Background Information
Some background on Freecycle and some tips.
WE'RE CHANGING THE WORLD ONE GIFT AT A TIME !
Our Freecycle group matches people who have things they no longer need with people who can use them. Our goals are to keep usable items out of the landfill and to develop a caring, sharing community. By extending the useful life of what we already have we lessen the impact on the Earth by reducing the demand for the world's resources. We promote community involvement in the process, sharing what we have freely with others and in the process get rid of our own clutter. That's called a win-win situation!
Begun on February 4 2006, the Albany OZ Freecycle group is a branch of an incredibly fast-growing international Freecycle movement, which began in Tucson, USA on May 1st, 2003 and now boasts thousands of groups all over the world, with millions of members, people like you and me. Please help this group grow by spreading the word! We all personally know lots of great people in our community who would love this idea. So, why not tell your friends how wonderful Freecycle is! You tell your friends, your family, your neighbours, your co-workers...and they tell theirs, and so on, and so on well, you get the idea!
WHAT FREECYCLE(TM) IS ABOUT
Freecycle is about keeping things out of the landfill. It is about giving away something that has no use in our life any more to someone who could extend its usefulness a little longer. It is about building our community while clearing out our own clutter.
It is about finding items we need that are others' clutter. It is about creating, building, and sustaining an environmentally aware and caring community.
Freecycle is NOT about getting as much free stuff as we can. It is NOT about getting things to earn money on the side.
It is NOT about getting rid of junk that would be better off in landfill.
It is NOT about posting a list of expensive items and expecting a fairy godmother to fulfil it.
It is NOT a community bulletin board for finding rentals, dentists, mechanics, or advertising our businesses and services or special events.
When we post an OFFER:, we are offering to give someone a gift. Should there be more than one member interested in the item, we choose who shall get it. There are no rules on this, it is the offerer's decision.
When we post a WANTED: message, we are requesting a gift. The odds are that no one on this list will be able to give us what we are asking for. But sometimes somebody will see a WANTED: for a bowling ball and say "AHA! I have one in my wardrobe!" Please remember they are doing you a service; they deserve courtesy and you owe it to them to turn up at the agreed time to collect the item. Our site functions on respect for each other.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN FREECYCLE
When you want to find a new home for something, whether it's a chair, a fax machine or an old door you simply click 'Post' on the site and offer it to members.
Maybe you're looking to acquire something yourself. Simply respond to a member's offer, by clicking 'Reply' in their 'OFFER:' post and you just might get it. Or you can post a WANTED: message to the group; somebody might have the exact thing you need.
One main rule: Everything posted must be free, legal, and appropriate for all ages.
We ask that members participate and maintain the spirit of Freecycle(TM). We try, (and this is not a rule, but it is encouraged), to post at least as many 'OFFER:' posts as 'WANTED:' ones.
We suggest you start participating by selecting some unwanted item you have, an item that may be of use to others, and post details on the site Anything you have lying around that is no longer of use to you will do, as long as it doesn't conflict with our rules and is something that could be useful to others. Doing this will give you some 'hands on' experience and a good understanding of how it all works.
Remember to mention in your 'OFFER:' posts the town you are in (or rough distance from nearest town), so other members will be able to gauge whether picking up from you is practical. This is more important in our case than it is for groups that cover only one town.
USING THE FREECYCLE LIST
To post, read or reply to messages or to manage your membership settings, (including email delivery options), visit the group site's home page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/albanyozfreecycle
To post a message, simply click on "Post" at the Albany Freecycle group web site (link above). Initially your posts will be moderated to ensure they are in line with our rules and etiquette. This may delay them appearing on the site if no moderator is online at the time. Once we can see you have the idea you will be taken off moderation and your posts should then appear pretty quickly, dependent only on how busy the Yahoo server is at the time.
Just so you know, it is not possible to change your posts once they have been posted, so check them before you hit 'Send'.
To read current messages, click on "messages" on the left of the home page. To post a message click on "Post". Explore the other pages listed in the menu.
To respond to a message that another member posted, first 'open' the message by clicking the heading. Then click on 'Reply', you will see the heading is already done for you. Position the cursor at the top left of the message box, hit enter a couple of times to open up a space before the original message detail, go back to the top and key in your reply. Then just click 'Send'. Your reply does not appear on the website, it goes just to the originator. This keeps your response between just the two of you.
TIPS ABOUT THE EMAILS YOU GET FROM US:
You can set your personal preferences (under "Edit Membership" at the top of the home page). You can choose:
'Individual emails' means you get notification of each post as it occurs.
Want to keep up with what's going on, but don't want a lot of emails?
'Daily Digest' means you get just one email a day, summarising what has occurred on site that day. We recommend this option.
'Special notices' means you just get special, usually important, messages from the moderators. To check what is happening on the site you will need to visit the website.
'No emails' (or 'Web only') is not an option. If you select this one we will change it to 'Special Notices'. Special Notices are rare, but usually important. In special cases we may allow 'No Email' on request. For example, if you use a computer at work and are not allowed to receive private emails. It may take a while, even a day or so, before changes you make take effect.
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:
It is likely your main email address is not with Yahoo. If when joining you don't nominate an email address as your default then the Yahoo address assigned to you becomes your default. If so then it is necessary to check your Yahoo mail box in order to receive our mail. This may sound patently obvious, but we believe it is not uncommon for some members to forget to do so. If this may be a problem please change your contact address to your usual email address.(There are instructions on how to do this in the Files page.)
If you encounter problems, you may wish to consult the Yahoo Groups help pages at: http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/ or email us at
albanyozfreecycle-owner@yahoogroups.com
If you wish to unsubscribe, just send an email to:
albanyozfreecycle-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
For more information on Freecycle in general and a list of the other approved Freecycle groups world wide, visit: htttp://freecycle.org/
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