Moderator Manual:Mod cafe

Freecycle Cafe Guidelines

The following guidelines have been established for any Cafe groups that accompany Freecycle lists:

1. Standard Freecycle Trademark Usage Guidelines apply to both the main and chat cafe groups.
2. Standard Freecycle Group Rules & Etiquette apply to both the main and chat cafe groups. ** Chat Cafe Exception: Local moderators may choose to provide peripheral options for members which are not generally allowed on the regular board such as yard sales announcements, services, community event info, etc. However, local chat cafes may not become sales groups which parallel the local Freecycle board. **
3. Group owners must correspond to those of the local group and please only one cafe group per local group. If a cafe group is desired to be regional in nature, please get the ok from your GOA.

Cafe Tips: The following are suggested tips which may help you to establish a healthy and happy chat cafe group environment. Enjoy!

1. You'll find it is helpful to make available as many Yahoo features as possible to the members such as: Photos, Databases, Links, and Calendar.
2. Recognize that the members who do join a cafe are often the most involved and enthusiastic. This may well prove a good "launching pad" for ideas as well as an opportunity to scout for new potential local moderators.
3. By all means, encourage local resourcefulness and involvement. A cafe may serve as a forum where members can show community appreciation; ask for information on local services, businesses, charities, nonprofit organizations; give members a chance to volunteer with Freecycle or other area groups, e.g. set up a table for volunteers wanted; allow members to post links in the Links section to their businesses or set up a database for this purpose. Members should not sell on list, but may "hook up" off list. A vital part of Freecycle(TM) is providing a connection to local community causes and organizations.
4. Beware of the griping group syndrome. You don't want to abandon the group to gripers but rather provide a further forum for members to have positive and helpful interaction in order to further build local community.
5. Yard Sales: Consider making it a condition of allowing yard sale posts that they also have a free stuff table or maybe offer leftovers for free afterwards.
6. Businesses & Services: One may wish to ask that local members post their related info to the chat cafe database and/or links section rather than to the main chat cafe board.
7. Pet Issues: If the group allows pets, make sure your pet moderator is also a cafe member, if you have one, since pet issues invariably come up -- especially fundraising, petitions, etc. If the group does not allow pets, recognize that it may be even more likely that the issue will be raised in the cafe. Keep links (e.g. http://www.petfinder.com ) about animal adoption and care handy. A folder of links to local animal charities -- e.g. Humane Society or SPCA is also a good idea.
8. Consider not listing the local cafe group in Yahoo Groups. This helps to avoid people mistakenly joining your cafe group instead of the main local board. It also reduces the spam potential. Generally then people learn of the cafe group through the local board directly or through word of mouth as community builds. Then one doesn't need to approve new memberships at all as cafe groups are generally less formal. Of course, you'll want to moderate new members to make sure spam doesn't pop up after all. And, you'll want to notify new Cafe group members of how to join the main board with an auto e-mail when they join up, just to be safe.