Lost Pets & Bideford People

Hiya Everyone:

I've had a few emails of concern about our "no lost pets" policy so I thought I'd quickly explain our position. Freecycle is a good community resource that allows us to reach a number of people from around the Torridge area and as such there is always a temptation to use it for non-Freecycle related things, such as people looking for services, volunteers, charitable contributions, or to raise awareness of various issues facing our community, as well as finding lost pets.

However, the people who have signed up to Freecycle have signed up to a service that allows them to get rid of items that would otherwise end up in landfill or to pick up items that would otherwise be binned. Many find even with this focused remit the volume of emails they receive is too high. If we start to allow non-Freecycle related posts onto this group, the volume will increase.

With the particular issue of missing pets, the chances are the majority of people receiving the email will be too far away to be of any use. The Bideford group covers the whole of the Torridge!

If people are looking for electronic means of publicising lost pets, http://www.bidefordpeople.co.uk/ have graciously offer to the use of their website as a means of advertising.

I hope you understand why we take the stance that we have an appreciate that the success of the Freecycle group is in its ability to focus on what it does best, which is keep things out of landfill.

Sincerely,

Ben (moderator)