Problematic Posts

This is one of the personal crib sheets used by Vee Martin, Mentor, when training new moderators. The views expressed within this and her other two crib sheets are her own. The other two crib sheets are ModTools Functions and Moderating a Post.

List of problematic posts and what to do about them

Freegle only has 2 rules, and that is that everything must be free and legal. So in this list, items 1, 3 and 4 are mandatory. The others may be open to interpretation, depending on what your group rules are and how flexible the group wants to be. I teach best practice, and this is reflected in the notes. There will undoubtedly be exceptions to these suggestions, so make sure when you join your group as a moderator that you find out about them.

We aim to treat people fairly and honestly, so try to edit a post if you can rather than reject it. And always tell the person who submitted the post what you've done and why.

Borrowing/lending

Against Freegle rules. Edit if possible, otherwise reject.

Charity request

Advertising details of an event should be edited out, and the poster referred to the events section. Need details of the charity if it looks suspicious - put on hold and request them.

Illegal

E.g. weapons, medicines, copyright infringements. Against Freegle rules. Either reject, or in the case of copyright, check if it's legal and edit if appropriate, or reject.

Payment offered/wanted

Against Freegle rules. Edit out if possible, otherwise reject.

Personal details given

For personal safety reasons, edit out addresses and/or phone numbers, which can be given later when negotiating a deal. Your local group may be less prescriptive about this, so check local rules.

Pets and other animals

Most groups ban these, so reject if yours does.

Potential scam

Anything which looks too good to be true, i.e. expensive items, probably is. Put on hold, seek more info from the poster if necessary, consult with fellow mods. Probably reject.

Shouting

Using capitals is rude. Edit using a standard message.

Sob story

Don't need unnecessary detail. Edit out if possible.

Vague request/offer

If too vague, unlikely to receive a response. Advise the poster to be more specific, and invite them to edit their post if possible.

Links:

• Mentors' Training Manual for Modtools
• ModTools
• Recruiting, Training and Retaining
• New Group Owner Training Step 1