How many freecycle groups have left?

Question

I know myself and another owner took 3 groups off freecycle control. There are alot of others gone. YET the numbers never change on the main site of the group. The groups they put in place after we left have our want people. Thats basically all they post are wants. There are much better alternatives to freecycle. And none of the rules that change day to day. Our basic rules are free, legal and you must offer something to balance out all the want posts. We keep things out of landfills and a great side effect is we become friends with the members. We can allow one day a month for business owners, small business, to post their places. With the economy the way it is, it benefits everyone. To see better recycling options, use Freeshare, ReUseIt, or just put recycle in the search on groups.

Answer 1

If you search on Yahoo Groups for groups with a similar ethos, that is say those that use the offer, wanted and taken method then you can some up with an answer of over 9000 groups. That does include hybrid groups such as those that barter, swap and so forth.  If you look for those that freecycle then actually you come up with over 5,000 groups.  

If you accept The Freecycle Network's estimate of the number of groups as being just over 4000 then there must be at least a further 1000 non TFN groups, and possibly as many as another 4000.

The 1000 figure is easily supported by the number of groups listed on both the freesharing website and also the  WorldwideFreeshare Yahoo Group.  

I did a survey on this some time ago (see the blog link below), and found it quite easy to find other clusters of groups that wanted to freecycle without being affiliated to TFN.  I came away thinking that it would be relatively easy to continue to find more clusters of groups, all of which acted according to TFN's original ethos.

Answer 2

I find it quite amazing that more have not left, it must be the brainwashing that keeps them thinking Freecycle is squeaky clean.

If any of you need a new Flag to run under I have a few groups set up under the recycle4free name, if interested then pop in to www.recycle4free.com and check the lists I have already created, if you wish to start a new group then just give me a shout.

http://www.recycle4free.com

Answer 3

You're right, the membership number never goes down - even after Manchester Freecycle (UK) left with its 15000 members to go to Realcycle.

To the poster who used the term 'rogue moderators'... well, listen up. Firstly, the groups never did 'belong' to Freecycle. They were all started by local people. Secondly, we aren't the rogues here - When Freecycle administrators start dictating what you should do with a group that you put hours and hours of your time into, then it's time to re-think. When you discover that Freecycle are being sponsored by a company who has been fined for dumping toxic waste, then it's time to re-think. When the founder of Freecycle has at least five different 'stories' about how the organisation came to be, then it's time to re-think. When Freecycle lobby the UK government on 'behalf of its' members, on climate change issues, with no consultation, then it's time to re-think. When Freecycle spends donated funds fighting useless lawsuits over the word 'freecycle', then it's time to re-think. When Freecycle uses underhand means to kick original owners and mods of their groups then it's time to re-think. When members' posts are spread all over the internet by the use of a 'finder tool', then it's time for a re-think. When politics and numbers become more important than grass-root recycling, then it's time to think again. Rogues? Not us.

www.realcycle.co.uk

No donations, no sponsorship, no politics... just freecycling.

Answer 4

Thank you for the info. I was just checking out freecycle for the first time. I haven't figured out how to get to the part where you see the items they are giving away or asking for. Have a great day.

Answer 5

New groups are added every day - and local groups are restarted when a former moderator goes rogue and steals the group. So the numbers don't have to change.

The "restarted" Freecycle groups I've seen in my area are doing great. They are a mix of new members and members of the former Freecycle group who quit when it went rogue and they didn't like the way the rogue group was run. They all have a goodly amount of offers as well as wanteds, and a lot of thankful "receiveds" as well. So I don't know where you get your comments about your groups.

Freecycle has 8 basic rules, starting with "Be nice" It also says that we can't *require* people to make offers. It is true that different moderators interpret things differently, but with over 4,000 groups and over 4 million members, there needs to be flexibility