any central "authority".
An important principle of the recycling movement is "reduce, reuse, recycle". TFN is not practicing this as well as it should -- it is using quite a few resources to try to control people and words when it simply is not needed.
TFN has caused (and is causing) direct harm by deleting, damaging, or threatening perfectly fine running freecycling groups. Almost all of the groups listed at http://freesharing.org were once happy freecycling groups until TFN deleted the original groups, forcing them to recreate themselves, or TFN forced the original group to change its name to avoid deletion.
If lots of people are interested in creating lots of freecycling (or recycling) groups, what is the real harm in letting them? People will naturally gravitate toward the groups that are doing a good job. There is no need to force people one way or another. Just let nature take its course.
I and hundreds (thousands even) of other great folks were with TFN since the very beginning but were kicked out for really believing in freecycling. This is a tragedy.
TFN has ended up valuing trash more than people. Trash can be freecycled, whereas people are put on the TFN junk heap permanently.
No single entity should control freecycling. It was meant to be free.
To freecycle: to recycle by giving the thing away for free. That is just the way it should be.
We believe that the folks controlling TFN are misguided and should improve their policies by letting go of the word freecycle. This will allow the good people within TFN and the good people outside of TFN to achieve a happier and more peaceful coexistence.
BTW -- If TFN let go of the freecycle word, little groups would not be damaged by any of this and TFN would get kudos for freecycling freecycle.
Sincerely,
Tim Oey
------------------------
Copyright 2006 Tim Oey
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
------------------------
Permalink
charhess Posted 1:22 pm
24 Apr 2006
This song was written to be performed there but it's just a great way to describe what we freecyclers do every day.
* The Freecycle Rag"
"The Freecycle Rag" a great song which explains what Freecycling is all about.
This is poor mans copy and is free to distribute but not change. It is a registered and copyrighted song by BMI. Singer Songwriter Bob Neace, aka 'Pizza Bob', who is a local singer in Brevard County, Florida and an aspiring Country Western performer, wrote and performs the song.
Here are two different links:
- have to click to hear song
- opens along with the page.
Hope you enjoy it!
Char
Brevard County Free Recycling groups
Florida.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MelbourneFl-rCycle/
Permalink
charhess Posted 2:00 pm
24 Apr 2006
Enjoy
Char
Permalink
freecycled Posted 2:14 pm
25 Apr 2006
FreeCycleTM - a non profit service designed to help the environment, general public and the World Wide Web by allowing people to donate and have access to items - new, used, expensive or inexpensive, all for free. right here!!! http://tinyurl.com/gqyof
freecycle all started in 2000 with H.E.m.p as a non-profit and for whatever reasons did not continue on or have they? - it would of been real easy for Deron Beal to have gained this information while working for RISE or was he just stupid to the fact that this one started in 2000 already existed - Here is their freecycle(tm) notice http://tinyurl.com/m9gle is Deron Beal in violation of it?
H.E.M.P a privately owned company founded in November 1997 and is one of the largest online product superstores, offering over 15,000 products and services.
Started April 11, 2000 H.E.m.p http://tinyurl.com/k348f here is the url for H.E.m.p's freecycle page at the time http://tinyurl.com/jwxs3 more contact information from their subsidiary One Stop Shopping http://tinyurl.com/jl2pf where you will see Paper Direct Catalogue orders.
It is still!!!
4paperplus
http://www.4paperplus.com
Here is their trademark notice http://tinyurl.com/rm2m9
Who owns the trademark rights to freecycle? In common law 4paperplus does!!!
Now does this not intrigue you?
freecycled - ezine
http://freecycled.blogspot.com
Permalink
freecycled Posted 2:02 pm
27 Apr 2006
Beal and freecycles claim!!!
Roseburg FreeCycle(TM)
Since 2002
Roseburgfreecycle, existed to this group in 2002 prior to any federal
trademarks, we still retain the right to ownership of the Roseburg Freecycle
name and respectfully FreeCycleRoseburg. The names are listed to verify the
true owner ship and use of this site and our recycling system. We have
since acquired the name also DouglasRecycle.. How ever in the use. We retain
the rights to use Roseburg Freecycle. As a whole in reference to our
previous use. The Renaming of our group does not relinquish the rights to
RoseburgFreecycle or FreecycleRoseburg As the name is and was used as a
whole prior to any trademark registration or application. the use of the
word freecycleroseburg or roseburgfreecycle is prohibited and is protect by
the. millennium act 2001, 2002.
RoseburgFreecycle is a trademark of Diamondcomputer.net
http://www.roseburgfreecycle.com
Here is their new site http://www.douglasrecycle.com
freecycled
http://freecycled.blogspot.com
Permalink
freecycled Posted 5:53 pm
06 May 2006
It had very little to do with the issue of Deron Beal getting a grant from WM (Waste Management) - although many who have posted to this board would state otherwise having not been privy to the actual goings on of the freecycle MS (mod squad) - in actual fact the real reason was a heated debate over whether or not to allow Gay Pride paraphernalia - many of those who come from countries where same sex marriage is a civil right debated against those who say come from certain states of the United States where it is not legal - in the ensuing arguments many homophobic stances were prevalent - resulting in the civil rights of many being violated - by the actions of Deron Beal who went on to delete all messages and putting the Mod Squad on full moderation - the result was that those who did not want to discriminate up and left "The Freecycle Network" this is a lengthy one so we offer the full coverage of it on our blog http://freecycled.blogspot.com
Permalink
GigoIt Posted 3:53 pm
03 Aug 2006
A single account to use nationwide. Access GigoIt services wherever you are.
Results tailored to the proximity of a zip code that you specify.
Communication filtering. Users may control the medium and frequency of messages.
Search by category, date range, item status, photo inclusion and much more.
Individual or Organization accounts. GigoIt is tailored to be convenient to all parties.
No Moderators. The site is maintained organically by its users.
GigoIt Rating System. To promote user trust and responsibility.
Local Service portal. If GigoIt isn't your donating solution, we'll help you find what is.
http://www.gigoit.org (a Not-for-Profit company)
They are currently seeking ALPHA and BETA testers to help with the site. Just thought freecycles users should know since there have been several complaints about how it works.
Permalink
mss0143 Posted 8:57 am
01 Oct 2006
Thanks again to all those who care about our world not the get rich fast schmes they developed! you are true humanitarians! and we love you for it!
Permalink
Namenotreleased Posted 5:16 am
22 Oct 2006
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/WorldwideFreeShare/
Permalink
caty Posted 2:08 am
30 Jan 2008
Permalink
melbournefreecyclemod Posted 5:22 am
24 Apr 2008
and invites to others soon to join or pop in for a look...
with the EFF and NPR and local and national print media, tv and digital media, and local radio station contacts that we have made over our years here.....
Yahoo here's my analogy and I guess query on your Total and Truthful
and Honest feelings and the way this one was rolled out and why......
just humour me please, Jami, Connie, and Mr. Yang...
I feel that Mr Yang should receive this since the press and networks
and bulletin boards all over the world are currently reading this as well.... maybe you should have talked to him a long time ago about though Ms. Heldt
and all that I have sent invites to you and my friends who are working and promoting a better planet and a future for it... for our....children's children's children' and to be able to live as healthy, happy human beings with still any GREEN zones left on our planet?
"A little whitewash can cover up a lot of ding, breaks, cracks, and
wormholes in the fence"
but a little whitewash, can be pretty easily be removed and be re-exposed, and the structure uncovered, whether it is being thrown away as there is no saving it as there is just too much rot and smell, and decay,
or see if it can be seen that there is really something More Beautiful, and better down inside... that's probably always been there....
if you know what you are doing, are a Craftsman, and have been already given the tools to do it properly, all that rottenness and decay, some generally have the tools or ideas to fix it...
or others just band aid it, or.. or just let it deteriorate on, and they let it become less than it was...
but; a Craftsman, can see that old scarred piece of wood, and can re-expose it for the beauty that's there..and inside of it and
surround it..... and fix it, and make it right.. and beautiful, and
organic, and fluid again.
and place it alongside with other restored pieces of wood and sturdy metal screws, and good and steady construction.... by a skilled and respected artist or craftsman or leader which TFN and Deron Beal have repeatedly demonstrated they are NOT.
couldn't a piece of art, that was gifted to the world, and the entire, world, and it, they and them, has and have been told this.... that the whole world created built and grew.... can't it be made it to be that way.?
why would you keep the broken board, with so many cracks... and continually keep polishing it up.... the cracks keep showing,.... but, maybe, just maybe, if it was part of the whole piece of furniture or construction, or Beautiful thing again,
and realized it needed to be there too in order to be Beautiful and something to marvel at once again......just Imagine...
"It could Happen"
Mr. Yang.... this is to you. Directly.
and many, thousands of people and groups would like a direct answer or Statement from you or Your company.....
what kind of wood has Yahoo repeatedly seen Freecycle and TFN to be, there are a lot of cracks there, and rot, and mold, etc....
can it ever be made part of something beautiful again...even after the TM loss?
Maybe with your help I guess..... but aren't the rest of us and
others....the independents whose leaders and facilitators almost to a man and woman the original Leaders, contributors, etc... for TFN and grew it to what it is today, before all of the whitewashing and WMI attempting to GREEN up their image, aren't all of these communities, and Your Y! members and independent groups and communities....
what finish the piece and make it complete? I think so.. so does everyone else in the world.... but Y! and Deron aka TFN.
why doesn't Deron? Why don't Your many employees that we have talked to, emailed, faxed, visited , and arrange meetings with all start ....ignoring us, not returning calls... emails, ims, etc... Jami... we haven't heard from you in weeks....
Connie we again enjoyed the conversation even again just another repeat and rerun of everything we've heard before....
so at least it was just as old and familiar as watching the Andy Griffith show..... but still enjoyable and you know exactly what's gonna be said, or happen next..
Mr Yang, we would really like to know your feelings on this...
I think that piece of wood you're propping your campaign on is pretty rotten, and a strangely joined three piece board at that.
Is this crappy three piece board... and I do mean the current board of directors on TFN which consist of his wife, himself, family friend....,
and with no disclosure or transparency, and nothing but smoke and mirrors, and a trojan horse that violated all of your groups policies, and false claims of copyright or tm or ownership of the word...
the TM application is for the logo only and the font and graphics...but amazingly those also are not licensed for commercial use, and TFN has not applied for an exception or exemption, and are not created by them.
and is a pending TM only and with the decision in the 9th is very almost certainly not going to happen.
but Since the 9th did decide in all of our independents favor and the TM is dead......almost dead, I think you and Deron both know it...so....
derivations of the word or use of the word is not restricted in any way, according to many attorney's .... and Judges, and Law Reviews, but yahoo routinely removed/deleted them.. and even just plain ole recycling communities...
So I guess Mr. Yang, and the rest of your teams, and sales agents, and affiliate teams, and infringement teams, and your trademark teams,,,
Jami, Connie, and while so many other so many of us have been keeping you informed of all of this, for all these years... yet you continue to delete our groups.... and that cost you advertising placement, promotion, clicks, members, and most of all..... TRUST....
hundreds of thousands of members could not reach their recycling communities, and contacts to new friends, old friends, neighbors, and all while helping the planet, and their communities. "One Gift at a Time"
How can this be fixed.... many know how... and are trying... just
seems that YOU, or YOUR teams or Deron just won't let it happen.
Are you a Craftsman? Mr Yang?
Can YOU rebuild or construct something
from pieces, or with strokes of a brush make something beautiful, special, and complete it one way or another....
but isn't it sometimes wrong if not enough is put into what your
putting together if it's not going to hold together, securely, safely, and for a long time, instead of hastily, exclusively,
and instead of being inclusive of the whole work as started? and freely gifted...?
this has been already proven and decided on in a court of LAW and in your and Yahoo's own back yard in Sunnyvale.
please fix it and let it flourish,as it was designed and destined to grow and become.
as it began when it was first gifted to the entire world.
I know you are a smart man to be where you are...Mr Yang.
What are your skills, priorities and passions sir?
some of us would like to know.
can it be fixed? and placed within the greater complete and more beautiful work? or works as a TRUE GLOBAL EFFORT?
so far it doesn't want to fit...... or try to fit..... and only wants
to be a board.
have you really looked at the true condition of it's structure?
is it something that can now be included in a Beautiful work for everyone?
thank you for your time here.
Glenn Hess Sr.
http://www.brevardfreecycle.org
321-757-9971
http://www.thefreebiecafe.com
forherandnow.com
freecyclefabby.org
Permalink
melbournefreecyclemod Posted 4:17 am
25 Apr 2008
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Yahoo! Copyright
Hello, Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding use of the term FREECYCLE....
12:57 PM (1 hour ago)
Yahoo! CopyrightLoading...
12:57 PM (1 hour ago)
Yahoo! Copyright to me
show details 12:57 PM (1 hour ago)
Reply
from Yahoo! Copyright <copyright@yahoo-inc.com>
reply-to Yahoo! Copyright <copyright@yahoo-inc.com>,
to charlotte Hess <freecyclebrevard@gmail.com>,
date Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 12:57 PM
subject Re: OPEN LETTER TO YAHOO, TFN, AND FTC, IRS, (KMM89637516V42582L0KM)
hide details 12:57 PM (1 hour ago)
Reply
Hello,
Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding use of the term FREECYCLE.
We are fully aware of the recent court decision involving the trademark
rights in this term and do not believe that this decision warrants any
major changes in our current policy. We will continue to monitor this
situation and make adjustments to our policy should the state of the law
change.
Regards,
Copyright/IP Agent, Yahoo! Inc.
(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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var l=new Array();
var output = '';
l[0]='>';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[28]='\"';l[29]=' 109';l[30]=' 111';l[31]=' 99';l[32]=' 46';l[33]=' 99';l[34]=' 110';l[35]=' 105';l[36]=' 45';l[37]=' 111';l[38]=' 111';l[39]=' 104';l[40]=' 97';l[41]=' 121';l[42]=' 64';l[43]=' 116';l[44]=' 104';l[45]=' 103';l[46]=' 105';l[47]=' 114';l[48]=' 121';l[49]=' 112';l[50]=' 111';l[51]=' 99';l[52]=':';l[53]='o';l[54]='t';l[55]='l';l[56]='i';l[57]='a';l[58]='m';l[59]='\"';l[60]='=';l[61]='f';l[62]='e';l[63]='r';l[64]='h';l[65]='a ';l[66]='
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