UK Moderators Manual

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Members FAQ
Moderators Manual
Freecycle - UK Faq

UK Manual - Updates

Freecycle® U.K. Frequently Asked Questions - Resources for Mods

Contents

7. RESOURCES - FOR MODS

7. RESOURCES - FOR MODS

7.1 Back up co-owner - why do I need one?

It is a requirement that you have some kind of back-up owner on your group.

This is because then if anything happens to you they can get onto the group and run it in your absence.

This back up owner must be someone who does not share the same net connection or computer as you, but lives in the group catchment area It can be a co-mod, or a close friend, etc. (basically someone you trust, ideally who holds a mod position somewhere.

The Freecycle Network has set up a ‘neutral’ system where the larger organisation provides back up ownership facilities for those who choose to use it. Full details of this scheme can be found at:

http://www.freecycle.org/faq/manual/mod_ersatzfriend

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7.2 Firefox Moderation Plug-in - what is it?

This extension works only with the Firefox web browser but allows moderators to manage most activity directly from the pending and main messages lists.

You can see the full content of messages and a count of the poster's recent offers and wanteds etc. You can change the membership setting to "group settings" with one click and can create your own set of "reply buttons" complete with a standard text of your choice, and more.

For further information, advice and to download the Firefox moderation extension, please join the following group:

http://plugin.freecycle.org (re-directs to the Yahoogroup) - or

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/ModerationPlugin/

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7.3 GOAs - Group Outreach and Assistance volunteers - who are they?

GOAs are an important resource for owners, moderators and members. They are there to support and reassure groups as well as help with Freecycle issues as and when they arise.

The Freecycle® Group Outreach and Assistance (GOA) volunteers are available as a resource for mods, to offer support to groups and help them over any Freecycle issues (not just any difficulties) they may be facing. There are a number of GOAs for the UK, one for each region of the UK.

If you are unsure of how to proceed with an issue, especially a delicate or confidential one that would be inappropriate to post on a modsquad, then your first port of call should be the GOA. Issues may be because of rival/rogue 'Freecycle' groups; misuse of the Freecycle name; questions about group splits, problems relating to relationship with local authorities, sensitive issues with fellow mods or neighbouring groups, or just to let them know about something good that has happened within your group etc

They are also volunteers just like everyone else, and may be pushed for time with many complex and sensitive jobs on, so do be patient unless you are having a group emergency. They are all experienced moderators and also moderate their local groups. Regional GOA email addresses are:

England:
For precise regional boundaries please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_England
East of England: east@freecycle.org
East Midlands: eastmidlands@freecycle.org
London: london@freecycle.org
North East: northeast@freecycle.org
North West: northwest@freecycle.org
South East: southeast@freecycle.org
South West: southwest@freecycle.org
West Midlands: westmidlands@freecycle.org
Yorkshire and Humber: yorkshirehumber@freecycle.org

Northern Ireland: northernireland@freecycle.org

Scotland: scotland@freecycle.org

Wales: wales@freecycle.org

Current names of regional/county GOAs: http://www.freecycle.org/faq/manual/contact

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7.4 Holiday and Emergency cover - how can I get help?

We encourage you to recruit a team of moderators for your group as soon as possible to avoid the need to arrange cover for holidays and emergencies. With your own team in place it is much easier to run your group as it is no longer just dependent on your own efforts. It provides a natural way of having cover for holidays, emergencies and if you just want a day off! It also means there will be cover if you lose Internet connection or have some thing happen which means you have to be away for some time.

If you don’t have a team in place yet the Freecycle Mentor Moderators provide a holiday and emergency cover service. They will arrange for a mentor moderator to join your group for the period of time you need cover. Mentor moderators are experienced moderators who give their assistance to less experienced moderators or to groups who need some short term emergency assistance. To contact the mentor moderators please contact the Mentor Moderators Team Leader at ukmentor@freecycle.org

If at all possible give at a few days notice as it takes time to get set up. Sometimes a member will not show on the members list for a few days and you can't give them the necessary moderator access to run the group if they are not showing. If it is an emergency they will work with you to find a way. Please just contact them as soon as you know that you need cover.

An alternative way is to ask on your local or the UK modsquad for someone to help. People are always very willing to help. Back to list of Contents

7.5 Job description for moderators - what is it?

It is a small commitment which may take 15-45 minutes each day in a new group - a commitment you can share with others - the more of you there are the less time you'll need to spend individually.

The groups largely run themselves - mods just deal with the moderating requirements of the group as and when we deal with our email. You should be well supported, have access to lots of resources to help you and have a mentor if you need one.

The basics of the 'job' include:

Maintaining a positive, friendly, non-threatening relationship with other mods and the members.
Aiming to deal with pending members and pending messages within 24 hours and enquiries within 48 hours.
Being aware of the privileged position and taking great care not to take advantage of it.
Maintaining confidentiality of any information distributed via the list.
Developing and maintaining knowledge of Freecycle rules and guidelines.
Being familiar with the Mod Manual and referring to it regularly.
Joining virtual UK, Regional and local mod squads.
Encouraging and helping to advertise local Freecycle groups.
Representing Freecycle to the public in a manner that builds a positive reputation for Freecycle.
Performing other tasks as required.

There is a mentor Mod Team who are able to help new mods and owners learn the job and help established groups recruit and train new mods if they wish.

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7.6 Logos (graphics) - general, seasonal or personalised - how?

The general Freecycle® logo may be found at:
http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j42/logosforfreecycle/UK%20TM%20and%20copyright/

Contact graphics for help from the Graphics Team if you would like a generic, seasonal or personalised graphic for your own group.

In your initial email please try to give as much information as possible, your group address, a reply email address and specific information about your area or ideas you have for the graphic - please discuss these ideas with your co-mods before contacting the team.

If you produce your own customised logo, please contact the team and check that it is compliant before using it as there are lots of rules relating to this.

Your initial email may be answered from the Custom Graphics Team address but once your project has been assigned the emails will come from a member of the volunteer team. If you haven't had a reply once you have been assigned a volunteer please check your spam folder for their reply! The requests are taken in date order and could take a few weeks if they are busy - but please email the Group if you haven't had a reply within two weeks. Back to list of Contents

7.7 Message Subject Maker - what is it?

It's a web page which generates correctly formatted Freecycle® emails from a set of simple fields provided by the user. The user is prompted with a simple form that asks for an item name, their location, and a short description of their item. Having provided these responses, the user clicks a "Generate Email" button and an email is generated and loaded automatically into their standard system email software (e.g. Thunderbird or Outlook Express). The email address, subject, and message body are all filled in automatically, and so the user only has to hit the "Send" button.

Each group that wants to use Message Maker must set up their own version of it because the group email address and formatting preferences are encoded in the web page. To set up your own version of Message Maker, download the current version from the MessageMaker Yahoo group:-

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/messagemakertest/

[Option for UK groups only :- If you do not want to join the MessageMakertest group, you can simply email me at
ukweb @ freecycle.org and ask nicely for the default version.

Please include your Yahoo group URL.

Instructions will be sent to you, and where to go for extra help or enhancements if wanted. ]

It is distributed as a "zip" file, and there are simple instructions for configuring your group name and particulars. Once you have set up the files correctly, you need to contact the UK web coordinator (ukweb@freecycle.org) who will (if asked nicely!) set up a web page on uk.freecycle.org especially for this purpose. You will then need to tell your group members the web address to go to.

Message Maker does not work with most webmail applications (such as Yahoo! Mail or Hotmail), but there is an option to get Message Maker to display plain email text ready to copy into webmail applications.

***please note that at this stage (March 07) we are not aware if the message maker will work with the new Freecycle website which it comes online later in 2007***

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7.8 Mod Manual - where is it and can members see it?

http://www.freecycle.org/faq/manual/ - available to everyone from the main Freecycle® site

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7.9 Modsquads - where is my local one?

In addition to the UKMS, you will find that you fall within the catchment area of an Official Regional ModSquad, and/or of an area, district, or local one. Many individual Freecycle® groups with moderating teams also have their own group-based ModSquads for discussion of issues relevant only to that group. For details of current regional and country Mod Squads in the British Isles, see: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKmodsquad/files/ModSquads.html

Important:

All mods need to join the UK Modsquad and their Official Regional ModSquad with at least a "Special Notices" setting. This is in order to ensure that mods do not miss important announcements or the opportunity to take part in Freecycle polls.

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7.10 Template Admin messages - where can I see some?

There are plenty in the Mod Manual under "Section 4 - Admin Notices," and "Section 5 - Admin Notices Misc," here:

http://freecycle.org/faq/manual/

You will also find some UK-specific ADMINs in the Files section of the UK MS website, here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKmodsquad/files/Examples/

And in the message archives of the UK MS, here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKmodsquad/messages

(search on "ADMIN")

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7.11 Template replies to members - where can I see some?

There are plenty in the Mod Manual under "Section 4 - The Files," here: http://freecycle.org/faq/manual/

You will also find some UK-specific template letters in the Files section of the UKMS website, here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKmodsquad/files/Examples/

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7.12 Volunteering - how can I become more involved in Freecycle®?

There certainly are plenty of opportunities. If you are committed to Freecycle and have a little extra time to spare, please send an email to your local GOA or uk@freecycle.org, mentioning your interests and strengths and to find out more about the various voluntary opportunities within Freecycle.

See also: http://www.freecycle.org/faq/manual/volunteering

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7.13 Where can I find a list of links and contact details for support and help?

These are the links and contact details only; further information on these resources can be found in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKmodsquad/files/

USEFUL LINKS & ADDRESSES

Main Freecycle UK Email address for members/public: info@freecycle.org (for Mods please see GOA addresses below)

FAQs (other than this one!):

1) http://www.freecycle.org/faq/faq/

2) http://www.freecycle.org/faq/manual/ Freecycle Mod Manual - an essential resource

Official Media link

http://www.freecycle.org/faq/faq/faq_contactmedia

Safety issues safety@freecycle.org

Volunteering http://www.freecycle.org/faq/manual/volunteering (email: volunteers@freecycle.org)

EMAIL SUPPORT & DISCUSSION LISTS

UK Mod Squad (UKMS) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKmodsquad

UK Modsquad Cafe (UKMS Cafe) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKModsquadCafe

Official Regional Freecycle Modsquads http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKmodsquad/database?method=reportRows&tbl=8

Organisational Issues Discussion Group (OIDG) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OIDG/

This is the official and confidential discussion group of The Freecycle Network for addressing organizational questions about where we are headed overall. It is for moderators only

FORMAL UK FREECYCLE TEAMS

Communications Team (CommTeam) CommCoord@freecycle.org

Group Outreach Assistance (GOAs)

Regional/country GOA email addresses are:

east@freecycle.org
eastmidlands@freecycle.org
london@freecycle.org
northeast@freecycle.org
northwest@freecycle.org
northernireland@freecycle.org
scotland@freecycle.org
southeast@freecycle.org
southwest@freecycle.org
wales@freecycle.org
westmidlands@freecycle.org
yorkshirehumber@freecycle.org

Graphics (Logo) Team graphics@freecycle.org

Interim Moderator (iMod)

See above for GOA Email addresses (to request the iMod team)

New Group Approvers (NGAs) nga_uk@freecycle.org

Mentor Mods ukmentor@freecycle.org

UK Freecycle Newswire Team newswire@freecycle.org

Trademark Team trademark@freecycle.org

UK Freecycle Website Team for http://uk.freecycle.org ukweb@freecycle.org

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7.14 I've heard that Freecycle are building a new website and moving away from Yahoo. Is this true?

Yes and no. It is certainly true that a new website is under construction to meet the particular needs of mods and members, but there will be no obligation to move to the new arrangements (although it is hoped that most groups will move). More information is available at:

http://www.freecycle.org/faq/manual/faq

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