Sob Stories

This is a sample admin message you can use for your community.

ADMIN: Please avoid sob stories and detailed personal circumstances

Hello everyone,

We know Freegle is a great resource for people in difficult circumstances, which are sadly becoming more common.

However, please keep Wanted messages short and to the point. There's no need to tell the community personal information about health problems, family situations, benefits, etc. Freegle is for asking for items, and that's fine - there's no need for lots of justification.

Putting in too much personal information can actually put some people off replying to you. It can also turn the community into a "who needs things the most" competition, with sob stories getting more and more extreme as people think they have to prove they are in real need to get anything. That's not the case. Anyone can state what they need, and anyone can choose to reply.

All our community needs to know is: what are you in need of, where can you collect from, and is there any information that might affect exactly what items you can accept (e.g. that you can't accept items from homes with pets due to allergies). Keep it simple!

Volunteer Team

Links:

• Sob stories – introductory guidance on this topic
• Sob Story – example message to a specific member

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