Comments freecyclevolunteer has made

Balance in Reporting

I would have preferred that further research had been done before this was placed into print.  For example, what is the average day like for a Freecycle^TM volunteer who works behind the scenes to make it as safe and user friendly as possible for both the board moderators and their members?  How many hours are entailed in achieving these goals?  What were the reasons board moderators were removed?  Were they following the guidelines of Freecycle^TM?

I found it interesting that you indicated "scores" of scorned Freecycle^TM 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 Freecycle^TM 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 Freecycle^TM, 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 Freecycle^TM 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 Freecycle^TM 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 Freecycle^TM 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 Freecycle^TM volunteers to remain.   In my personal opinion she was placing this volunteer who spends endless hours making Freecycle^TM 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 Freecycle^TM 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 Freecycle^TM.  They would have dug until they found derogatory material on each one of them.   What I don't understand is if Freecycle^TM is so horrible why they would spend endless hours obsessing.  At which point is this healthy or compulsive?  Apparently Freecycle^TM 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!
On As Freecycle grows, idealism and reality collide posted 4 years, 6 months ago 85 Responses