A checked version of this page, approved on 5 February 2017, was based on this revision.

Training 3.01

Part 1, Before you become a moderator

BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF THE FREECYCLE NETWORK

On May 1st, 2003, Deron Beal sent out the first email announcing The Freecycle Network™ (TFN) to about 30 or 40 friends and a handful of non-profits in Tucson, Arizona, USA. At the time Deron founded The Freecycle Network, he worked with a small non-profit organization, RISE, which provides recycling services to downtown businesses and transitional employment to Tucsonans in need.

As the team recycled, rather than watching perfectly good items being thrown away, they found themselves calling or driving around to see if local non-profits could use them. Thinking there had to be an easier way, Beal set up that first Freecycle email group in a way that permitted everyone in Tucson to give and to get. Freecycle.org was off and running.

The Freecycle.org® concept has spread to over 110 countries, where thousands of local groups represent millions of members - people helping people and "changing the world one gift at a time." As a result, we are currently keeping over 1,000 tons a day out of landfills!

Thank you for agreeing to help the Freecycle.org movement and your own community by volunteering to be a moderator. Welcome and enjoy your time learning about Freecycle.org, and becoming a part of this adventure.

THE PURPOSE OF FREECYCLE.ORG

Our mission is to build a worldwide sharing movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources and eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community.

Click here for more information on our philosophy.

BASIC GUIDELINES FOR MODERATING

Without responsible moderators, a list quickly gets filled with spam and inappropriate posts. Memberships soon falls and the list becomes a ghost town. With your help, your local list will thrive, and everyone will benefit. Your help is invaluable.

Every Freecycle.org group is expected to operate in the same/similar fashion. Each community has the option to localize group rules, as long as they follow the required group guidelines.

Duties of a moderator

In short, you'll be checking in briefly a couple times a day to moderate your group. These are the main duties of a moderator:

Calmly handling any issues or complaints that come in. You will need to be as nice and friendly as possible, even if the mail from the member is not the most pleasant mail you have ever seen. You will need to remember that you will be representing The Freecycle Network(R) at all times.

Approving or rejecting messages that have been flagged for moderation. Pending messages and inquiries should be handled within 48 hours.

Responding to emails sent to moderators of the group. Responding to members’ emails. As a "customer relations representative" for Freecycle.org, responses should always be calm and clear and never angry. It is best to use a standard written reply to most frequently asked question. Many members' questions can be answered with the assistance of our how-to guide: https://wiki.freecycle.org/How_To_Use_Freecycle.

Reading the unmoderated postings to check for compliance with The Freecycle Network's required group guidelines. These guidelines can be found here: https://wiki.freecycle.org/Guidelines_and_Disclaimer.

Taking members off moderation if they are posting correctly or within a few weeks of joining.

Keeping up with Freecycle.org rules and guidelines. Become familiar with the Mod Manual and refer to it regularly. Join moderator discussion groups once you're promoted to Lead Moderator.

Do's and Don'ts

The Moderator Manual includes a full list of Freecycle.org Do's and Don'ts

Responsibilities of All Moderators

Moderators must follow the required guidelines of The Freecycle Network, as well as any local rules for your group.
Moderators must maintain a positive, friendly, non-threatening relationship with other mods and the members.
Moderators must be aware of the privilege of being a Freecycle.org moderator and taking great care not to take advantage of it. NEVER, ever reply to an offer before it is released to the list for all members to see.
Moderators must maintain confidentiality of member information.
Be nice, helpful, never demeaning. Be a caretaker of the group, not a boss.
Fulfill your commitment to Freecycle.org by covering the group the hours you agree to. If you will be unable to moderate the group as agreed, please contact the Lead Mods and other moderators so that the site is covered in your absence. If you are a sole moderator, please contact your Group Outreach and Assistance volunteer (GOA) to request temporary Mentor Mod team coverage. For more information about GOA, please click here.

If your local group approves memberships, follow the guidelines in place for this purpose.

Responsibilities of the Lead Moderator

It is your job to see the job of moderating your group is always covered. you or another moderator should check in on it at least once during the day.
Recruit new mods as needed to make sure that your group is covered in case of emergency.
Keep your files and admins up to date. Recommended admins and changes to required files will be announced on FIOD and FLC and posted in the mod manual
Make important decisions pertaining to group-related issues, in consultation with your co-moderators.

For those with the desire to do more there will be opportunities for getting involved in other group tasks, such as:

Required Files

All Freecycle.org groups are required to maintain two group files. Please see the links below for more information on these files.

In addition to the required files, some groups create files to send to members in certain circumstances, for example when a post has to be rejected or deleted. This helps keep the communications with members consistent and also saves time for the Moderator. See the Moderator Manual for sample files that you can modify and use for your group. For instructions on how to create files for your group, click here.

Many groups have "Required Group Guidelines" and "Disclaimer" as separate files. It's not as convenient as the combined "Guidelines and Disclaimer" file, but it's perfectly acceptable to maintain these as separate files as long as both files are sent to all new members.

GENERAL TIPS ON MODERATING YOUR FREECYCLE.ORG GROUP

As a moderator you are expected to follow all rules. You are the role model for every member. Moderators are expected not to post “needy" or "desperate" posts. Moderators are not allowed to become No-shows. Your dedication and willingness to moderate the group is very important. You must be counted on. Professionalism and teamwork is very important to a moderator's position.
NEVER reply to an offer before it is released to the group. This would be reason to be dismissed as a moderator.
Full moderation of a group is not allowed. After a member has posted correctly, remove them from moderation. If you have a group that is highly moderated, you may remedy the situation by clicking on the "Unmoderate Entire Group" Button and remodderating a few problem members. Your GOA may require you to unmoderate the entire group this way if s/he comes across a group with high levels. Emergency Full Moderation can be used for short times only as neccessary. Please contact your GOA should you need to do this.
Good communication and teamwork is very important. It makes running a group go much more smoothly. It is a good practice to cc or copy/paste everything you send to a member either to the Lead Moderator or a small mods group just for your local group so the other moderators can see what has been done. Keeping each other in the loop is very beneficial.
Do not remove members lightly. Having said that there are times it is appropriate. Any member who is heavily abusive to you should be removed. As volunteers we do not have to take abuse. Extreme Problem members (separate from spam) should be reported to the GOA. Spammers should be reported to Spam Control immediately.
Enforce all your rules consistently and fairly. But don't be dictators. Uneven enforcement will prolong your problem.

What is not allowed on Freecycle.org

In addition to items mentioned in the Guidelines and Disclaimer:

Adult-oriented posts
Advertising
Bickering, ranting, snippiness
Foul language or vulgar ID’s
Pet Breeding posts
Ads, including ads for garage, boot or yard sales
Moderating several groups or moderating a group other than where the mod lives.
Keeping the whole group (or majority of the group) on moderation.
Themed Freecycle.org groups, such as just children’s clothing.
Restricting wanteds to a specific day or time, or making a separate database for them.
Keeping a public database of no shows or problem members. You may keep these, but they must be for the mods' eyes only.
SPAM. Spam is any post that endorses a commercial product or is being blanketed across The Freecycle Network. SPAM is dealt with harshly. If we can't identify the poster as a local member we report them to Spam Control. To find out how to report a Spammer, click here.
Scams. From time to time enterprising scammers attempt to fleece Freecycle members out of money, often for delivery or courier fees associated with an item they are offering. Please report suspected scammers to Spam Control.

Items to be decided on a local basis

Pets. Pets can be very controversial. If you decide that your group should allow pet posts, please refer to the Pet Moderator Handbook.
Coupons, tickets, frequent flyer miles, game pieces, postage. These items can clutter the board and don't really help accomplish our goal of keeping items out of the landfill.
Cribs and infant car seats. Because of safety and liability concerns, some moderators (especially in the U.S.) prefer not to allow posts for these items. Other moderators allow these items after editing the post to include a statement advising members to check the latest consumer safety data before using these products. After all, a drop-side crib may be too dangerous to use for an infant, but it could be cleverly repurposed into something useful.

Please note: If you are working on a group where the Lead Mod is a freecycle.org email address, you will be able to make decisions for group policy after the Lead Mod has left. Groups with Freecycle.org moderators are run with simple guidelines of only Free, Legal, and Appropriate for all Ages. If you have been referred by a local mod to join an existing team, it would be wise to check with that local mod team to see what policies have been set.

Moderated vs. Unmoderated Members

There are two basic types of members, "Moderated" and "Not moderated." "Moderated" means all messages go to Pending and have to be approved. "Not moderated" means member messages go directly to the board with the exception of messages triggered by Hotwords.

While how to moderate new members is a moderator's decision, the default setting for new members is unmoderated. If you choose moderated, you must take them off moderation after they post correctly or after a short time on the list even with no posts. This means you will no longer be reviewing their messages, and that whatever they post will go directly to the board. Hotwords will still catch inappropriate posts after this point. You will be manually changing membership status for new members who have learned how to post correctly.

When should members be taken off of moderation? As soon as possible. Many moderators take them off moderation after one good post. Some mods make it two good posts, others make it a month. Members who have not posted within a couple of months should be taken off moderation to keep your group's moderated percentage from steadily increasing.

Contacting the Mod Team

There is a link on your group home page that members can use to contact the mod team. However, you may need to send out something that you want members to reply to, for example a request for volunteers. In that case you will need to ask members to reply at https://my.freecycle.org/home/groups/GROUPNAME/contact_mods, replacing GROUPNAME with the name of your group

As an important anti-spam safeguard, never publish your Moderator email address. We do not ever put the moderator address on information that goes out to the groups because we don't want spammers to get a hold of it.

Common situations encountered by moderators

The Mod manual includes a list of common situations that moderators are likely to encounter, as well as sample responses, files or Admins that you may use in when you encounter those situations.

Assignment

Answer the following questions and email them to your trainer:

Please explain how you would deal with the following pending posts. Follow your group's guidelines when answering these questions. If you don't have a policy in place for some of the issues, this is a good time to consider what your group's policies will be once your trainer leaves your group.

A) Accept as is;

B) Reject (state reason);

Offer: Imodium HD
Offer: Guppies
Offer: Drop-side crib, excellent condition
Wanted: Infant car seat
Offer: Instant ramen, expiration date 12 months ago
Offer: Mikes Hard Lemonade
Wanted: Clothing, any gender or size. We have a large family and will donate whatever we can't use to charity.
Offer: Wine glasses
Wanted: Desperate for baby boy clothes. My husband lost his job and we can't afford to buy any for the new baby.

Part 2, how-tos

Learn how to use the Moderator Tools

Refer to this how-to-guide for help in using the Mod Tools.

Experiment on the Playground or on your own group

Find the Mod Tools.
Check your own moderated status. Hint: Use "Search Members" to find your record. Make sure you check "Include Moderators" and "Include Lead Moderators" under Membership levels.
If your moderated status is "Unmoderated" change it to "Moderate Member for Posting."
Leave Mod Tools and return to the group's home page.
Make a couple of posts, Offers or Wanted.
Go back into Mod Tools, find your own posts and approve or reject them them. Remember to check "Include pending posts."
Open Mod Tools, and find the answer to these questions: How many members are your group? How many Moderators? How many Lead Moderators?

Optional: Join the Moderator Playground

If you're reluctant to experiment on your own group, let your trainer know that you would like to practice on the playground. Once your trainer has sent an invitation to join the MyFCTraining playground, here's how to join:

Log into MyFreecycle as you normally would.
Click the green 'My Groups' tab. You should see the MyFCTraining group listed along with your other group(s).
Click the MyFCTraining link to go to the playground.
When you're done practicing, please delete any files and admins that you have created on the playground and remove your posts.
To remove yourself from the playground, first demote yourself to moderator, then demote again to member, then leave the group. Make sure you do not remove yourself from My.Freecycle.org.

Set your moderator preferences

Set your moderator preferences so you will be notified of pending posts. Please click here to learn how.

MEMBER HOW-TO'S

For information for members on using My.Freecycle, please refer to the FAQ here. This information will help you learn the ins and outs of using Freecycle so you can help your members with their questions.

Check your group's settings

As soon as you have been given moderator privileges on your group, please check to see if your group has been set up correctly. These are things you will need to check:

Group files. Make sure you have the two required files. You may expand on the basic guidelines and Disclaimer file to include additional information if you wish. Here is a sample from the Moderator Manual.
Automatic sending. Make sure that the required files are going out when members join or leave the group.
Time zone. Please make sure this is correct so that posts will reflect the correct time.

Customize your group

Here are some areas you may want to tweak after you are promoted:

Admins. Remove any unnecessary admins. This is a good time to remove your recruiting admin unless your group needs additional moderators.
Group options.
Postal codes
Group description
Local group policies. If your group has any local policies beyond the basic Freecycle guidelines, it is a good idea to post those in an Admin. You may also wish to include local policies in the Guidelines and Disclaimer file that you send to all members when they join.

Part 3, additional information

Required guidelines and policies

Local moderator decisions

COMMON ISSUES WE ENCOUNTER AS MODERATORS

PROBLEM MEMBERS. Consult your GOA. The GOA has the authority and experience to handle problems with members.
INAPPROPRIATE RESPONSES TO POSTS. Members will occasionally receive inappropriate responses to their posts. Always ask them to forward the email to you for verification. Inappropriate responses include such things as:

Responding to a Wanted post with an offer to sell the requested item. These are often from well-meaning members who are willing to part with an item, just not for free. One warning is usually all it takes, but if it happens again, remove the member from your group and contact your GOA.
Responding with profane, abusive or obscene language: Remove the member from your group and forward the email to your GOA.
Responding with spam: See section above on reporting a spammer.

For more issues and suggested responses, please click here.

PROMOTING AND BUILDING YOUR GROUP

Click here for some ideas on how to promote your group. Have some more great ideas? Share them on the Freecycle Leadership Community.

LINKS & RESOURCES

ABBREVIATIONS & ACRONYM. We admit it, we abbreviate everything. Click here for a full glossary
ORG CHART AND LEADERSHIP TEAM. Most members think of The Freecycle Network as being a community resource, but it is actually a large, global organization with more than 5,200 Freecycle.org groups in over 110 countries. See the Org Chart and Leadership team for more information about the basic structure of The Freecycle Network.
OTHER USEFUL LINKS AND RESOURCES. The Moderator Manual contains a list of useful links for moderators.

MODERATOR DISCUSSION GROUPS

Being a Moderator is being part of a team. Moderators with years of experience and moderators with five minutes of experience are all part of our Freecycle.org team. We are our own support group. These discussion groups help mods keep up with the changes as My.Freecycle.org develops and improves on an on-going basis. Only moderators are approved for membership, so you will need to wait until you are a moderator.

Tech Discussion Group/FIOD

Tech Discussion Group/FIOD is a discussion group for moderators with problems with the site. There they can ask questions, make suggestions and search for past messages to see if they can find the answers to their questions. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/fiod/info

If you are having a technical problem this is the first place to make it known or find out if others are having the same problem. This is not a place to discuss group dynamics, posts about what to allow on the group or general chit chat. Whenever you post on FIOD always include your Group name and Unique TFN Group ID number which are found on your Info and Options Page.

If you are not already a member of this group, send a join request to: fiod-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Only mods on active MyF groups can join FIOD. Do NOT apply until you finish training and are promoted to Moderator. Click here for more information on how to join.

Freecycle Leadership Community

Freecycle Leadership Community. FLC is a forum where moderators from around the world discuss issues with their groups, offer advice and opinions, and share fun stories from their own groups. Moderators come here for the latest news and updates about Freecycle.org. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FreecycleLeadershipCommunity/info

Click here for more information on how to join FLC.

PROBLEMS, SOLUTIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS

As Moderator, you will occasionally encounter glitches with the system, and you will hear from members who suspect things aren't working the way they should. This section tells you where to report problems and describes the information you need to provide when reporting problems. Use the who, what, when, and where approach to analyze the error and learn where to report the error.

Always include your Group name and Unique TFN Group ID number which are found on your Information page.

Where to report an error

First, choose the appropriate site for reporting your problem. There are four choices:

Tech Discussion Group/FIOD -- You can post any technical problem or question on FIOD and get a quick response by other moderators. The tech team also monitors FIOD and will take care of problems that need attention. Click here for more information on FIOD.
For members only -- If your error involves a member experiencing anything you don't know how to fix, nor does anyone on FIOD, have your member write to the Member Support Team at myfreecyclesupport@freecycle.org. Please don't contact myfreecyclesupport with moderator issues.
For Moderators only -- If the error can't be resolved through FIOD, contact SiteModHelp@freecycle.org. Always include your Group name and Unique TFN Group ID number which are found on your Information page. Please don't give the SiteModhelp address to members.
Any other issue that doesn't fit into the above categories -- please send it to Help@Freecycle.org

How to report an error

When reporting an error, a proper who, what, when and where error report must include the following.

These are mandatory:

The group name or number.
The User ID or email address.
The name of virus protection being used.
The name of ad blocker being used.
The web browser being used.
The operating system being used.
The name of the internet provider and if it is dial up, or broad band, or a wireless hot spot Wi-Fi, or Satellite, or FIOS, DSL
The URL of the page the error happened. Example: http://moderator.Freecycle.org/login or http://my.Freecycle.org etc.
Which computer is being used, example, a work computer - a library computer - a smart phone (include brand, i.e. iPhone or Windows or Android)

These are helpful and may be asked in follow up emails:

Describe (or provide screen shot) of error message displayed on screen
Describe what steps you have already tried. Example: I used a different browser - I shut down the computer using the Ctrl + f5 key for a fresh restart - I closed and reopened the browser - I tried a different browser - I tried a different computer - I tried a different ISP provider - I cleared the browsers cache - I cleared browser cookies - I cleared browsers temp internet files - I removed saved passwords from the browser - I removed bookmark and typed Freecycle.org to get the newest cookie then re-bookmarked the newer page

For Members With Problems Signing up or Signing in

First give them the following step-by-step instructions:

STEP-BY-STEP SIGN UP LETTER

There are two steps to joining a Freecycle.org group. First, you must create an account on My.Freecycle.Org, then join the local group or groups of your choice. The steps for both are outlined below: First, create a user account:

Go to http://my.freecycle.org/signup
Enter your desired User ID
Enter your desired email address
On the next line, create a password that is easy to remember
Enter the password again to confirm accuracy
Enter the two re-captcha words to verify that you are not a robot
Toggle the terms of use box on the right, then click the Sign Up button
Once you click the Sign Up button you will be a member of My.Freecycle.org Now you need to join your local Freecycle.org group
Click on the MYGROUPS tab.
Enter your local group name or postal code into the search box and click search
Click on JOIN this group on the far right

Repeat steps 8-10 to join other groups nearest your home or workplace. Some groups choose to approve members. If that is the case with the group you have chosen, you will be contacted by a moderator for more information before you are approved for membership. Otherwise, you will now be a member of Freecycle.org and also the local group of your choice.

If a member continues to have problems signing up or signing in, send this letter:

WHOM TO CONTACT LETTER.

We understand you have questions or are having problems signing up or logging in to My.Freecycle.org. So that you reach the appropriate support staff, please contact the following address for questions on logging in, signing up, etc. myfreecycleADMIN@freecycle.org. You are initially sent an automatic reply that has the answers/instructions for the most frequently asked questions. In that email you are also referred to another email address if that one does not solve the problem or answer your question.

Signed, your moderator

For Members with Password Problems

If a member forgets or loses their password and requests a new temporary password, keep in mind that the new password is case sensitive. Our system always uses uppercase and passwords are 8 characters long. Tell the member to enter the password exactly as it is sent to them, using copy and paste if possible. Temporary passwords are only good for one log-in and expire after 24 hours.

SPAMMERS AND SCAMMERS

One way to determine if a spammer has posted:

Go to Mod Tools, click on Post and in the search box, enter the suspected spammer's email address. Just below that search box you will see a tiny box to check that will include to search for post made on all groups. To the right of that box is three boxes to include open post, closed post, and pending post, check them all and Click search.

If the member has posted the same post on many groups, you are most likely dealing with a spammer. Once you are certain this is a spammer, you can email your results to spamcontrol@freecycle.org putting spammer in the subject line and the results in the body of the email and the Spam Control Team will give them the big boot out of ALL MyF groups making that member user ID and email address unable to join again. However, the team must be satisfied that they are indeed a spammer before they will do this so please do your homework and then report it here.

Reporting a Spammer or Scammer

When reporting a spammer/scammer send an email to spamcontrol@freecycle.org and add these five things:

The spammer's MyF User Name
The spammer's MyF email address
The reason (e.g. iPod scammer)
The post ID.
Your group ID (name and number, please), which is found on your group's Info and Options page.

How to get help with your group

Once your trainer leaves your group, your Group Outreach and Assistance (GOA) volunteer will become your primary support for any issues you might face. Please refer to the Mod Manual for more information.

COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARK INFORMATION

Because The Freecycle Network at Freecycle.org is unique and amazingly successful, there are many who have and who would try to use it for personal gain and profit. For that reason:

The Freecycle Network is incorporated as a non-profit organization.
The Freecycle.org logo is trademark protected.
We link only to those groups which are approved local groups.

We need to do our best to use the Freecycle.org trademark properly so that we don’t lose the right to it. As Moderators, we have an essential role to play in protecting the Freecycle.org trademark. These are the key points:

Always use the term "Freecycle.org" correctly. "Freecycle" is NEVER used as a verb and must always be capitalized.
Include the proper attribution statement in group emails and home pages.
Use the registered trademark symbol, either ® or (R), the first time the word "Freecycle.org" is used in any text (in Admins, Files, signatures, etc.). Freecycle group sites should have an (R) or ® next to the logo at the top and an (R) or ® next to the first use of The Freecycle Network (or of the word Freecycle, whichever comes first). The subsequent uses of "Freecycle" can be without the trademark symbol.

The U.S. copyright and trademark information is explained fully in the Moderator Manual. If you are in the European Union, please refer to the E.U. guidelines in the Mod Manual.

Sometimes group mods will get mad at Freecycle.org(R) and start their own group. If they use the word "Freecycle" or some derivative, it is a violation of copyright law. Contact your GOA if you see a group that has done this. The way to determine if a group is "official" is to go to Freecycle.org and enter the name; if they are listed there, then all is well.

If you want to do more

The Freecycle Network is always on the lookout for people who can help with all of the behind-the-scenes work that is needed to keep everything running smoothly. If you have any spare time or special skills you would like to offer, please see this link for more information.