ChitChat

ChitChat is the forum-style discussion section of Freegle Direct, replacing the old-style cafe groups and giving Freegle Direct members a place to chat to each other (and to us!). Members of Trashnothing alone can't take part in ChitChat.

Discussions are public, and we ask everyone to be mindful of others and to be nice. Engaging with your members on ChitChat is a great way to build a sense of community.

From July 2026, community news updates/digests were launched on ChitChat (and via email).

ChitChat isn't visible in ModTools - you need to be on the ilovefreegle.org site to see it. However, ModTools does offer a few options to help you interact with it.

Settings

ModTools > Settings > Personal Settings

• Choose whether you're shown as a volunteer when commenting on ChitChat.
• Choose whether you receive an email when one of your community members comments.

https://www.ilovefreegle.org/chitchat

• Next to your location, a drop-down box lets you choose how far away you see ChitChat posts on your personal feed.
• As a member (not a moderator), you'll get a daily digest showing messages in your community/communities - but it won't be sent if you've already visited ChitChat recently and so had a chance to see those posts. This stops us mailing you about posts you've already seen.

Moderation

ChitChat lets everyone post public notices or messages without prior moderation. A central team monitors ChitChat (https://modtools.org/modtools/teams) and deals with any inappropriate posts. Anyone can report a post; the report goes to the Geeks team, who forward it to the ChitChat team to deal with.

Following a discussion and vote on Central in July 2022, one rule was added: no offers, requests or selling of live creatures on ChitChat. See https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/chitchat-rule-on-pets/5128/

Members are allowed to advertise small local businesses. See https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/chit-chat/6134/2

As a Freegle volunteer, you can edit or report messages from your community members. Click the chevron in the top right of a chat to see the available options.

There's an option to "Refer to OFFER/WANTED" for normal ChitChat posts that would be better posted on the main Freegle page. There is also the option to convert relevant ChitChat posts directly into standard offer or wanted posts.

Posts where members introduce themselves are tagged differently, and only the Support team can use "Refer" on that type of post - this restriction was brought in because too many introductory posts mentioning hobbies were being referred unnecessarily.

Delete and hide

• All volunteers see the Delete option. Note that it's "Delete", not "Hide".
• There's no "Undelete" option.
• Hiding also happens via the "Refer to OFFER/WANTED" option, or automatically when a user is suppressed on ChitChat.
• Hiding isn't the same as deleting.
• Hiding isn't noticeable to the person who posted - they think it still appears fine, but the post doesn't show for other non-volunteer Freeglers.
• Delete is noticeable to the original poster - their post is gone and doesn't show for them either.
• The Unhide option only shows for hidden posts, not deleted ones. It was added for cases where "Refer" was used by mistake, so you won't see it on a normal ChitChat post.

See also

• Freegle Direct - links to other Freegle Direct functions
• ModTools - links to other ModTools functions