Duty Relief

I’ve been moderator for my local Freecycle group for over two years, and have done 95% of the work to ensure the group ran smoothly and according to the rules the Freecycle organization has in place. During the years I moderated, I tried on several occasions to contact the “owners” of the group with no avail. All I had was a generic “owner” email address and no one ever responded. So I used the website set up by the Freecycle organization to moderate the group. Several months ago, chaos erupted when the “owners” suddenly appeared on the radar and appointed a new moderator who caused all sorts of problems on the group. This person was banned, and others were appointed. In my mind, I often questioned *where* these moderators came from since there was never any posting on the group asking for volunteers. It has been brought up in the past that these mods were family members of the “owners”. In addition, they obviously didn’t read the moderator “rules and responsibilities” set forth by Freecycle. With the “owners” and new moderators, inconsistencies in moderation caused problems to arise. I did my part to bring these issues to the attention of the “owners” and was met with disapproval. It was at this point, I seriously started questioning my involvement in a group where the “owners” did not want input, nor were their intentions to be consistent in moderation or following the rules the Freecycle organization set forth in order to be sanctioned by them.

During this same time period, I was admitted to the international moderators group where mods “met” to discuss issues with moderating Freecycle groups, and found that my moderation techniques were in line with other Freecycle groups.

While I feel the premise of Freecycle is a good one, and I like to do my part in re-use/recycle, and helping the community in general… the mentality of my local group is “Gimme, gimmee, gimmee” and there are those who don’t have the common courtesy to pick up items when they said they wanted them (common complaint among members). The “owners” seriously lack communication, (Freecycle) education, and support skills.

Late last night, I received a generic message from Yahoo that my membership status on the Freecycle group was changed from “moderator” to “member”. Did I mention lack of communication on the part of the “owners”? Shortly after that, I received a short email stating: “You may remain a member, but your services as moderator are no longer needed.” LOL, this came from the “owner” who not even two months ago was singing praises to me about taking care of the group.

It really should not have come as a surprise to me, and I was a bit shocked at the time. I took a moment to write a well thought out response to the “owners” and the state outreach coordinator, not that I expect anything to come of it. That’s just what I do when I feel injustice has been done… I write letters.

Upon waking up this morning, I was kinda relieved that I didn’t have to deal with the complaints about other freecyclers and more recently, questioning from the “owners” as to why I rejected this post or that post. I am still contemplating whether or not to remain a member, whether to start a new group, or to become more active in the other group that works on the same premise but aren’t sanctioned by Freecycle.