Broadcast (Admin) Messages
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Freegle Volunteer Wiki › 📢 Broadcast (Admin) Messages
Admin messages go out to your whole community at once, rather than to a single member - reminders, seasonal nudges and policy statements that apply to everyone. Treat them as a starting point: fill in the placeholders ($groupname, $owneremail and so on), adapt the tone to your community, and send from ModTools when the moment fits. They're grouped below by theme, from encouraging people to freegle and stay local, through conduct and safety, to reminders about specific kinds of item.
Encouraging people to freegle
- Bank Holiday - send over a bank holiday weekend to nudge members to freegle stuff they'd otherwise take to the tip.
- Christmas - seasonal admin encouraging members to freegle unwanted gifts and things cleared from the loft, with versions suited to mixed or non-Christmas-celebrating communities.
- Spring Cleaning! - a short, upbeat nudge to freegle rather than tip things during a spring clear-out.
Keeping it local
- Crossposting - explains why posting the same message to several communities at once causes problems, with sample wording asking members to stick to their local community first.
- Keep it Local - a shorter admin making the same "use your home community first" request, with the community and environmental benefits spelled out.
- Sample Admin: New local Freegle Community opened - send from a neighbouring community when a new local Freegle community opens, inviting members to move across if it's now their home patch.
Posting rules and limits
- Multiple posts - reminds members of the posting limits for Offers and Wanteds so the board doesn't get swamped.
- Sample Admin: Too many wanteds - explains your community's monthly limit on Wanted posts and why it exists.
- Autoresponders - asks members not to use automatic email replies to respond to posts, and warns this can get them treated as spammers.
- Sample Admin: Sob stories - asks members to keep Wanted posts short and avoid sharing detailed personal circumstances.
Conduct and courtesy
- Be nice - a set of general courtesy reminders (reply once, keep appointments, don't ask on the off-chance) for when standards have been slipping.
- Zero Tolerance - a clear statement that discrimination, abuse or harassment of any kind won't be tolerated in the community.
- Inappropriate Messages - explains what happens when an unmoderated member's post slips through against the guidelines, and asks members to report rather than publicly call it out.
Safety and collections
- Collecting Offers - reminds members how to arrange safe, contactless-friendly collections when leaving items out for pickup.
- Sample Admin: Keep safe - a general personal-safety reminder covering not sharing postcodes or phone numbers publicly, and trusting your instincts about a contact.
- Sample Admin: No-shows - reminds members to honour arranged collections, mark items Taken/Received promptly, and let people know if plans change.
Item-specific reminders
- Sample Admin: Animals - restates a no-live-animals policy and points members to animal rescue organisations instead.
- Sample Admin: Woodburning stoves - discourages requesting treated wood (old furniture, decking, laminate) for burning, because of the toxic fumes it gives off.
- Copyright - clarifies the rules on giving away software, CDs, DVDs and other copyrighted media.
Money and reselling
- Sample Admin: Reselling - sets out the community's stance on reselling items received via Freegle, and asks resellers to declare their intent.
- Sample Admin: Raising funds for Freegle - an appeal you can send asking members to consider a donation to help keep Freegle running.
Keeping in touch and staying informed
- Too many emails - reassures members swamped by their inbox that they can change their email delivery settings rather than leave.
- Virus warnings - use if a member has forwarded a virus hoax to the list, to remind everyone to check before forwarding scary-sounding warnings.
- Sample Admin: Events - introduces the Freegle Events feature for sharing car boot sales, talks and other community events.
- Sample Admin: Feedback system - explains the automated feedback system so members understand how the thumbs up/down and profile history works.
Prefer to browse? Every page here is also listed A-Z in the Broadcast (Admin) Messages index. Back to the home page.
