Too many wanteds

WANTEDs can be just as good as offers at keeping stuff out of landfill. If people complain a good thing to do is to look at your group's stats on your Dashboard in Modtools. That shows you a pie chart of types of messages posted on your group over the past 30 days. You could always copy and paste that chart or quote the figures to anyone who is complaining.

How about pointing out the advantages of WANTEDs?:

• They can jog your memory about stuff that you hadn't thought of offering, including things like used jars, broken i-pods, rags etc needed for a hobby.
• The item requested is really needed, so you know it is going to be appreciated.
• People who initially post a lot of WANTEDs and get stuff usually start offering later. That's the magic of generosity - it breeds more!

If someone's still unhappy, suggest they filter out emails from your group with WANTED in the title.

Explain that if someone is being too greedy, other members will notice it, and not respond – so the group can become self-policing without the need for additional rules.

There can be disadvantages to limiting WANTED posts:

• You will need to remember the limits and monitor all posts more closely.
• There are members that don't like to post offers on the list who frequently respond off list to WANTEDS - these members may also post WANTEDS.
• Members might just start posting WANTEDs on neighbouring groups, causing people to travel further and use more fuel to collect stuff.
• If your group is all OFFERS you may end up only attracting people who want to get stuff.

Only consider imposing strict rules on WANTEDs if they are seriously upsetting the group rather than just one or two individuals, but preferably don't bow under the pressure from a vocal minority.

Limiting WANTED messages

• Set your group's limits for Wanted messages in https://modtools.org/modtools/settings - 'WANTED duplicate period' and 'WANTED auto-repost (days)'
• Sample messages for members WANTEDs – Too many
• Sample Admin message for your group Group limit on the number of wanteds

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