Freegle Wiki - User contributions [en-gb]

No-Shows

2026-05-01T14:30:47Z

Neville Reid: retarget to No-shows or time-wasters

#REDIRECT [[No-shows or time-wasters]]

Sample Admin: No-shows

2026-05-01T14:10:31Z

Neville Reid: punctuation

Here are some sample Admin messages you can send to your community.

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

Sadly, we have been receiving an increasing number of complaints from members. These are mainly from those offering items when others do not turn up to collect as arranged and from those asking for items who never get any kind of reply but see the item remaining on the offers board.

To help resolve this problem we are asking you to:
*describe an item being offered as accurately as possible and add a photo if you can; this gives anyone interested a better idea if it is what they want or not
*mark an item as Taken (or Received if you have posted a Wanted) as soon as possible; please do not leave it until next time you have another item to post
*if you enquire about an item, please let the other person know if it is not what you are looking for, rather than leave them to wonder if you will come back to confirm collection or not
*if you have arranged a date and time to collect an item and then need to change this or have changed your mind, please let them know – we all hate No-Shows!

Can we remind everyone that we ask all members to deal with other members politely, as you would wish to be treated yourself and help build a friendly community.

Thank you being a member of $groupname. If you have any queries, we are here to help.

Kind regards,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

.............................

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

Dear $groupname members,

Could we politely remind everyone that if you have arranged to collect an item from another Freegle member, please show up. Not showing up to arranged collections is really very unfair.

If you’ve changed your mind, or something comes up that prevents you from making the pre-arranged date & time, please let the Freegle member know at your earliest convenience. Things happen, we all understand that sometimes plans change or minds change. But it’s highly frustrating when someone has gone out of their way to take photos, list an item on Freegle, liaise with various responders, then choose someone to receive their item and make arrangements for it to be collected, only for that taker to just never turn up and ignore any further attempts to communicate.

We’re all in this to look after our local environment and to help each other out. Basic common courtesy and old fashioned good manners is the least we should all be able to expect from each other. ‘No-shows’ are very discouraging to otherwise generous and good-willed Freeglers who just want to help their community. Please do the decent thing and show up or cancel as soon as you know you won’t be able to make it.

We appreciate the vast majority of our users are amazing and do show up. But to those that don’t, please remember that other Freeglers can give you positive or negative feedback using the ‘thumbs up/thumbs down’ rating options. The more thumbs down you accrue, other Freeglers can see it and are much less likely to choose you to receive their items. We want this to be a continuous community service that people can rely on, so please help us to keep it that way.

Thank you kindly for your understanding and cooperation.

Kind regards,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

.............................

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

Hanging around and the person you’re waiting for doesn’t show up? No-shows are very frustrating, and the main source of occasional complaints we receive.

From experience, we’ve found the best ways to avert ‘no-shows’ are:

*Ask in your response for people to reply with a phone number. This makes it easier to: text directions, check on the day that the person is coming, and communicate an emergency.
*Ask people to say which item(s) they want and why. Anyone who doesn’t respond is probably not serious about wanting your offer.
If you’re getting stuff for free, it’s only fair to be polite and thoughtful about the pickup arrangements – as most of us are.

Here, I have to confess to being guilty of once not showing up 😦 – I suddenly remembered I should have been picking up Freegle items. Fortunately there was a mobile signal so I was able to contact the lady who had promised me the items, and she kindly agreed to re-arrange. Now I set an alert on my phone if I’m picking up or handing over an item.

So please make sure you are absolutely going to show up when you say you will, perhaps setting yourself a reminder if that helps.

Kind regards,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

.......................

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

This mail is sent to all members of the $groupname community.

We have occasional problems with people not showing up to collect items, or changing their minds. If you're getting stuff for free, it's only fair to be polite and thoughtful about the pickup arrangements – as most of us are. So please make sure you are absolutely going to show up when you say you will.

If you're not sure if you can or will show, then let someone else take the offer. Remember, people talk... and if you become known as a "no-show", then members will pass you by for someone else. Sure, sometimes last minute emergencies pop up; life happens... but if you can't turn up, it's courtesy to let them know. If you were staying in for someone, you'd want them to let you know if they couldn't come, right?

When you post an OFFER, you can choose who gets it however you like.
There are always going to be no-shows – but you can reduce the chances of it happening to you by choosing people carefully.

First-come-first-served is not always the best choice. Some people pounce on items and send a quick "I'll take it" without really thinking about whether they actually want it. If they change their minds, they might just not show up. Not giving to the first response also gives people who don't sit in front of a computer all day a chance, and you might get a later reply which makes you wish you'd not decided already.

Instead, use the Fair Offer Policy and take some time out and evaluate your responses for at least a few hours, if not for a whole day. If someone takes the time to reply politely and explain why they want an item, they're much more likely to show up, or at least let you know if they can't.

After you have picked someone, let them know, but hold off on sending your address until they respond again. If they take the trouble of sending you emails back and forth, they are very unlikely to stand you up. Once you've told someone they can have an item, please don't just change your mind and give it to someone else, unless arrangements fall through; if you do change your mind, please let them know.

Remember that not all no-shows are deliberate. People get lost, have car troubles, run late from meetings, or have one of many other reasons for not showing up on time. Exchange phone numbers, so you can let each other know.

But sometimes after all this, the person can still be a no-show. So save the replies you received just in case, so you can move on to the next person who wanted it.

And because, one day, you might find that you can't pick up something when you said you could, try not to get too annoyed at people who do that to you – they may have good reason.

Thanks,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

Back to [[Admins]]

[[Category:Sample Admins|No shows]]

Sample Admin: No-shows

2026-05-01T14:08:19Z

Neville Reid: avoid repetition

Here are some sample Admin messages you can send to your community.

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

Sadly, we have been receiving an increasing number of complaints from members. These are mainly from those offering items when others do not turn up to collect as arranged and from those asking for items who never get any kind of reply but see the item remaining on the offers board.

To help resolve this problem we are asking you to:
*describe an item being offered as accurately as possible and add a photo if you can; this gives anyone interested a better idea if it is what they want or not
*mark an item as Taken (or Received if you have posted a Wanted) as soon as possible; please do not leave it until next time you have another item to post
*if you enquire about an item, please let the other person know if it is not what you are looking for, rather than leave them to wonder if you will come back to confirm collection or not
*if you have arranged a date and time to collect an item and then need to change this or have changed your mind, please let them know – we all hate No-Shows!

Can we remind everyone that we ask all members to deal with other members politely, as you would wish to be treated yourself and help build a friendly community.

Thank you being a member of $groupname. If you have any queries, we are here to help.

Kind regards,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

.............................

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

Dear $groupname members,

Could we politely remind everyone that if you have arranged to collect an item from another Freegle member, please show up. Not showing up to arranged collections is really very unfair.

If you’ve changed your mind, or something comes up that prevents you from making the pre-arranged date & time, please let the Freegle member know at your earliest convenience. Things happen, we all understand that sometimes plans change or minds change. But it’s highly frustrating when someone has gone out of their way to take photo’s, list an item on Freegle, liaise with various responders, then choose someone to receive their item and make arrangements for it to be collected, only for that taker to just never turn up and ignore any further attempts to communicate.

We’re all in this to look after our local environment and to help each other out. Basic common courtesy and old fashioned good manners is the least we should all be able to expect from each other. ‘No-shows’ are very discouraging to otherwise generous and good-willed Freeglers who just want to help their community. Please do the decent thing and show up or cancel as soon as you know you won’t be able to make it.

We appreciate the vast majority of our users are amazing and do show up. But to those that don’t, please remember that other Freeglers can give you positive or negative feedback using the ‘thumbs up/thumbs down’ rating options. The more thumbs down you accrue, other Freeglers can see it and are much less likely to choose you to receive their items. We want this to be a continuous community service that people can rely on, so please help us to keep it that way.

Thank you kindly for your understanding and cooperation.

Kind regards,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

.............................

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

Hanging around and the person you’re waiting for doesn’t show up? No-shows are very frustrating, and the main source of occasional complaints we receive.

From experience, we’ve found the best ways to avert ‘no-shows’ are:

*Ask in your response for people to reply with a phone number. This makes it easier to: text directions, check on the day that the person is coming, and communicate an emergency.
*Ask people to say which item(s) they want and why. Anyone who doesn’t respond is probably not serious about wanting your offer.
If you’re getting stuff for free, it’s only fair to be polite and thoughtful about the pickup arrangements – as most of us are.

Here, I have to confess to being guilty of once not showing up 😦 – I suddenly remembered I should have been picking up Freegle items. Fortunately there was a mobile signal so I was able to contact the lady who had promised me the items, and she kindly agreed to re-arrange. Now I set an alert on my phone if I’m picking up or handing over an item.

So please make sure you are absolutely going to show up when you say you will, perhaps setting yourself a reminder if that helps.

Kind regards,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

.......................

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

This mail is sent to all members of the $groupname community.

We have occasional problems with people not showing up to collect items, or changing their minds. If you're getting stuff for free, it's only fair to be polite and thoughtful about the pickup arrangements – as most of us are. So please make sure you are absolutely going to show up when you say you will.

If you're not sure if you can or will show, then let someone else take the offer. Remember, people talk... and if you become known as a "no-show", then members will pass you by for someone else. Sure, sometimes last minute emergencies pop up; life happens... but if you can't turn up, it's courtesy to let them know. If you were staying in for someone, you'd want them to let you know if they couldn't come, right?

When you post an OFFER, you can choose who gets it however you like.
There are always going to be no-shows – but you can reduce the chances of it happening to you by choosing people carefully.

First-come-first-served is not always the best choice. Some people pounce on items and send a quick "I'll take it" without really thinking about whether they actually want it. If they change their minds, they might just not show up. Not giving to the first response also gives people who don't sit in front of a computer all day a chance, and you might get a later reply which makes you wish you'd not decided already.

Instead, use the Fair Offer Policy and take some time out and evaluate your responses for at least a few hours, if not for a whole day. If someone takes the time to reply politely and explain why they want an item, they're much more likely to show up, or at least let you know if they can't.

After you have picked someone, let them know, but hold off on sending your address until they respond again. If they take the trouble of sending you emails back and forth, they are very unlikely to stand you up. Once you've told someone they can have an item, please don't just change your mind and give it to someone else, unless arrangements fall through; if you do change your mind, please let them know.

Remember that not all no-shows are deliberate. People get lost, have car troubles, run late from meetings, or have one of many other reasons for not showing up on time. Exchange phone numbers, so you can let each other know.

But sometimes after all this, the person can still be a no-show. So save the replies you received just in case, so you can move on to the next person who wanted it.

And because, one day, you might find that you can't pick up something when you said you could, try not to get too annoyed at people who do that to you – they may have good reason.

Thanks,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

Back to [[Admins]]

[[Category:Sample Admins|No shows]]

Sample Admin: No-shows

2026-05-01T14:06:58Z

Neville Reid: avoid "X Freegle Freeglers"

Here are some sample Admin messages you can send to your community.

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

Sadly, we have been receiving an increasing number of complaints from members. These are mainly from those offering items when others do not turn up to collect as arranged and from those asking for items who never get any kind of reply but see the item remaining on the offers board.

To help resolve this problem we are asking you to:
*describe an item being offered as accurately as possible and add a photo if you can; this gives anyone interested a better idea if it is what they want or not
*mark an item as Taken (or Received if you have posted a Wanted) as soon as possible; please do not leave it until next time you have another item to post
*if you enquire about an item, please let the other person know if it is not what you are looking for, rather than leave them to wonder if you will come back to confirm collection or not
*if you have arranged a date and time to collect an item and then need to change this or have changed your mind, please let them know – we all hate No-Shows!

Can we remind everyone that we ask all members to deal with other members politely, as you would wish to be treated yourself and help build a friendly community.

Thank you being a member of $groupname. If you have any queries, we are here to help.

Kind regards,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

.............................

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

Dear $groupname members,

Could we please politely remind everyone that if you have arranged to collect an item from another Freegle member, please show up. Not showing up to arranged collections is really very unfair.

If you’ve changed your mind, or something comes up that prevents you from making the pre-arranged date & time, please let the Freegle member know at your earliest convenience. Things happen, we all understand that sometimes plans change or minds change. But it’s highly frustrating when someone has gone out of their way to take photo’s, list an item on Freegle, liaise with various responders, then choose someone to receive their item and make arrangements for it to be collected, only for that taker to just never turn up and ignore any further attempts to communicate.

We’re all in this to look after our local environment and to help each other out. Basic common courtesy and old fashioned good manners is the least we should all be able to expect from each other. ‘No-shows’ are very discouraging to otherwise generous and good-willed Freeglers who just want to help their community. Please do the decent thing and show up or cancel as soon as you know you won’t be able to make it.

We appreciate the vast majority of our users are amazing and do show up. But to those that don’t, please remember that other Freeglers can give you positive or negative feedback using the ‘thumbs up/thumbs down’ rating options. The more thumbs down you accrue, other Freeglers can see it and are much less likely to choose you to receive their items. We want this to be a continuous community service that people can rely on, so please help us to keep it that way.

Thank you kindly for your understanding and cooperation.

Kind regards,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

.............................

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

Hanging around and the person you’re waiting for doesn’t show up? No-shows are very frustrating, and the main source of occasional complaints we receive.

From experience, we’ve found the best ways to avert ‘no-shows’ are:

*Ask in your response for people to reply with a phone number. This makes it easier to: text directions, check on the day that the person is coming, and communicate an emergency.
*Ask people to say which item(s) they want and why. Anyone who doesn’t respond is probably not serious about wanting your offer.
If you’re getting stuff for free, it’s only fair to be polite and thoughtful about the pickup arrangements – as most of us are.

Here, I have to confess to being guilty of once not showing up 😦 – I suddenly remembered I should have been picking up Freegle items. Fortunately there was a mobile signal so I was able to contact the lady who had promised me the items, and she kindly agreed to re-arrange. Now I set an alert on my phone if I’m picking up or handing over an item.

So please make sure you are absolutely going to show up when you say you will, perhaps setting yourself a reminder if that helps.

Kind regards,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

.......................

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

This mail is sent to all members of the $groupname community.

We have occasional problems with people not showing up to collect items, or changing their minds. If you're getting stuff for free, it's only fair to be polite and thoughtful about the pickup arrangements – as most of us are. So please make sure you are absolutely going to show up when you say you will.

If you're not sure if you can or will show, then let someone else take the offer. Remember, people talk... and if you become known as a "no-show", then members will pass you by for someone else. Sure, sometimes last minute emergencies pop up; life happens... but if you can't turn up, it's courtesy to let them know. If you were staying in for someone, you'd want them to let you know if they couldn't come, right?

When you post an OFFER, you can choose who gets it however you like.
There are always going to be no-shows – but you can reduce the chances of it happening to you by choosing people carefully.

First-come-first-served is not always the best choice. Some people pounce on items and send a quick "I'll take it" without really thinking about whether they actually want it. If they change their minds, they might just not show up. Not giving to the first response also gives people who don't sit in front of a computer all day a chance, and you might get a later reply which makes you wish you'd not decided already.

Instead, use the Fair Offer Policy and take some time out and evaluate your responses for at least a few hours, if not for a whole day. If someone takes the time to reply politely and explain why they want an item, they're much more likely to show up, or at least let you know if they can't.

After you have picked someone, let them know, but hold off on sending your address until they respond again. If they take the trouble of sending you emails back and forth, they are very unlikely to stand you up. Once you've told someone they can have an item, please don't just change your mind and give it to someone else, unless arrangements fall through; if you do change your mind, please let them know.

Remember that not all no-shows are deliberate. People get lost, have car troubles, run late from meetings, or have one of many other reasons for not showing up on time. Exchange phone numbers, so you can let each other know.

But sometimes after all this, the person can still be a no-show. So save the replies you received just in case, so you can move on to the next person who wanted it.

And because, one day, you might find that you can't pick up something when you said you could, try not to get too annoyed at people who do that to you – they may have good reason.

Thanks,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

Back to [[Admins]]

[[Category:Sample Admins|No shows]]

Sample Admin: No-shows

2026-05-01T14:05:06Z

Neville Reid: $groupname, flow, punctuation, signatures

Here are some sample Admin messages you can send to your community.

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

Sadly, we have been receiving an increasing number of complaints from members. These are mainly from those offering items when others do not turn up to collect as arranged and from those asking for items who never get any kind of reply but see the item remaining on the offers board.

To help resolve this problem we are asking you to:
*describe an item being offered as accurately as possible and add a photo if you can; this gives anyone interested a better idea if it is what they want or not
*mark an item as Taken (or Received if you have posted a Wanted) as soon as possible; please do not leave it until next time you have another item to post
*if you enquire about an item, please let the other person know if it is not what you are looking for, rather than leave them to wonder if you will come back to confirm collection or not
*if you have arranged a date and time to collect an item and then need to change this or have changed your mind, please let them know – we all hate No-Shows!

Can we remind everyone that we ask all members to deal with other members politely, as you would wish to be treated yourself and help build a friendly community.

Thank you being a member of $groupname. If you have any queries, we are here to help.

Kind regards,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

.............................

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

Hi $groupname Freeglers

Could we please politely remind everyone that if you have arranged to collect an item from another Freegle member, please show up. Not showing up to arranged collections is really very unfair.

If you’ve changed your mind, or something comes up that prevents you from making the pre-arranged date & time, please let the Freegle member know at your earliest convenience. Things happen, we all understand that sometimes plans change or minds change. But it’s highly frustrating when someone has gone out of their way to take photo’s, list an item on Freegle, liaise with various responders, then choose someone to receive their item and make arrangements for it to be collected, only for that taker to just never turn up and ignore any further attempts to communicate.

We’re all in this to look after our local environment and to help each other out. Basic common courtesy and old fashioned good manners is the least we should all be able to expect from each other. ‘No-shows’ are very discouraging to otherwise generous and good-willed Freeglers who just want to help their community. Please do the decent thing and show up or cancel as soon as you know you won’t be able to make it.

We appreciate the vast majority of our users are amazing and do show up. But to those that don’t, please remember that other Freeglers can give you positive or negative feedback using the ‘thumbs up/thumbs down’ rating options. The more thumbs down you accrue, other Freeglers can see it and are much less likely to choose you to receive their items. We want this to be a continuous community service that people can rely on, so please help us to keep it that way.

Thank you kindly for your understanding and cooperation.

Kind regards,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

.............................

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

Hanging around and the person you’re waiting for doesn’t show up? No-shows are very frustrating, and the main source of occasional complaints we receive.

From experience, we’ve found the best ways to avert ‘no-shows’ are:

*Ask in your response for people to reply with a phone number. This makes it easier to: text directions, check on the day that the person is coming, and communicate an emergency.
*Ask people to say which item(s) they want and why. Anyone who doesn’t respond is probably not serious about wanting your offer.
If you’re getting stuff for free, it’s only fair to be polite and thoughtful about the pickup arrangements – as most of us are.

Here, I have to confess to being guilty of once not showing up 😦 – I suddenly remembered I should have been picking up Freegle items. Fortunately there was a mobile signal so I was able to contact the lady who had promised me the items, and she kindly agreed to re-arrange. Now I set an alert on my phone if I’m picking up or handing over an item.

So please make sure you are absolutely going to show up when you say you will, perhaps setting yourself a reminder if that helps.

Kind regards,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

.......................

ADMIN: NO-SHOWS

This mail is sent to all members of the $groupname community.

We have occasional problems with people not showing up to collect items, or changing their minds. If you're getting stuff for free, it's only fair to be polite and thoughtful about the pickup arrangements – as most of us are. So please make sure you are absolutely going to show up when you say you will.

If you're not sure if you can or will show, then let someone else take the offer. Remember, people talk... and if you become known as a "no-show", then members will pass you by for someone else. Sure, sometimes last minute emergencies pop up; life happens... but if you can't turn up, it's courtesy to let them know. If you were staying in for someone, you'd want them to let you know if they couldn't come, right?

When you post an OFFER, you can choose who gets it however you like.
There are always going to be no-shows – but you can reduce the chances of it happening to you by choosing people carefully.

First-come-first-served is not always the best choice. Some people pounce on items and send a quick "I'll take it" without really thinking about whether they actually want it. If they change their minds, they might just not show up. Not giving to the first response also gives people who don't sit in front of a computer all day a chance, and you might get a later reply which makes you wish you'd not decided already.

Instead, use the Fair Offer Policy and take some time out and evaluate your responses for at least a few hours, if not for a whole day. If someone takes the time to reply politely and explain why they want an item, they're much more likely to show up, or at least let you know if they can't.

After you have picked someone, let them know, but hold off on sending your address until they respond again. If they take the trouble of sending you emails back and forth, they are very unlikely to stand you up. Once you've told someone they can have an item, please don't just change your mind and give it to someone else, unless arrangements fall through; if you do change your mind, please let them know.

Remember that not all no-shows are deliberate. People get lost, have car troubles, run late from meetings, or have one of many other reasons for not showing up on time. Exchange phone numbers, so you can let each other know.

But sometimes after all this, the person can still be a no-show. So save the replies you received just in case, so you can move on to the next person who wanted it.

And because, one day, you might find that you can't pick up something when you said you could, try not to get too annoyed at people who do that to you – they may have good reason.

Thanks,

$myname 
$groupname volunteer 
$owneremail

Back to [[Admins]]

[[Category:Sample Admins|No shows]]

Computers

2026-05-01T13:55:24Z

Neville Reid: redirect to Recycling Organisations, as wiki search does not work or does not update itself promptly

#REDIRECT [[Recycling Organisations]]

No-shows or time-wasters

2026-05-01T13:53:12Z

Neville Reid: /* These are some tips for both mods and members on how to deal with no shows: */ reformat heading just as bold

A no-show is when someone arranges to pick up an item from another Freegle member and then doesn't turn up at the agreed time to collect it although sometimes this can happen in reverse where a members shows up to collect something and is left waiting. No-shows and time wasters are probably the most frustrating aspect of Freegle (they're quite possibly the most frustrating aspect of life in general really). Members who have waited in to give something away, which is often taking up lots of room in their home, find this very annoying. Also, people sometimes respond to a post and then don't follow through, leaving the member wondering how long to wait before they move on to the next person on their list.

'''These are some tips for both mods and members on how to deal with no shows:'''

* Sending an admin to the group about no-shows. This often makes the person who complained feel a lot better – you’ve shown that you listened. And generally its just good to remind everyone of the importance of turning up and following through. [[Sample Admin: No-shows]]

*Often phone contact makes all the difference - the act of actually speaking to someone makes them seem more human and like someone you might not want to mess around.

*Some members ask people to ring and confirm a few hours before they turn up – this also ensures that the person collecting remembers their appointment.

*When a member emails someone to offer them an item, encourage them to give the other member a deadline by which they should reply by or they will move on to the next person who asked. This avoids members being left in limbo whilst waiting for a reply, or feeling guilty about moving on to the next person who asked.

*Encourage members not to agree to arrangements that will inconvenience them. Dont agree to have someone come round if you need to go out straight away afterwards. don't agree to meet them at the station (unless you feel safer that way), if they're collecting from your workplace get them to come when you're going to be there anyway etc.

* If you get a member complaint about a no show, you might want to email the other person and ask them what happened - there is often a good reason, for example, they have accidently deleted the contact details. However there’s also the risk that you’ll get sucked into an argument about rights and wrongs where you can’t really help.

Back to [[Specific Circumstances]] or [[Specific Problems]]
[[category:Specific Circumstances]]

Where to give

2026-04-24T20:28:54Z

Neville Reid: try to make it easier to find Recycling_Organisations

#REDIRECT [[Recycling_Organisations]]

Specific items

2026-04-24T20:21:54Z

Neville Reid: add key words

These pages give some information on specific items that may or may not be offered or requested on your group.

*[[Alcohol and tobacco]]
*[[Archery Equipment]]
*[[Asbestos]]
*[[Batteries]]
*[[Beach sand, stones, driftwood, seashells etc]]
* Bike helmets – see [[Safety of items offered]]
*[[Books]]
*[[Bread Baskets]]
*Car seats – see [[Safety of items offered]]
*[[Contact Lenses]] and solutions
*[[Cooking Oil]]
*[[Condoms]]
*[[Copyright Issues]] – software, DVDs, videos
*Cots – see [[Safety of items offered]]
*[[Counterfeit, Fake or Imitation items]]
*[[Creosote]]
*[[Disability Aids]]
*Explosive Precursors – see [[Worry Words]]
*[[Fire Extinguishers]]
*[[Fireworks]]
*[[Food]]
*[[Fridges and Freezers]]
*[[Frogspawn]]
*[[Fur]]
*Furniture – see [[Safety of items offered]]
*[[Garden chemicals: pesticides, insecticides, weedkiller]]
*[[Gas cookers]]
*[[Gas cylinders or bottles]]
*[[Guns and replicas]] including air rifles
*[[Hearing aids, Glasses]]
*[[Knives and Swords]]
*[[Light Bulbs]]
*[[Medicines and supplements]]
*[[Oil]] – waste and other oils
*[[Oyster cards]]
*[[Pets and animals]]
*[[Plants]]
*[[Red Diesel]]
*[[Safety of items offered]] – car seats, cot mattresses, bike helmets, furniture – what are the risks?
*[[Scanners]] – radio scanners etc
*[[Scrap Metal]]
*[[Sex toys]]
*[[Sky and Virgin boxes]]
*[[Slug Pellets]]
*[[Storage Heaters]]
* Talcum powder – conversation on Discourse, September 2025 – https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/talcum-powder/8932
*[[Tasers and stun guns]]
*[[Thermometers]]
*[[Tickets and Vouchers]]
*[[Timeshare]]
*[[Tortoises]]
*[[Tumble dryers]]
*[[Waste Definition|Waste]] – legal definition of what constitutes waste
*[[Wood]] – including pallet warnings

See also [[Recycling Organisations]], a list of organisations that reuse computers, medical and office equipment, sewing machines, tools etc.

Back to [[How To Deal With]]

[[Category:Specific Items| ]]

Recycling Organisations

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Neville Reid: update links and reformat, hoping this will fix a problem in that key words were not showing up in searches; add more from https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/where-to-give-old-pcs/9579

These organisations welcome donations of items for recycling for good causes:

; Charity shops
* For clothing, books, audio/video, toys and other household items, find charity shops near you at https://charityretail.org.uk/find-a-shop

; Bicycles
* Large Oxfam shops may accept bicycles
* Re-cycle https://re-cycle.org/ who send second-hand bikes to Africa

; Computers
* Computeraid International https://www.computeraid.org/
* Donate a PC https://www.donateapc.org.uk/
* WEEE Charity https://www.weeecharity.com/index.php/what-we-take
* IT specialists in the Reuse Network
* Local Rotary groups may have a collection point
* Older Windows 10 computers can be upgraded to Google ChromeOS Flex see [https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2026/04/12/googles-free-windows-pc-upgrade-offer-you-must-act-before-its-too-late/ here] or Linux

; Food
* Non-perishable: Give to Global Hand https://www.globalhand.org , who can also take goods as varied as relief supplies, vehicles, textbooks, construction equipment and boats.
* Perishable: use the Olio app https://olioapp.com/en/

; Furniture
* Reuse Network https://reuse-network.org.uk/donate-items/

; Medical equipment
* Mercy Ships https://www.mercyships.org.uk/

; Office equipment
* WEEE Charity https://www.weeecharity.com/index.php/what-we-take

; Sewing machines
* Tools for Self Reliance https://www.tfsr.org/

; Spectacles
* Many opticians run charity programmes with second-hand glasses.

; Tools
* Tools for Self Reliance https://www.tfsr.org/ welcomes tools for bicycle repairs, blacksmiths, carpenters, engineers, mechanics, and shoe repairs

Back to [[Specific Items]]

[[category:Specific Items]]

Specific Circumstances

2026-04-15T16:02:21Z

Neville Reid: sort key: top

If you are unsure about particular situations or circumstances related to the message your members post or ask about, you might find some help here:

* [[Auto-responses]] - those annoying responses that the occasional member uses to ask for every item being offered on your group
* [[Borrowing or Lending]] 
* [[Cross-posting]] - same message being posted on more than one group? The ins and outs of approaches to deal with this. 
* [[Distance - How far away is acceptable]]
* [[No-shows or time-wasters]] 
* [[Phone numbers]] 
* [[Resellers]] 
* [[Sob stories]] 
* [[Charities and community groups]] 

Back to [[How To Deal With]]
[[Category: Specific Circumstances| ]]

Help:Deleting a page

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Neville Reid: trim banner code

{{PD Help Page}}

== When not to delete a page ==
Typically you would delete a page if the contents are entirely inappropriate and do not match the purposes of the Wiki. In other situations, you would take a less extreme course of action, for example:

* The page should have a different title -- See [[Help:Moving a page]]
* The contents should have been placed on a different page -- Add the contents to the other page, and then supply a redirect. See [[Help:Redirects]]
* The contents are already on a different page -- Delete the duplicate content and leave a redirect. That way, the page title, which made sense to somebody, will helpfully redirect to the information. See [[Help:Redirects]]
* The page is out-of-date -- Re-word sentences to be in the past tense, to make the page an historical record. Alternatively, label the information as out-of-date, with a warning notice.

An actual delete is generally necessary only if the ''title'' of the page is inappropriate. In other situations, a merge and redirect is more appropriate.

=== Proposing changes ===
Deciding on appropriate content/page titles can be a difficult aspect of Wiki organization, and one which can often provoke debates. If the merge or deletion you have in mind is one which might cause upset, you should propose the change first. Do this by leaving a note to give your reasons on the [[Help:Talk pages|talk page]]. You might also establish a system for labeling the page with a delete/merge proposal template, to make everybody aware of your intentions.

=== Unlinking a page ===
The 'What links here' toolbox feature (bottom of left sidebar) will tell you which other Wiki pages link to the current page. Always use this feature to check before proceeding with deleting. These related pages will need to be edited for their links to reflect the change.

== Deletion itself ==
'''Normal users cannot permanently delete a Wiki page'''. This is a deliberate design feature, and is an important part of why wikis work. Every kind of editing operation can be reverted by any other user, and that includes resurrecting deleted content. It doesn't cause significant wasted space; and with nothing but a 'delete' label, the page is effectively deleted anyway.

'[[Help:Sysops and permissions|Sysop]]' users ''are'' able to delete a page semi-permanently. See [[Help:Sysop deleting and undeleting]]. Typically 'sysops' might look for delete labels, and do a proper delete on these pages, after a period of time. If for some reason you need a page to be deleted more quickly than that, you will need to contact a 'sysop' to request this.

==See also==
* [[Help:Sysops and permissions]]

{{Languages|Help:Deleting a page}}

[[Category:Help]]

Freegle Board Minutes 24 September 2014

2026-04-15T15:43:16Z

Neville Reid: remove link to deleted index page

==Minutes of the Meeting of Directors of Freegle Limited 24 September 2014 at 7.15 by Skype Chat==
===Chairman===
Edward Hibbert
===Polling===
http://polls.modtools.org/
===Directors Present===
Jacky Barrett, John Carroll, Ollie Clark, Cat Fletcher, Edward Hibbert, Andrew Ludlow, Alison Redway, Tina Willcox

The meeting commenced at 19.15
===Apologies for Absence===
None
===Declarations of Interest===
Edward is a Director of Recycling Lives. There are no conflicts at present.

Edward has a financial interest in a charitable fundraising venture from which Freegle may benefit. He will not receive any financial benefit from donations made via this route to Freegle.
===Risk Register===
This item was carried forward to the next meeting.

'''Action - Edward'''
===Fundraising===
Edward outlined a project that he is involved with that aims to develop a social network for charity. Edward suggested that Freegle sign up to this site so that we can accept donations.
He has negotiated a 0% fee, so this means that we get all of £1 + Gift Aid for donations via this route. That makes it cheaper than Virgin Giving.

Edward has a financial interest in this overall project. He would not be receiving any portion of a donation made to Freegle, but corporates might be making a separate payment to have their charitable donation promoted (this is a revenue stream to fund this project) and he would have a financial interest in that. If we signed up Freegle could reasonably expect to start receiving donations from October of this year.

We agreed to recommend to the Reps that Freegle UK should sign up to this. We will continue to run other fundraising methods alongside.

'''Votes: 7 For, 1 Abstain'''

'''Action - Alison - Pass to Reps for polling.'''
===Mobile Phone App===
Chris Cant presented the Board with a draft specification for a mobile phone app for Freegle Direct groups, primarily aimed at Android and IOS phones, though tablets will also be supported as well as potentially other platforms such as Windows phones. He has requested funding from Freegle for this.

Chris has suggested initially two stages of development and requires £5,000 in total. There are potentially other stages of development.

He has secured funding of £1,000 from Sustain Eden and is also applying for £1,000 from Cumbria County Council. Cumbria would require a logo within the app in return for funding. The app would be trialled in Cumbria and Chris hopes to release the app by the end of 2014.

Chris would carry out the work via his company PHD Computer Consultants Ltd. The end result would belong to Freegle UK/Freegle Ltd and Chris would support it as best he can, thereafter for free, though any funding for improvements would be welcome.
Edward Hibbert would be able to provide support for the app in the event of Chris not being able to do this.

We unanimously agreed to recommend to the Reps that Freegle UK pay Chris Cant £1k now with a view to £2k (total if other funding isn't found) to get us to a product.

'''Action: Alison - pass to Reps for polling'''
===Reports===
====Finance====
John is liaising with Unity Trust Bank over the opening of a bank account and awaiting the signed mandate from the proposed account signatories.

'''Action - John'''

'''Account Signatories'''
====Company Secretary====
Andy is compiling the confidential details for the Directors that are needed for the Register and charity registration.

'''Action - Andy'''
====Board Secretary====
=====Recording Votes in Minutes=====
At the request of a Volunteer we considered how we should record votes in the Board meeting minutes.

We unanimously agreed that we will publish the number of votes for specific questions. If a Director is standing for subsequent re-election then volunteers are welcome to ask questions about anything they like, including voting patterns, and the candidate will choose how to answer.

'''Action - Alison - update Board meeting procedure on wiki.'''
====Returning Officer Vacancy====
Under the Rules of the Industrial and Provident Society the Returning Officers are appointed by the Company Secretary. The Company Secretary will consult with the whole Board before making an appointment. There is currently a vacancy for a Returning Officer.

We unanimously agreed that we should advertise the vacancy for a Returning Officer on Central.

'''Action - Alison'''
====Volunteer Welfare====
Tina will lead a discussion on strategies for volunteer welfare. We will review this at the next meeting.

'''Action - Tina

All to contribute to Trello Board'''
====Chief Technology Officer====
Cat met with Justin of Reyooz and Cat and Edward are hoping to meet him in London in November.

Edward is looking into data protection and will report to the next meeting.

'''Action - Edward'''
====Media====
Cat has been talking to http://www.re-cycle.org and will report on this shortly.

'''Action - Cat'''

In agreement with the Reps, Cat has allocated £1,000 from the donation restricted to media for sponsorship to Fotodocument - http://fotodocument.org/foto-commissions/.
The exhibitions are in tourist venues in Brighton for ten months starting on 5 October.
Cat has agreed to report monthly, specifically so that we can measure the impact as a guide if we consider spending on similar projects in future.

'''Action - Cat'''

Cat has agreed to lead a board discussion on how best we can get more groups involved in local promotion.

'''Action - Cat'''

Cat has 5,000 business cards available for Freegle groups.
====Health and Safety====
Ollie presented a role and remit for this post.

====Policy====
Jacky reported that the GAT team have been reviewing and updating their policies and procedures. These will be the next policies to be polled on via the Yahoo Board group.

The Returning Officer/Polling/Elections documents are the next to be reviewed.

'''Action - Jacky'''
===Insurance===
The PLI/Employer Liability insurance policy has been renewed in the name of Freegle Ltd and Freegle UK; when that comes into force the related wiki documentation will be updated. We need a volunteer to administer the insurance.

We will advertise on Central for a Volunteer to administer the insurance.

'''Action - Jacky'''

===Date of Next Meeting===

Wednesday 29 October at 7.15.
==CONSENT AGENDA==

We agreed unanimously:

'''1. Minutes of the meetings of 270814 and 030914'''

030914 - https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FreegleBoard/polls/poll/13221456?

270814 - https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FreegleBoard/polls/poll/13221023?

'''2. Adopt policies and procedures'''

Abandoned Group Procedure https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HZqYicwce3xYWPiEi6mdBbEeonTEcH4GbwgKKp5rWG0/edit?usp=sharing 8 votes for adoption received

Freegle Ltd Membership Information https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zx3WUnePLz2cHK_De0ugX51C_eYFygBIl4Y1V4jRgvA/edit?usp=sharing 8 votes for adoption received

The meeting ended at 20.49.

[[Category: Freegle Board Minutes 2014]]

Freegle Board Minutes September 2014

2026-04-15T15:42:59Z

Neville Reid: remove link to deleted index page

==Meeting of the Board of Freegle Limited held online on Wednesday 03 September 2014 between 9.00 and 22.00 hrs on https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FreegleBoard==

'''Polling'''

https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FreegleBoard
===Directors Present===
Jacky Barrett, Ollie Clark, Cat Fletcher, Edward Hibbert, Andrew Ludlow, Alison Redway, Tina Wilcox

The meeting commenced at 9.00 hrs.

Unity Trust Bank require that the Board agree to the opening of an account with them and to the account signatories and their level of access.

===Apologies for Absence===
None
===Declarations of Interest===
Jacky Barrett, John Carroll, Edward Hibbert and Tina Willcox abstained in the appropriate poll relating to them personally.
===Opening a Bank Account===
We agreed to the following:

http://www.unity.co.uk/upload/pdf/Unity_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf

1. Freegle Limited, registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965, Register No 32410R wishes to open an account with Unity Trust Bank plc (“The Bank”) and produced to the meeting a copy of the Bank’s terms and conditions for operating an account.

2. The Bank’s terms and conditions are approved and the Company/Organisation agrees to be bound by them.

3. The Bank’s terms and conditions may vary from time to time and the Company/Organisation agrees to be bound by them.

4. The Mandate for the operation of the bank account(s), payment instructions and banking services to be provided to the Bank and that amendments to the Mandate may be made by any Director/Trustee, or by any officer of the Company/Organisation who is intimated to the Bank as being authorised by the Board to do so in accordance with the Bank’s procedures.

5. The Bank is entitled to rely upon this Mandate until it receives a later Mandate amending it.

6. The Bank will be provided with a copy of the Company’s Certificate of Incorporation, together a copy of the Company’s Rules or the Organisation’s registration documents. Any changes to these documents must be advised in writing to the Bank.

7. The Bank will be notified in writing of any change of Directors/Trustees of the Company/Organisation or of any officer of the Company/Organisation who is known to the Bank as being authorised to do so.

8. The Company will be liable for any liabilities of the Company to the Bank.

'''Votes: 8 For'''
===Bank Account Signatories===
We agreed that the following Volunteers should be signatories to the Unity Trust bank account.

John Carroll

View and Submit access
''''''
'''Votes: 6 For, 1 Abstain'''

Jane Loveday

View and Submit access

'''Votes: 7 For'''

Jacky Barrett

View and Authorise

'''Votes: 6 For, 1 Abstain'''

Edward Hibbert

View and Authorise access

'''Votes: 6 For, 1 Abstain'''

Tina Willcox

View and Authorise

'''Votes: 6 For, 1 Abstain'''

===Date of Next Meeting===
24 September at 7.15 (note earlier time)

The meeting closed at 22.00hrs.

[[Category:Freegle Board Minutes 2014]]

Freegle Board Minutes July 2014

2026-04-15T15:42:44Z

Neville Reid: /* Next Meeting */ remove link to deleted index page

'''Minutes of the First Meeting of Directors of Freegle Limited Wednesday 30 July 2014 at 7.30pm by Skype Chat'''

'''Directors Present:'''
Jacky Barrett, John Carroll, Ollie Clark, Cat Fletcher, Edward Hibbert, Andrew Ludlow, Alison Redway, Andrew Widgery, Tina Wilcox

Jacky Barrett opened the meeting at 7.30.

===Appointment of Chair and Board Secretary===
Edward Hibbert was elected as Chairman.

Proposed by: Alison Redway.

Votes: 7 For, 1 Abstain.

Alison Redway was elected as Board Secretary.

Proposed by: Jacky Barrett.

Votes: 7 For, 1 Abstain.

Edward continued the meeting as Chairman and Alison as Board Secretary. Alison agreed to compile formal minutes of the meeting and record actions necessary. Edward will set up action lists on Trello for each Director.

Edward and Alison
===Industrial and Provident Society===
A vote of thanks was proposed to Alison Redway for her very patient and valuable work in driving this forward.

Proposed by Edward Hibbert.

Votes: 7 For, 1 Abstain.

It was agreed that a bank account should be set up with Unity Trust Bank.

Alison will continue with the application for charitable status.

Action: Finance Director, Alison

===Appointment of Tina Willcox as Director===
A vote of thanks was proposed to Kathryn Speight for standing as a Director and to Tina Willcox for agreeing to stand in Kathy’s place.

Proposed by: Edward Hibbert

Votes: 7 For, 1 Abstain

It was agreed to admit Tina Willcox as a Director

Proposed by: Edward Hibbert

Votes: 8 For.

Action: Company Secretary to update Register of Directors.
===Appointment of Role Holders/Officers===
====Director of Finance====
It was agreed to appoint John Carroll as Finance Director.

Proposed by: Edward Hibbert.

Votes: 8 For, 1 Abstain.

====Treasurer, Returning Officers, Ombudsmen====
It was agreed to appoint:

Jane Loveday as Treasurer,

Paul Thompson and Carole Marland as Returning Officers,

Kathy Stanley-Quist and Emma Shane as Ombudsmen.

Proposed by: Edward Hibbert.

Votes: 9 For.

It was agreed that when the Board have adopted the relevant roles and remits the Company Secretary will write to them to advise of the appointments.

Action: Company Secretary to write letters to confirm that the role holders are happy to continue
====Company Secretary====
It was agreed to appoint Andrew Ludlow as Company Secretary.

Proposed by: Jacky Barrett.

Votes: 8 For 1 Abstain.

Action: Andy to clarify the role
====Health and Safety Officer====
It was agreed to appoint Ollie Clark as Health and Safety Officer.
Proposed by: Self.

Votes: 8 For, Abstain 1

Action: Ollie to define role

====Media Director====
It was agreed to appoint Cat Fletcher as Media Director.

Proposed by: Jacky Barrett.

Votes: 8 For, 1 Abstain.

Action: Cat to define role
====Chief Technology Officer====
It was agreed to appoint Edward Hibbert as Chief Technology Officer.

Proposed by: Ollie Clark.

Votes: 8 For, 1 Abstain.

Action: Edward to define role

====Volunteer Welfare Director====
It was agreed to appoint Tina Willcox.

Proposed by: Self.

Votes: 8 For, 1 Abstain.

Action: Tina to define role
===Bank Account===
Covered in Item 2.
===HMRC Application===
Covered in item 2.
===Date of First AGM===
It was tentatively decided to hold the first AGM between 13-17 April 2015. The Finance Director will advise if this will be enough time for the financial paperwork to be prepared.

Action: John
===Disapply the Requirement for an Auditor===
The Board is uncertain of the procedure for this.
The Finance Director will look into this and advise.

Action: John
===Adopt Policies and Procedures===
It was agreed to handle this in between the meetings via polls on the documents, and bring any contentious items or formal approval back to the next meeting.

Proposed by: Edward Hibbert

Votes: 9 For.

Action: Jacky take the lead in getting these documents to final draft to present to the group and then running the polls.
===Risk Register===
Edward has some experience in this area so he will prepare a draft of this for discussion on the group. Thereafter review of it becomes a standing agenda item.

Action: Edward
===Any Other Business===
A vote of thanks was proposed to:

Chris Cant for the enormous amount of work he did on getting the IPS proposal together as well as Ged Devlin, Brian Titley, Neil Morris for all their help in making it happen. Thanks also to Saira Horner (now Mortimer) and Richard Jenkin for being founder members and carrying out the necessary work.

Proposed by: Edward Hibbert.

Votes: 9 For.

Action: Jacky to write letters
===Next Meeting===
Wednesday 27 August 2014.
Meetings will usually be the last Wednesday of the month.

Action: Alison to set reminders for meetings.

The meeting closed at 21.05.

[[Category:Freegle Board Minutes 2014]]

Freegle Board Minutes November 2018

2026-04-15T15:42:01Z

Neville Reid: remove links to deleted index pages for other years

The minutes of the Board meeting held on 29 November 2018 can be found at:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11a7HXeeF3AHm7e0OI5o5leSTYW2RXXnKlbBnu8F_gpk/edit

Links:

*October 2018 minutes - [[Freegle Board Minutes October 2018]]
*2018 links for all minutes - [[Freegle Board Meetings and Minutes 2018]]

[[Category: Freegle Board Minutes 2018]]

Freegle Board Minutes 29 July

2026-04-15T15:39:53Z

Neville Reid: /* CONSENT AGENDA */ remove link to deleted index page

Meeting of Directors of Freegle Limited held on
29 July 2015 at 7.15 by Skype Chat
==DIRECTORS PRESENT==
Alison Redway, Cat Fletcher, Edward Hibbert, Jacky Barrett, Ollie Clark, Andy Ludlow and Tina Willcox
==APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE==
John Carroll

Chairman: Edward Hibbert

==DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST==
Edward has a number of relevant interests;
Director of Recycling Lives
A financial interest in Careicon, a charitable fundraising venture from which Freegle benefits. He will not receive any financial benefit from Careicon for donations made via this route to Freegle.

Trustee of Volunteer Centre Edinburgh.

(New) Trustee of the Congenital Anaemia Network.

This section should be moved into a separate document with additions for other Board members. Action on Edward.
==RISK REGISTER==
No real change.

https://docs.google.com/a/ehibbert.org.uk/spreadsheets/d/1RQ3Uzgt7Lf_RTRRH8vdySOYXzqnHI-JxG1SVBeykctI/edit#gid=0 .

Highest risks are loss of individuals, vulnerability of technical infrastructure, and inconsistency of service.
==MATTERS ARISING==
Cat - Can Nimber provide a free reward for moderators to encourage uptake?
Yes
Cat to follow up about rewards, partnership and enewsletter on phonecall with Nimber
==REPORTS==
===Fundraising===
Careicon

Funds from this source will wind down for a bit as we’re not promoting it as the donation mechanism from FD.
As notified, Edward has conflicts of interest here. There may from time to time be funds available on Careicon which can be claimed by Freegle, but it would not be in Careicon’s interest for all of them to be claimed by Freegle. Edward therefore may not alert Freegle to available funds.

Discussed opportunity to raise donations via Sainsbury’s Card.
Agreed on step by step plan.

Suggested that we need fundraising guidelines. To be raised on Development group
===Finance===
'''Financial Update for Freegle IPS Board'''

Reserves : Jane has agreed that £1k is reasonable to keep as a planned reserve in the accounts, this will allow payment of essential expenses for a year. Propose the Board accepts that recommendation. (Jacky added this item, Finance Procedures requires Board to consider this annually)

Agreed to hold £1k of reserves as per Jane’s recommendation (Treasurer for Freegle UK)
===Board Secretary===
Cat took notes for these minutes
===Company Secretary===
We have 108 members and 11 pending (reminders sent). Andy following up. No new applications since 29th May 2015.
We discussed whether we could provide a free reward for members to encourage uptake. It may be possible to do something with Nimber. Action on Cat.
===Chef Technology Officer===
Continuation of the DMARC issues and yahoo mail unreliability.
Edward trying to negotiate better hosting options via Bytemark.
Agreed to write nice article to thank Bytemark (they provide over £1k per month of hosting for free)
===Media===
Cat talking with Nimber Also looking into digital apprenticeships, needs to organise meeting with Friday Ad, needs to do media report for Central. No time to do any more social media. Discussed potential patrons, needs to hand over Freegle business cards to Sally (Bexley) with guidelines and procedures.
Edward- We could automatically offer business cards to people who post community events. Requires some geek work.
===Volunteer Support===
===Health and Safety===
Nothing to report.
==POLICY==
Development group are voting at present on suggested wording for tendering procedures. Fundraising was mentioned in those discussions; if the Board wishes there to be any guidelines for national fundraising, it could be added to the task list for Development?

Agreed review of election procedures needed – it has been added to the Development task list.

The review of the wiki to ensure compliance with Freegle Ltd has been completed.
==ANY OTHER BUSINESS==
Discussed how to sort out AGM and external board members.
==DATE OF NEXT MEETING==
Wednesday 26 August at 7.15pm.
==CONSENT AGENDA==
We agreed by unanimous vote on the group:
Minutes of previous meeting (24th June)

[[Category:Freegle Board Minutes 2015]]

Finance Report 2019

2026-04-15T15:37:16Z

Neville Reid: replace internal with external link

FINANCE REPORT

Our financial year ends on 5th April, so this report is split between last financial year (which is now complete) and this financial year (which is about halfway through).

'''Review of the year ending 5th April 2019'''

We had a total income of £59,688* (2018: £40,439), of which £39,779 (2018: £37,731) was from individual donations. This included £7,200 (2018: £6,400) from our very generous anonymous sponsor. Our income from advertising increased significantly to £19,096* (2018: £947). The remaining income included £612 (2018: £761) from Give As You Live and £201 (2018: nil) from the sale of re-useable cups.

Our expenditure was £61,242 (2018: £42,366). IT costs were £33,144 (2018: £22,128) - the increase is due to £11,105 paid to a commercial third party for email optimisation tools. We spent £19,742 (2018: £18,243) on media and local events, £4,993 (2018: nil) on work with local councils to promote Freegle, £1,170 (2018: £200) on fundraising, £655 (2018: £610) on the Cumbria Waste Prevention project, £412 (2018: £392) on public liability insurance, and £1,126 (2018: £164) on administration. The increase in spend on administration was mainly due to paying the Independent Reporting Accountant's fees for 2017 and 2018 within the 2019 financial year.

This resulted in a deficit for the year of £1,554* (2018: £1,927 deficit), and we had a surplus brought forward from last year of £28,110 (2018: £30,037) so are left with reserves of £26,556* (2018: £28,110), of which £1,239 (2018: £1,894) are restricted for specific costs, and £25,317 (a) (2018: £26,216) are unrestricted.

(a)These figures are net of a £4,480 liability for 19% Corporation Tax on income from Advertising. The published accounts for the year ending 5th April 2019 are prepared on a cash basis i.e. do not take into account any monies owing, so the figures in the published accounts will be better by £4,480.

'''Review of the year ending 5th April 2020'''

This financial year, for the six months to 5th October 2019, we have had income of £31,345. This includes £4,965 of advertising revenue, £20,035 via Paypal/Paypal Giving Fund and £3,600 from our anonymous sponsor.

Expenditure for the same period was £25,680, mainly £13,760 on platform maintenance, development and other IT costs and £9,575 on national media work (incl expenses).

This means we have generated a surplus of £5,665 and now have reserves of £32,220.

'''ACCOUNTS'''

The accounts for year ending 5th April 2019 and for the 6 months to 5th October 2019 are here: https://www.freegle.it/accounts

'''AUDIT'''

Request from the Board of Freegle:

The Board would like the AGM to approve the disapplication for a full audit for the Freegle Ltd accounts 2018/19 and and instead accept Independent Examination from a qualified accountant. This would be in line with procedure used previously.
The reason we are asking for disapplication of audit is due to the level of expense for an external auditor and time required from the volunteer Treasurer required for a full audit.

Under the laws governing Industrial and Provident Societies you must have a full audit if you are a charitable society type IPS and have a turnover of over £250,000 or assets in excess of £2,800,000. As we don't get anywhere close to these figures the expense and time for a full audit seems excessive when our transparency is confirmed by a qualified accountant through Independent Examination.

More information can be found in plain English from the Co-op here:
An Audit Tale | Co-operatives UK http://www.uk.coop/blog/lindabarlow/2013-04-29/audit-tale
...and in the legal explanatory note here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/14/section/84

The Directors declare that they have approved the report above. Signed on behalf of the Directors of Freegle Ltd:

Edward Hibbert 
Chairman 
29/10/2019 

'''Links:''' 
[[AGM 2019]] 
[[AGM 2019 Agenda]]

[[category:AGM 2019]]

Named Role Holder Ending Term of Office Procedure

2026-04-15T15:34:57Z

Neville Reid: /* PROCEDURE */ remove red link to old version, as it has been deleted

Adopted by the Board on 25th March 2015.

'''A person appointed by the Board to a named Role will cease to hold that role if:'''
* They cease to be a Freegle Volunteer (1); or
* They resign their office to the Board (2); or
* They are absent without agreement for communication for a period of 4 weeks and the Board decides that their office is vacated (3); or
* There is a breach of their agreed Role Remit (4).

====PROCEDURE====
(Each step in the sections to be taken in order)

*1. '''Ceases to be a Freegle Volunteer'''
**a. A role holder ceases to be eligible to be a role holder if they are no longer a current owner, moderator or volunteer of a Freegle affiliated local group or are a national volunteer.
**b. If the role holder does not voluntarily resign from their role, the Board will hold an internal vote to remove the role holder without prejudice.(7)
**c. The removal will be notified to Central.
**d. The role holder can remain as a member of centrally run groups in accordance with our rules that apply to all ex-Freegle Volunteers.

*2. '''Resignation'''
**a. The role holder should tender their resignation by email to the Board only in the first instance.
**b. A maximum of a week will be allowed for the role holder to reconsider their resignation. If the request is withdrawn the Board will vote whether to accept the withdrawal. If the withdrawal is accepted by the Board, the role holder will continue in post.
**c. When the resignation is accepted the role holder will be asked to inform Central of their resignation and they will no longer be entitled to be party to the designated mailbox or any closed support/discussion groups related specifically to the role. If the role holder chooses not to inform Central themselves within 3 days, the Board will inform Central of the resignation.
**d. The role holder can remain on centrally run groups whilst they are still a Freegle Volunteer.

*3. '''Absent'''
**a. If a role holder does not post on a central discussion or closed support group for more than 14 days without notice or otherwise make contact when there is ongoing active discussion relating to the remits of the role the Board will try to establish contact by email, telephone or by checking with co-group owners and/or moderators on their home or neighbouring Freegle groups.
**b. If there is no contact without prior arrangement or notification for more than 4 consecutive weeks when there is ongoing active discussion relating to the remits of the role the Board can vote for:
*** Improvement request (5)
*** Mediation (6)
*** Removal (7)
**c. The role holder can remain on centrally run groups whilst they are still a Freegle Volunteer.

*4. '''Breach of Role Remit'''
**a. The Board can vote for:
***Improvement request (5)
***Mediation (6)
***A vote of no confidence, leading to removal (7)
**b. If a vote of no-confidence is upheld the role holder must be offered the opportunity to resign on Central and given a week to consider this request. If a resignation is subsequently withdrawn, clause 4(c) will apply as if the resignation had not been tendered.
**c. The removal will be notified to Central.
**d. The role holder can remain on centrally run groups whilst they are still a Freegle Volunteer.

*5. '''Improvement Request'''
**a. The purpose of a request is to seek to find ways to improve ways of working.
**b. The request will be be issued to a role holder with agreement of the Board.
**c. The request will be issued by email, accompanied by suggestions for development and opportunities for discussing the issue that is proving difficult.
**d. The request will be logged and kept confidential within the Board
**e. If a role holder is removed, dates and brief details of improvement requests, if relevant to the reason for removal, will be supplied to any relevant complaint.

*6. '''Mediation'''
*In any dispute, any role holder may request that the complaints procedure be used where appropriate.

*7. '''Removal'''
*If a role holder is removed under the terms of this procedure, they are entitled to appeal the decision within 7 days of notification of removal. The removed role holder should lodge this with the Acting Ombudsman who will review this in line with the Complaints Procedure.

'''Links:'''
*[[Named Roles]]
*[[Glossary]]
*[[Document Approval Policy]]

[[category:Policies, Procedures, Remits]]

Freegle Affiliated Group Area Guidelines

2026-04-15T15:29:46Z

Neville Reid: /* Links */ update link after old page move

These guidelines are used in order to implement Freegle policy and were adopted by the Board at their meeting of 30th October 2014.

====Core Area====
NGT defines a core area for a community when they are considering approval. Communities will not be approved in the future within that area. The core area is determined in agreement with the community by NGT.

====Catchment Area====
Operating in a geographic area that is agreed with Freegle is a highly recommended requirement (not mandatory). NGT comply with this by allowing individual community owners to decide their own catchment areas. The catchment area is the geographic area within which a group accepts posts and members.
The catchment area is the area a community subsequently may serve if it chooses, although recommended good practice is that this wider area should be in consultation with neighbouring Freegle communities.

====Community Names====
New commmunity names must be approved by NGT. Freegle Affiliated Group Name and Logo Guidelines outlines agreed protocols.

====Community Size====
20,000 - 30,000 is believed to be the ideal population size for a community to be as small and local as possible and still viable. It is based on a lot of previous experience and informal study of community growth. This ideal is not always practical however and we do our best to be practical, take local situations and views into account and approve communities which will grow and serve their local area.

====Principles====
It is recognised that the population and demographics of the UK are extremely diverse and that a strict population criteria or one which is rigidly linked to local government administrative boundaries is not practical.

Standard Freegle community CORE areas should not overlap, specialist ones might overlap standard ones.

Experience from Freecycle and Freegle indicates that successful communities can usually serve areas with populations of between 20,000 and 100,000, depending on density but there are many examples of communities successfully serving smaller or larger populations.
Given two or more viable options it is generally better to go with the smaller option and leave space for more communities later.
Non-Metropolitan areas tend to serve a particular town together with satellite villages, or just the town if it is large.
Large Metropolitan areas and Cities are usually served by communities aligned with metropolitan boroughs within the city.
Communities in rural areas tend to serve part of a county including named villages, but not normally bigger than a single county district.
Sometimes a community will make more sense to cover parts of two or more districts due to geographical or social divisions but this should still stay within guidelines and suitable council boundaries.
Communities thrive where there is a mix of demographics leading to an equilibrium of supply and demand for items.

====Approval Conditions====
1. Community areas will be approved if:

*They serve a population of between 20,000 and 100,000 and there is no overlap with an existing Freegle community area; and

Either:

*There is a clear town or population centre as a centre of gravity for the community or:
*It is a rural area within a county district or natural geographic boundary or:
*It is an area covered by a metropolitan borough council

2. Community areas serving populations of less than 20,000 will be considered and can be approved if the following apply:

The area is rural and to include additional population would lead to impractical travelling times between members (including islands)and/or there is a strong sense of community within the area proposed.

3. Community areas serving populations of greater than 100,000 will be considered and can be approved if the following apply:

*It is a single settlement with a strong identity; and/or
*The population is dense and the distances between members are small; and/or to split the area would be jeopardise the success of the community for demographic reasons.

NGT will normally bring issues surrounding the implementation of the above guidelines to the Development Working Group for discussion. In a small number of cases where the NGT have major doubts about approving an application and cannot reach a compromise then they may cite the particular application. The decision whether to bring a case to the Development Working Group will be at the discretion of the NGT. Permission for this will be obtained from the applicant who will not be named. The Development Working Group will try to agree a way forward. The decision on that case then will form a precedent for future similar cases.

====Links====
*[[Glossary]]
*[[Maps]]
*Previous Freegle UK document: Group Affiliation Team Area Guidelines
*[[Document Approval Policy]]
*[[New Groups Team - NGT]]

[[category:Policies, Procedures, Remits]]
[[category:New Groups Team]]

Freegle Ltd Adopted Document Summary

2026-04-15T15:25:07Z

Neville Reid: unlink 2 pages deleted by Jacky years ago

In preparation for the handover of assets from Freegle UK to Freegle Ltd, the Board conducted a review of existing relevant documents and required new ones. The review was completed in April 2015. Below is a summary of that review.

To view the Freegle UK superseded documents, go to [[Archived Documents]] to see where to find them.

{| style="color:black" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border=".3"
|<center>''Freegle UK document''
|''Freegle Ltd document''
|''Notes''
|-
|Abandoned Groups
|[[Abandoned Groups Procedure]]
|Discussed on Structure.
|-
|Aims and Ethos
|[[Freegle Aims]]
|The Objects in the [[Rules]] cover the main part of this; wiki page edited to accommodate Freegle Ltd
|-
|Appeals Panel Procedure
|[[Appeal Panel procedure]]
|Ombudsman consulted.
|-
|Auditor Role and Remit
|[[Finance Role Remits]]
|[[Rules]] 103-7 cover this. Remit now included with other Finance remits.
|-
|Basic Requirements of a Freegle Group
|Group Affiliation Requirements Policy
|All previously polled agreements kept in new policy.
|-
|Co-opting for an Elected Role
|[[Co-option for Elected Roles]]
|Returning Officers consulted.
|-
|Complaints
|[[Complaints Procedure]]
|Ombudsman consulted.
|-
|Constitution
|[[Rules]]
|Agreed with Freegle UK, FCA and Co-op.
|-
|Constitution Footnotes
| none
|Notes to remain on wiki as historical record.
|-
|Disaffiliation
|[[Disaffiliation Procedure]]
|GAT consulted.
|-
|Elected Roles Autopromotion
|[[Director Autopromotion Procedure]]
|Returning Officers consulted.
|-
|Election and Poll Procedures
|[[Election and Poll Procedure]]
|Returning Officers consulted.
|-
|[[Election links]]
|none
|Left this intact as Freegle UK record. New page to be started for Freegle Ltd.
|-
|Equality and Diversity Policy
|[[Freegle Equality and Diversity Policy]]
|No changes required
|-
|Financial Management and Controls
|[[Finance Policy]] [[Finance Procedures]] [[Finance Role Remits]]
|Treasurer consulted. Divided into 3 documents to make clear and enable easier alterations if needed.
|-
|Financial Management and Controls reviews
|none
|Left this intact as Freegle UK record. New page to be started for Freegle Ltd.
|-
|Freegle Central Mods Team
|[[Freegle Central Mods Team Remit]]
|Consulted with Central Mods Team.
|-
|Freegle Direct Membership Lists
|Freegle Direct Information Policy
|Adopted unchanged.
|-
|Freegle Geeks
|[[Geeks Team Remit]]
|Consulted with Geeks Team.
|-
|Freegle Growth
|[[Development Working Group]]
|Closed Growth group, agreed by Group, amalgamated into Development Group.
|-
|Freegle History Policy
|none
|Mothballed policy as not used.
|-
|Freegle Legal
|none
|Closed the group.
|-
|Freegle Local Funding
|[[Freegle Funding Group]]
|Changed emphasis of remit to encompass all funding opportunities. Agreed by group.
|-
|Freegle Media
|[[Development Working Group]]
|Closed Media group, agreed by Group, amalgamated into Development Group.
|-
|Freegle Mobile Team
|none
|Geeks Team agreed to mothball this team.
|-
|Freegle Reps Role and Remit
|[[Board Role and Remit]]
|Changes take into account new [[Rules]].
|-
|Freegle Structure
|[[Development Working Group]]
|Closed Structure group, agreed by Group, amalgamated into Development Group.
|-
|Freegle Tech
|[[Tech Working Group Remit]]
|Discussed on Tech group
|-
|Freegle Tech Team
|none
|Merged into Freegle Geeks Remit
|-
|[[Freegle UK Central Group]]
|[[Freegle UK Central Group]]
|Unchanged.
|-
|Freegle Volunteer
|[[Freegle Volunteer, National Volunteer, Member]]
|Expanded to include Freegle Ltd differences.
|-
|Freegle Working Groups
|[[Working Groups Procedure]]
|Slimmed down procedures to reflect actual practice.
|-
|Group Affiliation Team - Naming New Groups
|[[Freegle Affiliated Group Name and Logo Guidelines]]
|Consulted with GAT.
|-
|Group Affiliation Team Area Guidelines
|[[Freegle Affiliated Group Area Guidelines]]
|Consulted with GAT.
|-
|[[Group Affiliation Team Footnotes]]
|continue document
|Keep ongoing with future changes.
|-
|Group Affiliation Team Freegle Affiliation Policy
|[[Freegle Affiliation Policy]] and Freegle Affiliation Application Procedure]
|GAT consulted. Separated policy from procedures.
|-
|Group Affiliation Team Procedures
|Freegle Affiliation Process Procedures
|GAT consulted.
|-
|Group Affiliation Team Role Remit Membership
|Group Affiliation Team (GAT) Remit
|GAT consulted.
|-
|Group Launch Coordinator
|none
|GAT consulted. Agreed to include information in team remit, rather than keep separate.
|-
|Links and Partnerships Procedure
|[[Partnerships and Website Links Procedure]]
|Board consulted.
|-
|Mailbox Guidelines
|[[Freegle Mailbox Guidelines]]
|Morphed with Mailbox Remit below.
|-
|Mailbox remit
|[[Freegle Mailbox Guidelines]]
|Morphed with Mailbox Guidelines above.
|-
|Mediation Service
|[[Mediation Service Procedures]]
|Discussed with Ombudsman.
|-
|Membership Mod
|none
|Central Mods consulted. Separate remit not required.
|-
|Freegle Group Membership Policy
|[[Central Discussion and Working Group Membership Policy]]
|Central Mods consulted.
|-
|Moderation of National Groups
|Moderation of National Groups Guidelines
|Central Mods consulted.
|-
|[[AGM 2011 Proposal for National Volunteers Procedure]]
|[[National Volunteers Procedure]]
|Board consulted.
|-

|New Group Support
|[[New Group Support Procedures]]
|GAT consulted.
|-
|Ombudsman
|[[Ombudsman Remit]]
|Ombudsman consulted
|-
|ORO Ending Terms of Office Procedure
|[[Named Role Holder Ending Term of Office Procedure]]
|Changed to include any named role appointed by Board.
|-
|ORO Team Roles and Remits
|none
|Ombudsman and Returning Officers consulted. Team disbanded.
|-
|Photos
|Photos and Stories
|Extended to include 2 Curator roles.
|-
|Poll Voting
|[[Poll Voting Protocol Guidelines]]
|Returning Officers consulted.
|-
|Rep Individual Roles
|[[Board Chairman]], [[Company Secretary]], [[Finance Role Remits|Finance Director]], [[Chief Technology Officer]] [[Head of Media]], [[Head of Volunteers]], Health and Safety Officer
|New remits for various Director roles. Health and Safety Officer role dropped Jan 2022.
|-
|Reps Ending Term of Office Procedure
|[[Directors Ending Term of Office Procedure]]
|Consulted with Board.
|-
|Returning Officer
|[[Returning Officer Remit]]
|Returning Officers consulted.
|-
|Running Polls and Elections
|[[Poll and Election Guidelines]]
|Returning Officers consulted.
|-
|Unused and Redundant National Groups
|[[Unused and Redundant National Groups Procedure]]
|Board consulted.
|-
|Website Editing Procedure
|Freegle Website Editing Procedure
|Geeks consulted.
|-
|10% Poll Procedure
|[[10% Polling Guidelines]]
|Covered by [[Rules]] 25 and 26.
|-
|no existing document
|[[Director Role Description]]
|Remit for Director agreed by TSW Team and Reps.
|-
|no existing document
|[[Document Approval Policy]]
|New document to clarify where authority lies for adopting Rules, Policies etc.
|-
|no existing document
|[[Register of Members and Directors]]
|New page on wiki to explain how the registers are generated and kept.
|-
|no existing document
|Freegle Membership Application Form [http://freegle.it/JoinFreegleLtd]
|New document for membership of Freegle Ltd
|-
|no existing document
|[[Contract for Services]]
|Board consulted with legal adviser.
|-
|no existing document
|[[Paying People in Freegle Guidelines]]
|Discussed and recommended for adoption by Structure Group
|-
|no existing document
|[[Glossary]]
|Single link for new documents, instead of lengthy definitions on each one.
|-
|no existing document
|[[Freegle Ltd Membership]]
|Explanation of being a member of IPS/Freegle Ltd
|-
|no existing document
|[[Board Observer Guidelines]]
|Board consulted
|-
|no existing document
|[[Conflicts of Interest Procedure]]
|Board consulted
|-
|no existing document
|[[Development Working Group]]
|Agreed with Structure, Growth and Media Working Groups
|-
|no existing document
|[[Social Media Guidelines]]
|New document to tidy up guidelines for all national interactions with public.
|-
|Wiki
|
|All pages will be systematically checked after all documents above are implemented and Freegle UK mothballed, to ensure the whole wiki is compliant with new Freegle Ltd structure.

[[category:AGM 2015]] [[category:Policies, Procedures, Remits]]

Freegle Ltd Adopted Document Summary

2026-04-15T15:24:20Z

Neville Reid: Reverted edit by Neville Reid (talk) to last revision by Jacky

In preparation for the handover of assets from Freegle UK to Freegle Ltd, the Board conducted a review of existing relevant documents and required new ones. The review was completed in April 2015. Below is a summary of that review.

To view the Freegle UK superseded documents, go to [[Archived Documents]] to see where to find them.

{| style="color:black" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border=".3"
|<center>''Freegle UK document''
|''Freegle Ltd document''
|''Notes''
|-
|Abandoned Groups
|[[Abandoned Groups Procedure]]
|Discussed on Structure.
|-
|Aims and Ethos
|[[Freegle Aims]]
|The Objects in the [[Rules]] cover the main part of this; wiki page edited to accommodate Freegle Ltd
|-
|Appeals Panel Procedure
|[[Appeal Panel procedure]]
|Ombudsman consulted.
|-
|Auditor Role and Remit
|[[Finance Role Remits]]
|[[Rules]] 103-7 cover this. Remit now included with other Finance remits.
|-
|Basic Requirements of a Freegle Group
|Group Affiliation Requirements Policy
|All previously polled agreements kept in new policy.
|-
|Co-opting for an Elected Role
|[[Co-option for Elected Roles]]
|Returning Officers consulted.
|-
|Complaints
|[[Complaints Procedure]]
|Ombudsman consulted.
|-
|Constitution
|[[Rules]]
|Agreed with Freegle UK, FCA and Co-op.
|-
|Constitution Footnotes
| none
|Notes to remain on wiki as historical record.
|-
|Disaffiliation
|[[Disaffiliation Procedure]]
|GAT consulted.
|-
|Elected Roles Autopromotion
|[[Director Autopromotion Procedure]]
|Returning Officers consulted.
|-
|Election and Poll Procedures
|[[Election and Poll Procedure]]
|Returning Officers consulted.
|-
|[[Election links]]
|none
|Left this intact as Freegle UK record. New page to be started for Freegle Ltd.
|-
|Equality and Diversity Policy
|[[Freegle Equality and Diversity Policy]]
|No changes required
|-
|Financial Management and Controls
|[[Finance Policy]] [[Finance Procedures]] [[Finance Role Remits]]
|Treasurer consulted. Divided into 3 documents to make clear and enable easier alterations if needed.
|-
|Financial Management and Controls reviews
|none
|Left this intact as Freegle UK record. New page to be started for Freegle Ltd.
|-
|Freegle Central Mods Team
|[[Freegle Central Mods Team Remit]]
|Consulted with Central Mods Team.
|-
|Freegle Direct Membership Lists
|Freegle Direct Information Policy
|Adopted unchanged.
|-
|Freegle Geeks
|[[Geeks Team Remit]]
|Consulted with Geeks Team.
|-
|Freegle Growth
|[[Development Working Group]]
|Closed Growth group, agreed by Group, amalgamated into Development Group.
|-
|Freegle History Policy
|none
|Mothballed policy as not used.
|-
|Freegle Legal
|none
|Closed the group.
|-
|Freegle Local Funding
|[[Freegle Funding Group]]
|Changed emphasis of remit to encompass all funding opportunities. Agreed by group.
|-
|Freegle Media
|[[Development Working Group]]
|Closed Media group, agreed by Group, amalgamated into Development Group.
|-
|Freegle Mobile Team
|none
|Geeks Team agreed to mothball this team.
|-
|Freegle Reps Role and Remit
|[[Board Role and Remit]]
|Changes take into account new [[Rules]].
|-
|Freegle Structure
|[[Development Working Group]]
|Closed Structure group, agreed by Group, amalgamated into Development Group.
|-
|Freegle Tech
|[[Tech Working Group Remit]]
|Discussed on Tech group
|-
|Freegle Tech Team
|none
|Merged into Freegle Geeks Remit
|-
|[[Freegle UK Central Group]]
|[[Freegle UK Central Group]]
|Unchanged.
|-
|Freegle Volunteer
|[[Freegle Volunteer, National Volunteer, Member]]
|Expanded to include Freegle Ltd differences.
|-
|Freegle Working Groups
|[[Working Groups Procedure]]
|Slimmed down procedures to reflect actual practice.
|-
|Group Affiliation Team - Naming New Groups
|[[Freegle Affiliated Group Name and Logo Guidelines]]
|Consulted with GAT.
|-
|Group Affiliation Team Area Guidelines
|[[Freegle Affiliated Group Area Guidelines]]
|Consulted with GAT.
|-
|[[Group Affiliation Team Footnotes]]
|continue document
|Keep ongoing with future changes.
|-
|Group Affiliation Team Freegle Affiliation Policy
|[[Freegle Affiliation Policy]] and Freegle Affiliation Application Procedure]
|GAT consulted. Separated policy from procedures.
|-
|Group Affiliation Team Procedures
|Freegle Affiliation Process Procedures
|GAT consulted.
|-
|Group Affiliation Team Role Remit Membership
|Group Affiliation Team (GAT) Remit
|GAT consulted.
|-
|Group Launch Coordinator
|none
|GAT consulted. Agreed to include information in team remit, rather than keep separate.
|-
|Links and Partnerships Procedure
|[[Partnerships and Website Links Procedure]]
|Board consulted.
|-
|Mailbox Guidelines
|[[Freegle Mailbox Guidelines]]
|Morphed with Mailbox Remit below.
|-
|Mailbox remit
|[[Freegle Mailbox Guidelines]]
|Morphed with Mailbox Guidelines above.
|-
|Mediation Service
|[[Mediation Service Procedures]]
|Discussed with Ombudsman.
|-
|Membership Mod
|none
|Central Mods consulted. Separate remit not required.
|-
|Freegle Group Membership Policy
|[[Central Discussion and Working Group Membership Policy]]
|Central Mods consulted.
|-
|Moderation of National Groups
|[[Moderation of National Groups Guidelines]]
|Central Mods consulted.
|-
|[[AGM 2011 Proposal for National Volunteers Procedure]]
|[[National Volunteers Procedure]]
|Board consulted.
|-

|New Group Support
|[[New Group Support Procedures]]
|GAT consulted.
|-
|Ombudsman
|[[Ombudsman Remit]]
|Ombudsman consulted
|-
|ORO Ending Terms of Office Procedure
|[[Named Role Holder Ending Term of Office Procedure]]
|Changed to include any named role appointed by Board.
|-
|ORO Team Roles and Remits
|none
|Ombudsman and Returning Officers consulted. Team disbanded.
|-
|Photos
|Photos and Stories
|Extended to include 2 Curator roles.
|-
|Poll Voting
|[[Poll Voting Protocol Guidelines]]
|Returning Officers consulted.
|-
|Rep Individual Roles
|[[Board Chairman]], [[Company Secretary]], [[Finance Role Remits|Finance Director]], [[Chief Technology Officer]] [[Head of Media]], [[Head of Volunteers]], Health and Safety Officer
|New remits for various Director roles. Health and Safety Officer role dropped Jan 2022.
|-
|Reps Ending Term of Office Procedure
|[[Directors Ending Term of Office Procedure]]
|Consulted with Board.
|-
|Returning Officer
|[[Returning Officer Remit]]
|Returning Officers consulted.
|-
|Running Polls and Elections
|[[Poll and Election Guidelines]]
|Returning Officers consulted.
|-
|Unused and Redundant National Groups
|[[Unused and Redundant National Groups Procedure]]
|Board consulted.
|-
|Website Editing Procedure
|[[Freegle Website Editing Procedure]]
|Geeks consulted.
|-
|10% Poll Procedure
|[[10% Polling Guidelines]]
|Covered by [[Rules]] 25 and 26.
|-
|no existing document
|[[Director Role Description]]
|Remit for Director agreed by TSW Team and Reps.
|-
|no existing document
|[[Document Approval Policy]]
|New document to clarify where authority lies for adopting Rules, Policies etc.
|-
|no existing document
|[[Register of Members and Directors]]
|New page on wiki to explain how the registers are generated and kept.
|-
|no existing document
|Freegle Membership Application Form [http://freegle.it/JoinFreegleLtd]
|New document for membership of Freegle Ltd
|-
|no existing document
|[[Contract for Services]]
|Board consulted with legal adviser.
|-
|no existing document
|[[Paying People in Freegle Guidelines]]
|Discussed and recommended for adoption by Structure Group
|-
|no existing document
|[[Glossary]]
|Single link for new documents, instead of lengthy definitions on each one.
|-
|no existing document
|[[Freegle Ltd Membership]]
|Explanation of being a member of IPS/Freegle Ltd
|-
|no existing document
|[[Board Observer Guidelines]]
|Board consulted
|-
|no existing document
|[[Conflicts of Interest Procedure]]
|Board consulted
|-
|no existing document
|[[Development Working Group]]
|Agreed with Structure, Growth and Media Working Groups
|-
|no existing document
|[[Social Media Guidelines]]
|New document to tidy up guidelines for all national interactions with public.
|-
|Wiki
|
|All pages will be systematically checked after all documents above are implemented and Freegle UK mothballed, to ensure the whole wiki is compliant with new Freegle Ltd structure.

[[category:AGM 2015]] [[category:Policies, Procedures, Remits]]

Freegle Ltd Adopted Document Summary

2026-04-15T15:23:26Z

Neville Reid: unlink 2 pages deleted by Jacky last year

Promoting my new group

2026-04-15T15:18:29Z

Neville Reid: /* How to start publicising your group */ update link after move

=== How to start publicising your group ===

*Starting up a group is exciting and challenging. Why not consider sharing the journey and load by finding others to take on some of the work? A team that includes [[Group Promotion Volunteers|promotion volunteers]] could be worth considering.

*Contact any Freegle group who may have members from your area on it and ask them to put an [[Sample Admin: New local Freegle Community opened|Admin]] out to say you have opened a new group. Find your nearest groups by looking at the Freegle website [http://ilovefreegle.org/groups]

*Email any local papers and inform them. [[Sample Press Release]]

*[[Contacting Councils]] is a good idea. Email your council (Recycling Officer if you have one) and ask if they would be willing to help too. Some councils now publish booklets of recycling agencies and will include us.

*Inform any Community groups. Sometimes on their websites there is a link you can contact.

=== Next steps in raising your group's profile ===

*Print some A4 posters - see [[Posters, fliers, cards]] - and ask local libraries, schools and community centres if they would put them up.

*Print some bookmarks (get thicker paper 160gsm or card) if your library will allow you to leave them for people to collect.

*[[Business Cards]] are useful. [[Vistaprint|Vistaprint]] can be cheap if you are canny and get the free offers. 250 business cards etc. You have to pay postage and maybe a fee about £2 to upload the logo.

*It has been found that if you do have hand outs it is better to have them in doctors surgeries, take aways etc, where people will only pick them up if interested, or just some in your pocket to hand out to any interested parties. Estate agents are a good idea - they are often asked how to get rid of unwanted items in properties. Mail drops are costly and not very effective.

*Some schools may allow you to go in and talk about Freegle/recycling.

*If you know any teachers they may put up posters on the school notice board.

*If you live on a busy road consider having a banner of some sort

=== Find a source of items ===

People will use your group if they see that it's being used. So try to find items to freegle:

*Your own. It's a start, though there's obviously a limit to what you can do.
*People you know personally - freegle stuff on their behalf, and then use that to get them to join.
*Your workplace - freegle stuff from it rather than have them put it in a skip.
*See if any local shops (charity or otherwise) will give you left over items you can freegle.
**For example, B&Q have a system for community groups to receive 'waste' (stuff they discard) from B&Q - you just need to pop into your local B&Q register with their 'waste to donate' scheme (simple form) and then once approved (they check out that you are indeed a community group/charity) you can have access to a plethora of goods and materials. The arrangements are run differently in each store so best to make friends with whoever you speak to at B&Q so they contact you when something good is available or let you have a rummage through the skips when you pop in. See [http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/corporate/content/environment_ethics/ethics/community/waste_donation.jsp here].

=== Ongoing publicity work for your group ===

Have a look at the [[Promotion]] section of this wiki. It has lots of ideas and resources on PR materials, how to go about contacting your Council, getting press coverage etc.

And don't forget online social media - promoting your group online is the fastest, cheapest and often most effective promotion!
See [[Social Media Accounts]] for a list of national social media.

Back to [[Publicity]] [[Image:Megaphone-man.png|20px]]

[[Category:Promoting]]

Counterfeit, Fake or Imitation items

2026-03-27T23:19:57Z

Neville Reid: advice on Discourse, https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/what-do-you-think/9519/13

The simplest statement about this is probably this: https://www.getsafeonline.org/personal/articles/counterfeit-goods . The page states ''The manufacture and sales of counterfeit goods is illegal. Buying counterfeit goods, however, is not illegal, even if you do so knowingly. However, there are many reasons why you should not do so.''

Based on this, it is clear that it isn't illegal for someone to offer an imitation product, so it's OK to Freegle. It would be illegal, however, to offer a Rolex watch, for example, as a genuine article when it is a fake.

If anyone can find a legal, rather than moral, reason not to allow these items, please post the link on Central.

The article linked above goes on to list reasons not to buy or use counterfeits. These include dangers of shock or fire from electrical items, or toxic chemicals in fake cosmetics. The producers & sellers are often linked to organised crime.

Some local volunteers would recommend the member to ask for a refund and report the fake to Trading Standards.

In March 2026 Freegle's Chair posted further advice at https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/what-do-you-think/9519/13

==Fake banknotes==
The Bank of England advises that it is illegal to pass on fake or counterfeit banknotes.[https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/using-images-of-banknotes] Instead, they should be handed in to the police, who should fill out an NCO-1 form and provide you with a receipt and incident number. See https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/counterfeit-banknotes

Toy money which is obviously smaller than the real thing is OK.

Link: [[Specific Items]]

[[category:Specific Items]]

Member Chat

2026-03-24T12:16:54Z

Neville Reid: /* Chat Review in Modtools */ allow "out of office" replies – see https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/out-of-office-replies/9508/2

Members use Chat to communicate with each other about a post/transaction.

==Chat Review in Modtools==
:''See also: [[Spammers#Chat Review]]''

Volunteers will see a Chat Review if our system has picked up on one of the ‘worry words’ we have stored, such as a reference to money, swearing, a phone number or email address.

You will see chat messages in Modtools for review if the recipient is a member of one of your communities. You might see some where the conversation is about a post on another community, because it’s not possible for the system to tell reliably whether a message relates to a specific post, multiple posts, or no post at all. It’s fine to act on the message if you see it but unless it looks urgent it is better to leave it for the volunteers on the group that the item was posted on.

It's not our role to interfere with the flow of the member’s chat but if we happen to find violations of our rules, then we are allowed to act on them. It is equally important to deal with any messages in Chat Review as quickly as possible to ensure there aren't missed pick ups etc.

You can use the ‘Add Moderator message’ to make members aware their chat has been reviewed and to let them know if they have broken a rule, such as offering an item for sale in response to a Wanted on the board. This message goes to both sides of the chat so please word it accordingly. Please sign the message and indicate which community has inserted the message.

Sometimes it may be hard to see why messages were flagged for review; see [https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/false-positives-of-spam-in-chats/7793 discussion of false positives in Chat] on Discourse (August 2024).

The option to "remove highlighted emails" will remove email addresses; they should appear colour-coded, so you can see which ones it will remove. Use this e.g. for email signatures where they are clearly not trying to send an email, it’s just ended up in there.

Some web links and incomplete links are removed. This is intended to help protect against spam.

Volunteers on the local group can "approve and whitelist" to allow future messages in the next few days to go through without review. We usually let "out of office" replies through, as it is useful to let members know when email is not being monitored.

'''Quicker Chat Review''' – a blue notification indicates chat reviews for other communities. Chat messages between members may get sent for review to check they're ok. They will always show for you if the recipient is a member of your group, but some local volunteers choose that they are also shown to other Freegle volunteers who have chosen this setting. If the chats are definitely innocent, remote volunteers can quickly approve them. Otherwise, if they should be rejected or are debatable, leave them for volunteers on the local community, as only they can take other actions. See https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/messages-delayed-in-chat-review/4633/82 for details.

If a held chat is not reviewed after 48 hours, an email alert will be sent to the volunteers on any group that either of the members are on. An alert is also sent to the Mentors.

==List of types of chat messages==
These are the types of chat message and when they’re generated.

*“Default” - the normal ones you type.
*“ModMail” - messages sent by mods to members.
*“System” - not used
*“Interested” - when you reply to a post, including the text you typed
*“Promised” - when you click the [[Promise button]] to promise to someone
*“Reneged” - when you click the Unpromise button.
*“ReportedUser” - sent to mods when you’ve reported a chat
*“Completed” - when you mark a post as TAKEN/RECEIVED (the one you mention below).
*“Image” - when you send a photo.
*“Address” - when you use the address book to send an address
*“Nudge” - when you click the Nudge button.
*“Schedule” and “ScheduleUpdated”- when you set/update your availability.

==Status of chats==

All chats are sent out via email and all emails are recorded in chat.
The icons are:
*Grey tick means we’ve sent it to the server.
*Envelope means we’ve sent it out by email, but we don’t know whether it’s been read.
*Green tick means it has been read on the site or (sometimes) by email.

It is possible to find out whether emails that have been read, which we try to do. But it’s not guaranteed, and so it’s perfectly possible for the mail to have been read but us not know. So we only know sometimes.

These explanations are available if you mouse over/click on the icon, though few people on mobile would do that.

==Deleting chats==

From 18.8.23 a new feature that offers a button to delete a chat is available for members. If clicked, a pop up appears which asks "Are you sure? We will delete this from our system so you will no longer see it here. The other freegler may have received the message by email - we can't delete that. Are you sure you want to delete the message?" Cancel or Confirm buttons are shown. If Confirm is clicked, they'll see a message to confirm it’s been deleted (or an error). The contents of the chat message are replied with “(Message deleted)”.

The announcement of this new feature is here - https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/deleting-chat-messages/6554

==Hiding chats==

There is a small downwards chevron on the top right of each chat. Click on that and the option to hide the chat from view is offered.

Members can't delete a chat, but they can hide it from their list. The reason for not offering deletion is that it could be misleading. Although the chat would not be on our system, the chats would still have been sent out by email and we can't delete those. Also, every time we add the ability to delete something, people then contact us asking how they recover something that they deleted, even if (as with unsubscribe) we make it clear that they can’t undo it.
For example, people think they don’t want a chat now, and want to delete it, but then later on change their minds, and want to get it back.
We still want to be able to see chat messages in Support even if the member wants to delete them.

The system also hides any chat not active in the past 30 days from view. That chat can be accessed by searching for it in chat search box at the top of the chat list.
They don’t disappear if the page just sits there. But they do disappear once you click on a chat - except if you click on one of the older ones to see that, then that specific one stays visible.

Chats remain in the system until:

*The user actively unsubscribes, or
*All of the following are true:
**- were added six months ago
**- are not on any groups
**- have not logged in for six months
**- are not on the spammer list
**- do not have mod notes
**- have no logs for six months

==Block Member==

Chats provide the option for a member to block another member. 
If member A blocks member B then member A can’t see the chat. But member B still can. This means that member B doesn't realise they've been blocked, which reduces the 'why has A blocked me' type of complaint. They just don't get any replies to anything they send.

==Unhiding/unblocking chats==

A new feature was introduced in December 2023, which allows members to get to the hidden/blocked chats, and then unhide/unblock them. If there are unread messages in those chats it will show a count next to the number of such chats, so they can choose to go and view them if they wish to.

Link to Discourse announcement - https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/unhiding-unblocking-chats/6927

==Access to chats==

Volunteers do not have access to these chats, but if a problem arises the Support Team can be asked to have a look to see if they can find any information to resolve it.

The background and reasons for not giving all volunteers access to this is:

It was pointed out by a volunteer that there was a potential issue, since this constitutes interception of communication under the PECR legislation, which covers people reading communications between other people.

Edward therefore contacted the Office of the Interception of Communications Commissioner, who was at that time the regulator of this area (it has now been absorbed into the ICO). Their job was normally to check that the police were doing legal things with warrants - for example they have a tool that spots cut and paste text in interception warrants.

To Edward's surprise, a guy came and sat in his living room to talk to him about it. They discussed the various circumstances under which it was and wasn't legitimate to do this for Freegle, and agreed that it was legitimate that in order to protect the system against spammer and scammer attacks.

If a member reports a conversation then that is also a legit reason. It's best when they use the Report option on chat - which also means we have a record of that consent.

However a more general ability for volunteers to "spy" on the communications between members without their knowledge or consent, and without any specific reason, was much more dubious.

So there are legitimate legal reasons why we need to be careful here. If volunteers can get one of the members to use the Report option then they will be able to see the whole of the chat. If not, then Support can help.

Link: [[ModTools]]

[[category:ModTools]]

File:M-en-sidebar.png

2026-03-11T13:47:00Z

Neville Reid: Neville Reid uploaded a new version of File:M-en-sidebar.png

Screenshot of MediaWiki sidebar
{{GPL}}

Member Chat

2026-03-06T19:38:46Z

Neville Reid: /* List of types of chat messages */ link Promise button

Members use Chat to communicate with each other about a post/transaction.

==Chat Review in Modtools==
:''See also: [[Spammers#Chat Review]]''

Volunteers will see a Chat Review if our system has picked up on one of the ‘worry words’ we have stored, such as a reference to money, swearing, a phone number or email address.

You will see chat messages in Modtools for review if the recipient is a member of one of your communities. You might see some where the conversation is about a post on another community, because it’s not possible for the system to tell reliably whether a message relates to a specific post, multiple posts, or no post at all. It’s fine to act on the message if you see it but unless it looks urgent it is better to leave it for the volunteers on the group that the item was posted on.

It's not our role to interfere with the flow of the member’s chat but if we happen to find violations of our rules, then we are allowed to act on them. It is equally important to deal with any messages in Chat Review as quickly as possible to ensure there aren't missed pick ups etc.

You can use the ‘Add Moderator message’ to make members aware their chat has been reviewed and to let them know if they have broken a rule, such as offering an item for sale in response to a Wanted on the board. This message goes to both sides of the chat so please word it accordingly. Please sign the message and indicate which community has inserted the message.

Sometimes it may be hard to see why messages were flagged for review; see [https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/false-positives-of-spam-in-chats/7793 discussion of false positives in Chat] on Discourse (August 2024).

The option to "remove highlighted emails" will remove email addresses; they should appear colour-coded, so you can see which ones it will remove. Use this e.g. for email signatures where they are clearly not trying to send an email, it’s just ended up in there.

Some web links and incomplete links are removed. This is intended to help protect against spam.

'''Quicker Chat Review''' – a blue notification indicates chat reviews for other communities. Chat messages between members may get sent for review to check they're ok. They will always show for you if the recipient is a member of your group, but some local volunteers choose that they are also shown to other Freegle volunteers who have chosen this setting. If the chats are definitely innocent, remote volunteers can quickly approve them. Otherwise, if they should be rejected or are debatable, leave them for volunteers on the local community, as only they can take other actions. See https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/messages-delayed-in-chat-review/4633/82 for details.

If a held chat is not reviewed after 48 hours, an email alert will be sent to the volunteers on any group that either of the members are on. An alert is also sent to the Mentors.

==List of types of chat messages==
These are the types of chat message and when they’re generated.

*“Default” - the normal ones you type.
*“ModMail” - messages sent by mods to members.
*“System” - not used
*“Interested” - when you reply to a post, including the text you typed
*“Promised” - when you click the [[Promise button]] to promise to someone
*“Reneged” - when you click the Unpromise button.
*“ReportedUser” - sent to mods when you’ve reported a chat
*“Completed” - when you mark a post as TAKEN/RECEIVED (the one you mention below).
*“Image” - when you send a photo.
*“Address” - when you use the address book to send an address
*“Nudge” - when you click the Nudge button.
*“Schedule” and “ScheduleUpdated”- when you set/update your availability.

==Status of chats==

All chats are sent out via email and all emails are recorded in chat.
The icons are:
*Grey tick means we’ve sent it to the server.
*Envelope means we’ve sent it out by email, but we don’t know whether it’s been read.
*Green tick means it has been read on the site or (sometimes) by email.

It is possible to find out whether emails that have been read, which we try to do. But it’s not guaranteed, and so it’s perfectly possible for the mail to have been read but us not know. So we only know sometimes.

These explanations are available if you mouse over/click on the icon, though few people on mobile would do that.

==Deleting chats==

From 18.8.23 a new feature that offers a button to delete a chat is available for members. If clicked, a pop up appears which asks "Are you sure? We will delete this from our system so you will no longer see it here. The other freegler may have received the message by email - we can't delete that. Are you sure you want to delete the message?" Cancel or Confirm buttons are shown. If Confirm is clicked, they'll see a message to confirm it’s been deleted (or an error). The contents of the chat message are replied with “(Message deleted)”.

The announcement of this new feature is here - https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/deleting-chat-messages/6554

==Hiding chats==

There is a small downwards chevron on the top right of each chat. Click on that and the option to hide the chat from view is offered.

Members can't delete a chat, but they can hide it from their list. The reason for not offering deletion is that it could be misleading. Although the chat would not be on our system, the chats would still have been sent out by email and we can't delete those. Also, every time we add the ability to delete something, people then contact us asking how they recover something that they deleted, even if (as with unsubscribe) we make it clear that they can’t undo it.
For example, people think they don’t want a chat now, and want to delete it, but then later on change their minds, and want to get it back.
We still want to be able to see chat messages in Support even if the member wants to delete them.

The system also hides any chat not active in the past 30 days from view. That chat can be accessed by searching for it in chat search box at the top of the chat list.
They don’t disappear if the page just sits there. But they do disappear once you click on a chat - except if you click on one of the older ones to see that, then that specific one stays visible.

Chats remain in the system until:

*The user actively unsubscribes, or
*All of the following are true:
**- were added six months ago
**- are not on any groups
**- have not logged in for six months
**- are not on the spammer list
**- do not have mod notes
**- have no logs for six months

==Block Member==

Chats provide the option for a member to block another member. 
If member A blocks member B then member A can’t see the chat. But member B still can. This means that member B doesn't realise they've been blocked, which reduces the 'why has A blocked me' type of complaint. They just don't get any replies to anything they send.

==Unhiding/unblocking chats==

A new feature was introduced in December 2023, which allows members to get to the hidden/blocked chats, and then unhide/unblock them. If there are unread messages in those chats it will show a count next to the number of such chats, so they can choose to go and view them if they wish to.

Link to Discourse announcement - https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/unhiding-unblocking-chats/6927

==Access to chats==

Volunteers do not have access to these chats, but if a problem arises the Support Team can be asked to have a look to see if they can find any information to resolve it.

The background and reasons for not giving all volunteers access to this is:

It was pointed out by a volunteer that there was a potential issue, since this constitutes interception of communication under the PECR legislation, which covers people reading communications between other people.

Edward therefore contacted the Office of the Interception of Communications Commissioner, who was at that time the regulator of this area (it has now been absorbed into the ICO). Their job was normally to check that the police were doing legal things with warrants - for example they have a tool that spots cut and paste text in interception warrants.

To Edward's surprise, a guy came and sat in his living room to talk to him about it. They discussed the various circumstances under which it was and wasn't legitimate to do this for Freegle, and agreed that it was legitimate that in order to protect the system against spammer and scammer attacks.

If a member reports a conversation then that is also a legit reason. It's best when they use the Report option on chat - which also means we have a record of that consent.

However a more general ability for volunteers to "spy" on the communications between members without their knowledge or consent, and without any specific reason, was much more dubious.

So there are legitimate legal reasons why we need to be careful here. If volunteers can get one of the members to use the Report option then they will be able to see the whole of the chat. If not, then Support can help.

Link: [[ModTools]]

[[category:ModTools]]

Promise Button

2026-03-06T19:38:24Z

Neville Reid: Neville Reid moved page Promise Button to Promise button: change capitalisation

#REDIRECT [[Promise button]]

Promise button

2026-03-06T19:38:24Z

Neville Reid: Neville Reid moved page Promise Button to Promise button: change capitalisation

The Promise button is available for members posting offers.

If you promise an item in the My Posts section, you will get a list of people to choose from who have messaged you recently (not necessarily about that item). If you promise it in the Chats section, you will get a list of your recent posts to choose from (not just the item they have asked for). This is because sometimes people ask for multiple items in one reply, or you want to promise multiple items to the same person.

The results of using the Promise button are as follows:
*The offer is greyed out onsite – people can still reply, but they're warned they might not get it. This is because some people promise things too soon, and then if they have a no show or change their minds they need to be able to get the other replies.
*The other person is told – which "nudges" both people to realise they've entered into a commitment.
*We don't auto-repost, and we don't send "what happened about this" mails.
*My Posts shows who you've promised to, which makes it easier to keep track.
*People replying by email won't know if an item has been promised, so there may always be some replies after promising.
*People who have replied don't get notified when something is promised, but they do if it's taken (by someone else).

If a member promises an item to someone who fails to collect, they have to unpromise it before they can offer it to someone else.

When unpromising is selected it shows as a "no show" on their profile.

Link: [[Freegle Direct]]

[[category:Freegle Direct]]

Promise button

2026-03-06T19:31:41Z

Neville Reid: update explanation about My Posts and Chats, from https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/problem-with-replies-to-offers/9469/5 ; move it to top of article

File:M-en-sidebar.png

2026-03-06T14:53:51Z

Neville Reid: Neville Reid uploaded a new version of File:M-en-sidebar.png

Screenshot of MediaWiki sidebar
{{GPL}}

File:M-en-sidebar.png

2026-03-06T14:47:02Z

Neville Reid: Neville Reid uploaded a new version of File:M-en-sidebar.png

Screenshot of MediaWiki sidebar
{{GPL}}

User talk:Chota

2026-03-06T12:03:32Z

Neville Reid: Neville Reid moved page User talk:Chota to User talk:Chota120: move old welcome message to active account

#REDIRECT [[User talk:Chota120]]

User talk:Chota120

2026-03-06T12:03:31Z

Neville Reid: Neville Reid moved page User talk:Chota to User talk:Chota120: move old welcome message to active account

'''Welcome to ''Freegle Wiki''!'''
We hope you will contribute much and well.
You will probably want to read the [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Contents help pages].
Again, welcome and have fun! [[User:Chriscant|Chriscant]] ([[User talk:Chriscant|talk]]) 08:01, 6 May 2019 (UTC)

File:Setting up a Sub Group on Freegle Direct.pdf

2026-03-06T11:27:01Z

Neville Reid: Category:History

[[Category:History]]

Copyright Issues

2026-03-04T12:49:48Z

Neville Reid: minor copy edit

SOFTWARE, DVDs, CDs AND OTHER MEDIA

Software and other forms of media fall under copyright law – this is the score if you're worried.

Software: The software being exchanged is in breach of copyright if:
* It isn't the original software.
* It is still being used by any previous owner (generally you would not know this as a Freegle volunteer).
* It's been used to get an upgrade.
* It doesn't follow the terms in its End User License Agreement (EULA) – if the EULA makes no mention about transfers or exchanges, treat the software like you would any other work protected by copyright (like a book, CD, or video).

In order to be in keeping with copyright agreements, Music, Videos, Books and other copyrighted works should be:
* Originals, not copies
* No longer be used by any previous owner.

If you would like further clarification you can look here: [http://www.ipo.gov.uk/copy.htm] or here: [http://www.fact-uk.org.uk]

You can find [[Admins]] pertaining to this subject [[Copyright|here]] and a message-rejection sample message [[Sample message: Copyright|here]].

As a note about people offering computers and the worry over security of data, it is possible to use [https://www.ccleaner.com CCLEANER] to overwrite free space. This has the benefit of not having to reinstall anything after it has completed its task.

Back to [[Specific Items]]

[[Category:Specific Problems]]
[[Category:Specific Items]]

How to

2026-03-02T18:26:27Z

Neville Reid: top sort

How to do ...... mostly techy type things

*[[Filtering Emails]] - members getting too many emails and can't cope? - here are some links if you want to extend some advice on setting up filters to make their lives more manageable
*How to ban - step by step illustration on how to ban a member
*[[Moderation]] - how to work the settings for moderation
*[[Pre-approving Members]] - to approve or not to approve? That is the question .... some answers here
*[[See if anyone is moderating|See if anyone is moderating]] - some ways to check that you are not trying to do the same work already being done by your fellow moderator 
*[[How to add a picture to a group's home page]]
*[[Add a Member using Mod Tools]]

Back to [[Admin]]

[[Category:How To| ]]

ModTools

2026-02-21T17:47:09Z

Neville Reid: /* Approved */ View profile – not logged in to Freegle if using app. Discussed at https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/cant-view-profile/9442/8

'''ModTools''' is a website/app that provides tools for volunteers to moderate messages on their local Freegle communities.
__TOC__

==Starting with Modtools==
You can use ModTools from any browser, e.g. Chrome, Edge or Firefox. If you don't have a preference, use Chrome. https://modtools.org/modtools
]]
If you're using a phone/tablet, then you should get the ModTools app from the Play Store or iTunes. That will work best, and you'll get notifications when there's stuff to do. Wiki page explanation - [[ModTools app]].

Or do both.

==Getting Set Up==

First things first - set up ModTools for you and your community. Select ''Settings'' from the left hand menu bar.

You will see 4 tabs/sections for this:

* '''Personal''' - these are ModTools settings just for you.
* '''Community''' - choose ModTools settings for each community you are moderating, either as an active moderator or a backup. The button to change you from actively moderating or back up is under Your Settings in this Community section. For more information on shortlinks, have a look at [[Shortlinks]]. Also [[How to add a picture to a community home page]]
*'''Standard Messages''' - these are a range of template messages that you can use for moderating posts and members on your community.
Substitution strings are used on lots of messages; they are a special terminology you can put in standard messages, which ModTools expands more fully before it sends a message. For a full explanation of these, have a look at [[Substitution Strings]].
*'''Bulk Operations''' - this section will have some actions that you can use - watch this space!

You may like to get going with the basic features offered and once you are confident, come back and edit as you gain confidence or things change. It is also a good idea to review these, say, annually to check that everything is still fit for purpose.

Now your Settings are sorted, you are ready to go. ModTools should be self explanatory on each of the sections/pages, but for some more information and ideas, there are other sources/pages that might help - see below (in order of how they appear in the toolbars).

==Dashboard==
The dashboard shows several useful types of information:
* A snapshot of current discussions on Discourse (our national discussion forum for volunteers).
* When the volunteers on a community last took action on MT. You will have to select a community and click Update before you see any info here. (To see when they last logged in or accessed FD/MT, go to Members: Approved, and select Moderation Team from the drop down.)
* Popular posts and active members.
* Stats about your community's activity and impact. For more information, see [[Statistics]].

==Messages==
If you need extra message templates to deal with any member messages, see [[Sample Messages]] for ideas. See [[Postcodes]] for an explanation of how the website handles postcode and location information in posts.

====Pending====
This is where the messages that need moderating arrive, whether generated on the website, email or via [[Trash Nothing]]. The red notification badge shows those for communities where you are lead moderator, the blue for those on which you are back-up moderator.

If messages are left for more than 48 hours they will automatically approve. This means a community can survive a glitch of non-moderation, but it shouldn't be relied on – it is important for the messages to be looked at as members and scammers will notice problem posts.

Messages that are not subject to moderation might have [[worry words]] involved, so these are also flagged up here for you to review.

A red-letter message about crossposting means that a message has been identified as very similar to that on another group.

'''Moving a message between communities:''' when you click the Edit button, you can make various changes. There is a drop-down showing the community name; it will also show other communities that the member belongs to ''and'' which you moderate, if any. You can use this to move a pending message from one community to another; if you use this, the message will go into pending messages in the second community, even if the member's posting status is "group settings". (Not available for TrashNothing members.)

'''Marking a message as Spam:''' If a message is spam, you can just mark the message as spam, or also mark the member as a spammer. Under 'other actions', there is a button to report a member as a spammer, but only use this is you are sure the spam message isn't a one off anomaly as the member seems to be a sound freegler usually. A message that is marked as Spam is used, behind the scenes, to train our spam filters, the Delete button just removes the message.

====Approved====
The list of all messages on your community/communities.

====Edits====
When members edit their approved posts, and the members are moderated, you can see the edits in this section.

Edits may go straight out for members who are unmoderated.

==Members==
[[Member Notes]] gives more information about moderator and system notes on a member's account.

====Approved====
List of all members in your community/communities. See [[Banning]] for explanation of banning and unbanning a member. See [[Trouble unsubscribing]] for more information about unsubscribing. See [[Inactive Members]] for information about members not active for a long time. The list view default is to show all members, but you can select members who are banned, bouncing, who have notes or who are on the moderating team. You can reactivate [[Bouncing members]] if you wish.

The "View profile" link takes you to the member's profile page seen by other users within the Freegle system. You will see the page as logged in to Freegle if you are accessing this from ModTools in a browser, but not if using the ModTools app.

;Moderation Status
There are 3 different status settings for members:
*Moderated - all offers and requests the member posts are kept in pending until a moderator approves them. The default under [[Best Practice Notes#Quick posting|Best Practice]] should be that a member is removed from moderated status as soon as they post an acceptable offer or request.
*Group Settings - member posts are posted straight away without moderation, unless they trigger a worry word, where they will appear in Messages>Pending for approval.
*Can't Post' - allows a member to complete the posting process up to the point of completion where it says 'Freegle it!'. At that point nothing happens so the member is aware there is an issue with posting. They will usually contact volunteers or support mailbox when this happens.

If you set a member to "Can't post", it is recommended that you add a Note recording the reason for this. If they leave and rejoin, the "Can't post" setting would be lost, but the Note would remain, and would be shown when the member's first new post appears in Pending messages.

====Member Review====
This section flags up members who have unusual freegling behaviour. Information about possible spammer behaviours and present measures can be found here: [[Spammers]].

There is no national rule about how many communities it is reasonable for one person to join, that is up to local discretion. But please don't ban a multijoiner unless you have clear evidence of 'wrongdoing'.

Replying to posts a long way apart is also flagged. The threshold distance is determined in the Settings for each community. This check only looks at posts within the last 90 days.

More info can be found using "Go to membership", e.g. a green icon which shows the number of replies to offers, and [[LoveJunk]] membership if applicable. (Currently, these are not always displayed the Member Review page.)

You have the option to ignore the member. They will pop up again if they do something further that is flagged as a concern on your community or others.

====Chat Review====
Chats between members which include [[Worry Words|worry words]] or might be spam or scams are diverted for moderation. This allows you to review the messages and catch anything that might be a concern. [[Spammers#Chat_Review]] gives more information about chat in the context of spam detection. [[Member Chat]] gives more information about the chat facility.

====Related====
These are members who have used the '''same device for different member accounts'''. You can merge members who you know have ended up with more than one account within Members>Approved section, but this section automatically detects possibles and lets you send an auto message asking if they wish to merge.

We can't merge TN memberships with Freegle ones.

If you can't see any connection between two members in Related, click Ignore. If they do look connected, click "Ask member what they want". If they choose to merge, they click a button, and the system completes this without needing to refer it back to you.

====Stories====
Members are encouraged to submit a story of their freegling experiences. A selection is then sent out in a newsletter to members and as a post on Discourse for volunteers to read.

Stories submitted in your community are subject to your review in Modtools, so inappropriate ones can be declined at this point. The approved stories should be good for publicity purposes and suitable for public view on chitchat, a community page etc. They are then put in a pending list to be voted upon at https://www.ilovefreegle.org/stories/fornewsletter for selection for publication and then reviewed and compiled into a newsletter by the Stories Team.

If you want to search through published stories, you can do this at https://www.ilovefreegle.org/stories/summary

====Gift Aid====
A section only available and visible to the team that checks Gift Aid consent forms.

====Feedback====
See [[Feedback]] for more information about this. [[Member Ratings]] also has some information.

====Microvols====
We invite members to do some basic moderating tasks to encourage participation and identify possible new volunteers. See [[Microvolunteering]] for information about the continuing development of this facility.

====Notes====
Notes that have been added by volunteers for members on your communities, oldest first. Please keep the number and content of notes to an absolute minimum to comply with GDPR requirements. Please also review these regularly to ensure that only really relevant information is kept and redundant notes deleted.

==Misc Moderation==
===Events===
Community event posts for your community can be reviewed here before publication. Some events are added automatically by us from the [[Restart|Restart Project]] for Repair Cafes that are held across the UK.

If an event needs to be changed after being approved in ModTools, you may need to contact the [[Geeks Team Remit|Geeks Team]] and ask them to do it, although a workaround was reported [https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/help-needed-to-edit-or-delete-an-event/8293 here].

Unlike offer/wanted posts, where we show them based on travel time (by default), event and volunteer posts are shown/mailed based purely on group membership. The weekly emails are titled Community Event Roundup.

===Volunteering===
Posts asking for Volunteers can be reviewed here before publication. See [[Reach Volunteering]] for the link we have with them.

===Publicity===
This page used to present Facebook posts that were produced for the [https://www.facebook.com/Freegle national Freegle page], facilitating easy sharing to individual community Facebook pages.

The most popular post on a community was also offered here daily to share on Facebook. The idea is to get interest from those not currently freegling to go to the website and have a look.

Both of these semi-automated options were broken by Facebook in 2024, and the Publicity option in ModTools is currently empty. See "
[[Freegle_Direct_-_Why_You_Should_Add_Facebook#Promoting_national_posts_on_Facebook|Promoting national posts on Facebook]]" and "[[Freegle_Direct_-_Why_You_Should_Add_Facebook#Promoting_national_posts_on_Facebook|Promoting local items on Facebook]]" for workarounds, which unfortunately require more manual intervention.

===Admins===
This is the method to send out admins to your members. Members can't opt out of receiving important information from you, but they can opt out of admins which are not essential.
Choose which via the first toggle option box - Essential or Newsletter.

There are three options when composing admins -
Pending, Create and Previous. Write the admin in Create, send it, it goes to Pending, approve it, a copy goes to Previous for future use.
"Call to Action" fields are explained here - https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/call-to-action-button-in-admins/5240 
A pending Admin will get erased if left pending for more than 7 days.

See [[Admins]] for some templates you can use for newsletter or admin messages for your community.

===Spammers===
See [[Spammers]] for a full explanation of how this spam system works.

==Misc Admin==
===Logs===

You can see the chronological logs of activity on your community - select your community and then messages or members to see a list. Or you can search for individual messages or members.

===Support===

This is an option that can be seen only by those who [[Support Tools]] access. It is a set of tools that allow some national teams/roles to have access to more detailed information to help them carry out their role.

===Settings===
See [[ModTools#Getting_Set_Up|Getting Set Up]] above for basic information. It is good practice to have a quick look through these on a regular basis to check they are all still fit for purpose.

We have guidelines for deciding on community geographical areas in [[Community Mapping]], [[Freegle Affiliated Community Area Guidelines]] and [[Spammers]]. Maps for all groups can be found at https://modtools.org/modtools/map

===Teams===
There are various teams and groups of people working nationally to deal with a variety of tasks. You can see who they are and a brief description of what they do this section. If you are interested in volunteering to help with any of these, find out more information about them via the links on [[Getting Involved]]. If you wish to volunteer to do any specific piece of work or want to know what you could do, please don't hesitate to email volunteers@ilovefreegle.org. It will be great to hear from you!

===Help===
This brings you here! If you can't find the help you want on this page or the links provided, ask on Discourse (click 'Us' on the top ModTools menu) to ask your question and/or to ask for more information to be included here.

===Log Out===
Self explanatory. Probably best to stay logged in, though, to save you having to sign in each time you wish to moderate.

==Top Menu==
===Red/Orange/Green Dot===
You will notice that there are different colour 'dots' that appear over the blue home icon at the top left of each page. These dots denote the platform status - just click on them to see what is happening. Green indicates everything is fine, Orange indicates a problem easily resolved, Red indicates a serious problem. If you need to do something about an orange or red dot when you notice it, it will tell you.

===Us===
This button on the top menu bar takes you to the Discourse website, where you will find all the national discussion groups. See [[Central Groups]] for more detail. All volunteers that are registered on Modtools are given automatic access to Discourse.

===Chats===
This button will take you to the Chats section. This is where all the emails can be accessed between you and your members, along with other emails from volunteers who work with you on your communities. Each of these chats (other than those you initiated) can be hidden from your view by clicking the downwards chevron in the top right of the chat screen.

Please note that if you have a chat with a group you don't moderate, the conversation will appear in your personal chat list, not your group chat(s).

If you see a green tick at the bottom of the chat, it means the message has been read on the site. If you see a small envelope it means the message has been sent out via email. There is a deliberate small delay in sending out a chat message via email, as obviously it would be really irritating if you are reading the message on site and also getting emails at the same time with the same message.

Your list of chats is pre-populated with the communities you are on, so you can use those to chat to the other members of your team in each of them if you wish.

If a member replies to the group volunteers by email, their reply will appear in Chats, and you can reply to them here. Their initial message will have a button to "View original email" for a day or two after the chat message has been received, which may help you to check the context of what they are saying.

See [[Member Chat]] for more information about this feature for your members.

==Help and other links==
*Questions and help with using ModTools, contact [mailto:support@ilovefreegle.org support@ilovefreegle.org]
*Questions, suggestions and observations about ModTools, post on https://freegle.in/tech

Other pages that might help:

*[[Freegle_Mobile_app#ModTools_app]]
*[[Add a Member using Mod Tools]]
*[[Photos]]
*[[ChitChat]]
*[[Member Chat]]
*[[Promise Button]]
*[[Housekeeping]]
*[[ModTools History]]
*[[Trash Nothing]]
*[https://wiki.ilovefreegle.org/images/Training_manual_for_modtools_2020.pdf Mentors' Training Manual for Modtools]

[[category:ModTools]]

Spam

2026-02-21T17:33:30Z

Neville Reid: essential admins cf. newsletters

Occasionally a member gets upset and accuses us of sending spam.

This is the position we take on this:

When a member signs up to and into our website, they will see 'Terms of Use Apply' under the sign in options. The terms at https://www.ilovefreegle.org/terms say:

We will email you posts, replies, events, newsletters, etc – control these in Settings (link shown which takes the member to their Settings tab).

When a new member signs up to Freegle, they get an email 'Thanks for joining Freegle', which includes 'You can change your settings by clicking here'. 'Here' links to their Settings tab on the website.

In each of the mails Freegle sends to the member, they will also see an unsubscribe link, which allows the option to stop any particular type of email they don't wish to receive, except for essential [[Admins|Admin mails]]. You can't opt out of Admin mails that the local volunteers class as "essential" rather than "newsletter".

We take the view that we have complied with the requirements of data protection on marketing. Our pages on data protection in this wiki are all categorised together in [[:Category:Data Protection]].

Links:

*[[Terms for Freegle Users]]
*[[Data Use & Protection]]
*[[Spammers]] – abuse of the Freegle platform
*[[ModTools#Messages]] – marking an Offer/Wanted message as spam
*[[Member Chat#Chat Review in Modtools]] – controlling spam in Freegle's Chat function

[[category:Freegle Direct]]
[[category:Admin]]

Terms for Freegle Users

2026-02-16T15:01:53Z

Neville Reid: add formatting and links; update registered office

When the website was upgraded in 2016, a new set of 'Terms of Use' and related good practice guidelines for using Freegle Direct were introduced. The wording was discussed and agreed by poll on Development Group in August 2016. Since then, there have been a few tweaks as our technology has changed. The version below is the current one (December 2025) on the website.

====Terms of Use====
We could give you a ten page long Terms of Use. Like you'd read that.

As far as we're concerned, it's simple:

*Use Freegle to pass on unwanted items direct to others.
*Everything must be free and legal.
*Be nice to other freeglers, and they'll be nice to you.
*We don't see or check items offered - see our disclaimer.
*Freegle communities may have additional rules. If you have questions, find your community from the Explore page and use the Contact button.
*Please keep yourself safe and watch out for scams.
*Objectionable content or behaviour will not be tolerated.
*If you see anything inappropriate, suspicious or just dodgy then please report it .
*You must be aged 13 or over, as there is user-generated content.
*We won’t sell your email address or personal data to anyone else - see privacy page.
*We will email you posts, replies, events, newsletters, etc. - control these in Settings.
*We will make your post public to publicise Freegle, but not your email address - see privacy page.

Got questions?

If you have questions, please contact us.

====Disclaimer====
Freegle puts people who have unwanted items in touch with people who want those items. Because of how it works, Freegle never sees or checks items and they may not be in working order. Posting an advert or responding to an advert does not guarantee you will be able to get rid of unwanted items or get the items you want. Any agreement you reach about any items will be between the person requesting or advertising items and you. It is your responsibility to ensure you are not breaking any laws in offering or getting goods through Freegle. When something can be reused for its original purpose, freegling it is fine (it's what we're for!) but if it would legally count as waste (e.g. a mixture of low economic value which would require sorting), you must not freegle it. If in doubt, check [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-your-material-is-waste here] on GOV.UK.

====Safety====
Freeglers are lovely. But many of them will be people you've never met before. So please use common sense when posting to Freegle or collecting an item. For example:
*Don't post in public on Freegle telling people when you're going to be out.
*Most collections occur at home, but if you're worried about that, arrange to meet in a cafe or other public place.
*Please ensure your property is physically safe for people who collect from you, as we all have a duty of care towards others.

====Scams====
Regrettably, occasionally online scammers target Freegle groups, often by offering high-value items, and then asking you to pay for courier charges. We catch a lot of these, and you never see them, but sometimes they sneak through.

While some groups allow postage, you should never hand over money in advance. We don't recommend any specific courier (so if you see a message saying we do, it’s a scam).

If you are unlucky enough to be scammed, please report it to the Police, and to us.

====Privacy====

;1. What data we process
We process your email address, name, approximate location, and profile picture. If you log in using a social login (Facebook/Google/Yahoo) then we will obtain these details from them.

All OFFER/WANTED posts are public, so if you put phone numbers, email addresses or postal addresses into them, other people will be able to see them. If you're concerned about this, don't do it!

;2. How we process data
We use your email address to send you various emails about your posts and posts from other freeglers. You can change the emails you receive or turn them off from [https://www.ilovefreegle.org/settings Settings]. We won't show your email address to any organisation outside Freegle, and other freeglers won't see it (unless your community leaves Freegle - see below).

We show your name, profile picture and approximate location to other freeglers to make the site more engaging and show that freeglers are real people. If you don't want that, you can change it in [https://www.ilovefreegle.org/settings Settings].

We try to protect you from spammers and fraudsters. Sometimes our volunteers may read what you write in Chat to other freeglers to check that it's not spam, phishing or fraud. If we happen to find something which is against Freegle rules, we may take further action.

So that potential new users can see what is being offered on Freegle, we make some details of posts public, i.e. the item name, approximate location, the description and any photos. No personal details are made public unless in this information.

;3. Cookies and Tracking
You'll have seen lots of irritating popups on websites about consent for cookies. We have one of those too. Sorry, but it's the law. Here are some technical details.

;3.1 Necessary function
We store some things which are strictly necessary to make the site work.

*We store cookies for sessions and for your cookie preferences. Those are needed for the site to work.
*We store some information in your browser's local storage. This contains a few settings and is also used when you're replying to a post. That's like the "shopping cart" example in the Information Commissioner's [https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/guidance-on-the-use-of-storage-and-access-technologies/ advice] and does not require consent.
*We use Google and Facebook's buttons to allow you to log in. They store a few third-party cookies of their own, which are strictly necessary to make those buttons work.
*We use [https://matomo.org/ Matomo] to collect information about how people use the site. This is similar to Google Analytics, but more privacy-safe. We have configured this not to use any cookies.
*We record information about your browser/device and how you use the site. This helps diagnose problems and make the site easier to use. We don't pass anything identifying you to other people.
;3.2 Optional function
We store some other things which help make the site better.

*When something goes wrong on the website, we log it to a third party site called [https://sentry.io Sentry]. They help organise the logs and make it easier for us to identify problems. This [https://docs.sentry.io/data-management/sensitive-data/ should not include] any of your personal data. You can read their privacy policy [https://sentry.io/privacy/ here].
*We show job ads from [https://uk.whatjobs.com/ WhatJobs], both on the site and in emails. We'd prefer not to, but we don't raise enough from [https://www.ilovefreegle.org/donate donations] alone to keep going. We don't pass them any information at all unless you click on one of the job links, not even your IP address.
*We also show ads from selected partners, using Google's advertising service. You can read more about which cookies Google uses [https://business.safety.google/adscookies/ here].
All or partial advertising on this Website or App is managed by Playwire LLC. If Playwire publisher advertising services are used, Playwire LLC may collect and use certain aggregated and anonymized data for advertising purposes. To learn more about the types of data collected, how data is used and your choices as a user, please visit https://www.playwire.com/privacy-policy.

If you are concerned about these, you can also install a privacy blocker such as [https://getadblock.com/en/ AdBlock] or [https://www.ghostery.com/ Ghostery] and still use the site. Please remember that while Freegle is free to use, it's not free to run, so it helps if you [https://www.ilovefreegle.org/donate donate].

;4. Deleting your data
We'll delete your data automatically if you're inactive for six months. If you want to leave Freegle, please go [https://www.ilovefreegle.org/unsubscribe here].

Once you leave, this will delete all your personal data within 14 days. If you change your mind before then, or left by mistake, you can log back in to reactivate your account.

;5. Communities leaving Freegle
Freegle communities may in theory choose to leave Freegle and move somewhere else. This has never actually happened, but it's possible in theory. If this happens then we will be in touch with you to discuss what should happen to your details.

;6. Legal Basis
We operate under the legal basis of Legitimate Interest.

;Got questions?
Privacy is a complicated and important area, which we take seriously. If you have questions or concerns, please [https://www.ilovefreegle.org/help contact us]. Our registered address is 64a North Road, Ormesby Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, NR29 3LE.

If you're unhappy, you can also contact the Information Commissioner's Office [https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint here].

=====Got questions?=====
Privacy is a complicated and important area, which we take seriously. If you have questions or concerns, please contact us.

===Links===
*[[Spam]] – further explanation to counter accusations that we spam!
*[[Basic Information]]
*[[Admin]]

[[category:Admin]] [[category:Freegle Direct]]

Counterfeit, Fake or Imitation items

2026-01-02T21:41:31Z

Neville Reid: some reasons not to use fakes

The simplest statement about this is probably this: https://www.getsafeonline.org/personal/articles/counterfeit-goods . The page states ''The manufacture and sales of counterfeit goods is illegal. Buying counterfeit goods, however, is not illegal, even if you do so knowingly. However, there are many reasons why you should not do so.''

Based on this, it is clear that it isn't illegal for someone to offer an imitation product, so it's OK to Freegle. It would be illegal, however, to offer a Rolex watch, for example, as a genuine article when it is a fake.

If anyone can find a legal, rather than moral, reason not to allow these items, please post the link on Central.

The article linked above goes on to list reasons not to buy or use counterfeits. These include dangers of shock or fire from electrical items, or toxic chemicals in fake cosmetics. The producers & sellers are often linked to organised crime.

Some local volunteers would recommend the member to ask for a refund and report the fake to Trading Standards.

==Fake banknotes==
The Bank of England advises that it is illegal to pass on fake or counterfeit banknotes.[https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/using-images-of-banknotes] Instead, they should be handed in to the police, who should fill out an NCO-1 form and provide you with a receipt and incident number. See https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/counterfeit-banknotes

Toy money which is obviously smaller than the real thing is OK.

Link: [[Specific Items]]

[[category:Specific Items]]

Counterfeit, Fake or Imitation items

2025-12-28T22:13:03Z

Neville Reid: add Jeni's advice from https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/trustpilot/9259/4

The simplest statement about this is probably this: https://www.getsafeonline.org/personal/articles/counterfeit-goods . The page states ''The manufacture and sales of counterfeit goods is illegal. Buying counterfeit goods, however, is not illegal, even if you do so knowingly. However, there are many reasons why you should not do so.''
The article then goes on to list reasons and other notes.

Based on this, it is clear that it isn't illegal for someone to offer an imitation product, so it's OK to Freegle. It would be illegal, however, to offer a Rolex watch, for example, as a genuine article when it is a fake.

If anyone can find a legal, rather than moral, reason not to allow these items, please post the link on Central.

Some local volunteers would recommend the member to ask for a refund and report the fake to Trading Standards.

==Fake banknotes==
The Bank of England advises that it is illegal to pass on fake or counterfeit banknotes.[https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/using-images-of-banknotes] Instead, they should be handed in to the police, who should fill out an NCO-1 form and provide you with a receipt and incident number. See https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/counterfeit-banknotes

Toy money which is obviously smaller than the real thing is OK.

Link: [[Specific Items]]

[[category:Specific Items]]

Sample Messages

2025-12-28T21:31:55Z

Neville Reid: *Sample message: Not selling – member using wrong option on TrashNothing

Sample messages to individual members for every occasion (well, some of them.....)
Please remember that your rules are your rules, they are not necessarily the rules administered by your fellow Freegle communities and that members appreciate a personal, friendly approach, not a corporate memo!

If you have ideas for improving these messages or want to share some of your own, please add them or post on Central group asking someone else to add them.

For those you use frequently, remember you can add them to your Standard Settings for your community - and share them with the rest of your team.

;Messages sent in response to Pending (or Approved) Offer/Wanted messages
*[[Sample message: Animals]]
*[[Sample message: Approve and unmod]]
*[[Sample message: Borrowing or lending]]
*[[Sample message: Clarify]] – response to a vague or unclear Wanted message
*[[Sample message: Contact member]] – trying to contact someone through an offer or request post
*[[Sample message: Copyright]] – Books, computer discs, DVDs, CDs
*[[Sample message: Duplicate message]]
*[[Sample message: Event]] – advertising an event in an offer or request post
*[[Gas cylinders or bottles‎]] - legal explanation plus a suggested rejection message
*[[Sample message: Hacked]] in response to spam messages
*[[Information request]]
*[[Intangible Items]]
*[[Sample message: Joining multiple Freegle communities]] and [[Sample message: Joining distant Freegle communities]] – encouraging member to leave excess groups
*[[Sample message: Legal threat]] – response to a threat of legal actiot
*[[Sample message: Medicines and supplements]]
*[[Sample message: Moderator assistance request]] – member asking for help via a offer or request post
*[[Sample message: Money, selling, swaps]]
*[[Sample message: Non landfill items]]
*[[Sample message: Not selling]] – member using wrong option on TrashNothing
*[[Sample message: Offer too soon]]
*[[Sample message: Old posts]] – response to member asking about deleting their list of old posts
*[[Sample message: Personal details]]
*[[Sample message: Reply to post via offer/wanted]]
*[[Sample message: Reselling]]
*[[Sample message: Sob stories]]
*[[Sample message: Too many wanteds]]
*[[Sample message: Vouchers]]
*[[Sample message: Wanted too soon]]
*[[Sample message: Weapons]]

;Messages to send to Approved Members
*[[Sample message: Money, selling, swaps]]
*[[Sample message: Reselling]]

;Messages to use in Chat, etc.
*[[Sample message: Is Freegle a Charity?]] – suggested answer for this regular query
*[[Sample message: No-shows]]
*[[WhatJobs]] about adverts

See also:
*[[Admins]] - big list of Admin messages you can use for sending to the whole community

Links:
*[[Admin]]
*[[Freegle Direct]] - queries that might crop up for members using Freegle
*[[Running Your Group]]
*[[ModTools]]

[[Category:Sample Messages| ]]
[[category:ModTools]]

Sample message: Not selling

2025-12-28T21:30:21Z

Neville Reid: Category:Sample Messages

This is a sample message to send to a member who seems to have appended "[ Items received in response to this request will be resold ]" unintentionally.

Dear Freegle Member,

Thank you for posting to $groupname. When you sent the message on Trash Nothing, you said "Yes" to the question "Are you requesting free items to resell?" This adds the line at the end of your message, "Items received in response to this request will be resold".

Your message sounds as if you want to keep the items for yourself, so I will delete this line.

In Trash Nothing, you can see "Your Posts", select a message and click "Edit" to change it yourself.

Kind regards,
$myname 
$groupame volunteer 
$owneremail

Back to [[Sample Messages]]

[[Category:Sample Messages]]

Sample message: Not selling

2025-12-28T21:18:01Z

Neville Reid: create new message re mistaken line "[ Items received in response to this request will be resold ]"

Help:Preferences

2025-12-27T22:12:55Z

Neville Reid: remove info about different skins, apparently not implemented on this wiki (sensibly)

{{PD Help Page}}

Clicking on the [[Special:preferences|my preferences]] link in the upper right while logged in allows you to change your preferences. You will be presented with the User profile section, as well as a bar of tabs across the top for changing other types of settings.

==User profile==
===User profile===
* ''Username'': Your user name. Only bureaucrats can change your username, and the wiki must also have the {{mediawiki|Extension:Renameuser|Renameuser extension}} installed.
* ''User ID'': A number assigned to your account when you created it (for example, if your number is 42 you are the 42nd user to sign up at this particular wiki). This number is used for internal purposes.
* ''Number of edits'': How many edits you have made. Not all wikis will have this.
* ''Real name'': If provided, this will be used for attribution (rather than using your username). Providing your real name is entirely optional. Some wikis do not have this option.
* ''E-mail'': Your email address, if you have supplied one. You can also change or remove your address here.
* ''Nickname'': When you sign your name (using <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>), what you enter here will be used at the start instead of a simple link to your user page. By default, anything you enter here will be wrapped with <code><nowiki>[[ ]]</nowiki></code>; if you want to use special linking, enable ''Raw signatures (without automatic link)''.
* ''Language'': This controls what language the interface is displayed in. MediaWiki's default interface includes localisations for all supported languages, but this is not necessarily the case with extensions or custom skins. Page text will '''not''' be translated, nor will templates (unless the templates integrate text localisation).

===Change password===
To change your password, enter your old password in the first box and your new password in the last two. If you want this site to remember your login, check ''Remember my login on this computer''. Note that this function requires you to have cookies enabled in your browser, and if your cookie is cleared or expires you will no longer be remembered.

===E-mail===
If you have supplied an email address, you will need to click the ''verify address'' button in order to use these functions. You will receive an email; simply open it and follow the link to enable the following functions.

* ''E-mail me when a page I'm watching is changed''
* ''E-mail me when my user talk page is changed''
* ''E-mail me also for minor edits of pages''
* ''Enable e-mail from other users''
* ''Send me copies of emails I send to other users''

===Languages===

From your preferences you can select what language you would like the interface to be in. Only the buttons like 'edit' and 'talk', in addition to a few pages in the sidebar, will be affected. The main text of the pages will not be changed by this for the vast majority of pages, although there are a few pages where it will, like some in the Wikimedia Meta Wiki.

==Skin==
Here you can choose the "skin" you want to use, to customise multiple aspects of the wiki's appearance in combination. MediaWiki includes various skins, but this wiki is only set up with one, MonoBook, so that all users will see pages as intended.

==Math==
Here you can control how mathematical equations described using the <code><nowiki><math></nowiki></code> tag will be displayed. Mathematical formulae uploaded as images or written outside the math tag will not be affected by this setting.
* ''Always render PNG''
* ''HTML if very simple or else PNG''
* ''HTML if possible or else PNG''
* ''Leave it as TeX (for text browsers)''
* ''Recommended for modern browsers''
* ''MathML if possible (experimental)''

==Files==
Here you can determine how images will be displayed. Images displayed by direct pasting of a URL (if the wiki has it enabled) will not be affected by this setting.

* ''Limit images on image description pages to'': This setting lets you choose how big image previews will be on the Image: pages. If you know what your current screen resolution is you may like to set this to one or two sizes smaller than your own screen. If you have a slow connection (such as dial-up) you may want to limit them to 320×240.
* ''Thumbnail size'': Define how big you want thumbnails to appear. This setting will not affect thumbnails with dimensions determined by an editor, nor can it increase images beyond their original dimensions.

==Date and time==
The following is normally rendered depending on preferences:

<pre>
[[2001-01-05]] (or [[2001]]-[[01-05]]) (with leading zeros)
[[2001]] [[January 5]] ([[2001]] [[January 05]])
[[January 5]], [[2001]] ([[January 05]], [[2001]])
[[5 January]] [[2001]] ([[05 January]] [[2001]])
[[January 5]] ([[January 05]])
[[5 January]] ([[05 January]])
</pre>

==Editing==
Settings to control editing pages, including the size of the edit box displayed and whether to watch pages that you have edited or created automatically.

==Recent changes==
* ''Days to show in recent changes'': Here you can specify how far back the [[Help:Tracking changes|recent changes]] pages will go. Note that the list will stop prematurely if the number of edits is exceeded (see below)
* ''Number of edits to show in recent changes'': Here you can specify how many edits should be displayed.
* ''Hide minor edits in recent changes'': This enables you to hide edits marked as minor (see [[Help:Editing pages]]). Since some users will rapidly make a lot of tiny tweaks to update templates or fix spelling errors you may find enabling this to be useful. You can also turn this on temporarily from the recent changes page (see [[Help:Tracking changes]]).
* ''Enhanced recent changes (JavaScript)'': Enhanced recent changes condenses edits into a per-page list. As indicated, this requires JavaScript to be enabled. See [[Help:Tracking changes]] for more information on this feature.

==Watchlist==
Setting to control the behaviour of the watchlist (See [[Help:Watchlist]]) Most of these options are also available on the watchlist display itself, but by setting them in your preferences you control the default behaviour i.e. Every time you visit the watchlist it will do the same.

==Search==
Default settings for searches including how many results to display and how much context to show for each result. Check the boxes next to the namespaces which you want to show up, the first time that you search for something. You can override this when doing an actual search, by checking or unchecking the boxes at the bottom of the search results screen.

{{Admin tip|tip=To change the namespace default preferences for new users (or users who haven't changed their preferences yet), see {{mediawiki|Manual:$wgNamespacesToBeSearchedDefault}} }}

==Misc==
Other settings such as numbering and justification.

== See also ==
* {{meta|Help:Preferences}}
* [[Help:Skins]]

{{Languages|Help:Preferences}}

[[Category:Help|Preferences]]

File:Arr r.png

2025-12-27T22:06:21Z

Neville Reid: Copy wanted file from public domain image on Wikipedia

== Summary ==
Copy wanted file from public domain image on Wikipedia

Mw:Special:MyLanguage/Help:Reset password

2025-12-27T22:01:16Z

Neville Reid: Category:Help

For help in resetting passwords on a wiki, see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Reset_password

Note: This page name "Mw:Special:MyLanguage/Help:Reset password" was created because it was a red link that appeared during the password reset process.

[[Category:Help]]

Mw:Special:MyLanguage/Help:Reset password

2025-12-27T21:57:27Z

Neville Reid: see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Reset_password

For help in resetting passwords on a wiki, see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Reset_password