• New Site Q & A
• Website Changes FAQ

1. Getting Immediate Help
       G.O.A. contacts
   
   
2. Required Guidelines and Policies
     Cafe Guidelines
     Copyright and Trademark Policy
     Promotional Items
     Do's & Don'ts
     Moderator Oath
     Required Files
     Rules & Etiquette Guidelines
   
   
3. Moderating Freecycle
     Organisational Chart
     Instructional Video
   
   
4. The "Files"
   
   
5. Notices
     Seasonal Notices
   
   
6. Responses
   
   
7. Pass The Torch
   
   
8. Volunteering
   
   
9. Translations
   
   
10. UK Moderators Manual
    
    

Membership Types Defined

Membership types come in three varieties... open, restricted and closed.

Open membership means that anyone can join the group without moderator approval. This method allows members to join your group no matter where they are located and without verifying location, profiles or motives. Nothing is required of a moderator using this method.

Restricted membership must be approved by the moderator. It is a good idea to have a Pending Membership Letter sent to the member upon receiving their application. This lets them know their application has been received and is pending approval by the moderator. Once they are approved, you can auto-send** various files to the member which provide information needed to understand the rules and guidelines for your group. These include, but are not limited to, the Etiquette Files, Welcome Letter, Disclaimer and Safety Notice, and Organizing Your E-Mails. If the member is denied, a generic Denied Membership letter can be generated to explain the reasons why membership was rejected. There are no hard and fast rules for rejecting members, but sometimes it is necessary to due to inappropriate profiles or usernames, or prior bad acts with other groups. If your group has a Zip Code rule that states you must be within the local area of the group, this would also be a valid reason to reject the member. Use discretion when determining a membership is not acceptable for your group when applying the profile and username guidelines.

Closed membership is by invitation only and is not used for Freecycle™ purposes. If you change your group to this setting, you cannot change it back.

** Files can be automatically generated as they are created and uploaded to the "files" section of your group. Just check the boxes that indicate frequency of mailings for each of your files. Once these settings have been checked, Yahoo will send the files automatically to all your members who have their mail settings to receive mail or digests. You will not have to do anything aside from the initial settings to generate these messages.