Freecycle smackdown against begging posts

Once again, our local Freecycle mods have had to give the smackdown against begging for free shit. Gee, HOW did I know that they would specifically mention breeder-begging as an example of inappropriate posting??

Dear Freecycle members,

We are all aware of the current economic conditions in this country.
Many people are falling on hard times, including in our area. Because
of this, and because of the approaching holiday season, we want to
remind all members that including explanations of hardship or need in
your WANTED messages is not allowed on Freecycle.

Freecycle is not a charity or a need-fulfilling organization. A happy
side effect of our efforts is the fact that many needs *are* met
through the generosity of our members. However, this is not the
purpose of Freecycle. Freecycle is primarily a recycling/environmental
group. Our mission is to prevent still-usable tangible items from
going to the landfill. Freecycle has made great strides in achieving
this mission, on a local, national, and international level. This is
all thanks to our many active members, including those who provide new
homes for items and those who offer items which are no longer wanted.

All members of Freecycle are equal, regardless of your personal
circumstances. When you want something and you turn to the Freecycle
network to find it, you do not have to explain or justify your desire,
you only need to simply ask for it. This is a public group, with daily
emails being sent to nearly 3,500 people in the immediate area. [/b]The
details of you personal life are no one's business but your own.[/b] If
you would like to share more information with a potential gifter of
the item you are looking for, you are of course welcome to do so
privately via email. Below are some examples of an appropriate and an
inappropriate post.

Example of appropriate post:

WANTED: Girls dress shoes size 4 - 6th and Maple
I'm looking for a pair of black girl's dress shoes size 4. I can pick
up anytime in the next week. Thanks!

Example of inappropriate post:

WANTED: Girls dress shoes size 4 - 6th and Maple
I am desperately searching for a pair of black dress shoes for my
daughter. She really needs a nice pair of black shoes for her
Christmas outfit this year so she can look nice when we go to see my
parents. She grew out of the ones that we got for her last year and I
just can't afford to buy her a new pair right now. My husband lost his
job and I stay home with the kids so money is really tight for us
until he can find another job. Please if anyone has some girls shoes
that they don't need anymore it would make my mom really happy to see
my daughter look nice on Christmas and I need them by the end of this
week.

Thanks for your cooperation,

Your Freecycle moderators

If I saw a post like this, I would be so, SO tempted to say "if things are so tight, why don't YOU get a job???"

How can you not afford to buy one pair of kids' shoes at Payless for probably less than $10?!

I see this all...the...time on my local Freecycle. Yeah, people need stuff, and I'm happy to offer stuff when I have it to spare...but any breeder begging is an automatic disregard for me.

Any time someone exaggerates or amplifies his situation, over explains, or attempts to interject emotional circumstances to solicit sympathy for personal gain, all of my "red flag" sensors go straight up into the alert position. When someone even attempts to start up with a hard luck story it just about ALWAYS end in a solicitation for money, donations, services, favors, a ride, a place to stay, gifts, etc......and I absolutely hate it with a passion. People who do this shit in person must go to the same "woe is me" school as they all use similar mannerisms, expressions, tones of voices, and their stories are strikingly similar and familiar, only the characters are changed. Someone has ALWAYS just lost a job due to no fault of his own. Someone has ALWAYS got some medical bill that was for life saving treatment that if they don't pay it soon, then they will lose their house, which is presumably the one they said was just foreclosed on or they were evicted from anyway. They lie so much that they can't keep up with it.

Their power is about to get disconnected and it's 5 degrees outside or conveniently, if it's summer then it's a record breaking 110 degrees outside. They just need a few dollars for gas to get to work, or they just need a small loan to keep from being evicted from their home, etc................and there are ALWAYS kyds involved and if there are'nt any, they invent them for special effects. RARELY are they in anywhere near the need which they claim and almost always, if they are truly in need, then it's not the first time (NOR will it be the last) and it's all their own faults. The fastest way to get me to say NO!!!!! is for them to start a sentence with a hard luck story or even use the "woe is me" tone. I have some famblee who make begging a way of life as well as years of experience with acquaintances, co-workers, employees, neighbors, etc......who are ALWAYS begging.

I think it's cool that the site is shutting down the pity express.

"You can't slit the throat of every cocksucker whose character it would improve."
-Al Swearingen

HA! FINALLY! Someone with a big set of balls!!!!!

The same breeder scum that are on Freecycle trying the poor little me routine to get free crap for their brats are the same ones who think it is a priority to have a $75 manicure and designer whore-wear to troll dive bars on weekends. We have them by the truckfulls out here in the midwest.

I remember a post on another board where a begging moo was asked how she could afford internet access and a home computer when she could not afford clothes for her brats. The stupid bitch did not have an answer, but none of them ever do.

.
kidlesskim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Any time someone exaggerates or amplifies his
> situation, over explains, or attempts to interject
> emotional circumstances to solicit sympathy for
> personal gain, all of my "red flag" sensors go
> straight up into the alert position. When someone
> even attempts to start up with a hard luck story
> it just about ALWAYS end in a solicitation for
> money, donations, services, favors, a ride, a
> place to stay, gifts, etc......and I absolutely
> hate it with a passion. People who do this shit in
> person must go to the same "woe is me" school as
> they all use similar mannerisms, expressions,
> tones of voices, and their stories are strikingly
> similar and familiar, only the characters are
> changed.

Damn, you hit the nail right on the head there. It's almost always an exaggeration that they seem to all take out of the same play book. One of my job sites is an agency that does gifts for kids at christmas. People have to come in and sign up for it ahead of time, since it's based on need people asking for the charity have to report their income. It's really irritating because at least 80% of these assholes probably have more household income than me. At least they appear to when they drive up in much newer cars, wearing much nicer/newer clothes, smoking cigs and carrying take out cups of coffee. But they still feel it's alright to whine "I can't afford to give Crapford a christmas this year because I'm paying $500 per month for my '07 SUV".


That said, it will do us all a great disservice to NOT know who to AVOID freecycling with.

"It truly is the one commonality that every designation of humans you can think of has, there's at least one asshole."
--Me

This made my day.

It's great to hear breeders finally getting bitten in the ass for being nasty, selfish, greedy bastards. Wish it'd happen more often, frankly.

- - - - - - - -
"The death of creativity is a pram in the hallway"
- Cyril Connolly

This is the reason I quit freecycle. I made a complaint to the moderator and then unsubsubscribed permanently. Yes, I was sick of the sob stories, but I was also sick of people who begged for something, and then didn't show up at my house to get it when they said they would. And I would just never hear from them again after giving them my contact information. Too many NO SHOWS.

It was a crazy game of wading through all sorts of emails - some begging, some demanding, even threatening - that they wanted my offered items. I am happy now to box up my used items and take them to the Salvation Army and donate them there. Thrift stores make people PAY for stuff, as it should be.

And there were numerous other problems as well, just in the 2-3 weeks I was on freecycle. I'd recommend AGAINST joining, it is a total waste of time.

And a lot of these sob stories are just lies anyway. The people may or may not have kids, who knows. Often they are looking for something decent that they can re-sell for profit, that is a fact.

I, too, am disenchanted with FreeCycle, but I would still use it to offer things to give away. I don't bother answering the posts for "wanted" things anymore. I got a couple of nice things from answering ads of people offering. One of them was a big, blue, deep, tall, wooden bookcase in excellent condition. The woman said that I was like the 12th person who answered the ad but the other people never showed up or wanted her to deliver it to them.

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"I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is easy and fun as hell"

:eatu