Fear not! While the Featured Adoptable column that was previously hosted in this here space is no longer, I’ve resurrected the feature on another blog. Behold: Find-a-Friend Friday! All the adorableness you’ve come to expect, but now with an occasional dose of social commentary. Also: writeups on Kansas City-area events, a focus on food justice, and more pizza than you can shake a beer at. Come for the nonhumans, stay for the food (which, incidentally, does not contain the bodies or secretions of exploited nonhumans!).

Guess what? Wiggle butt!
Photos courtesy Halfway Home Pet Adoptions.

This is Beetle, a sweet pit bull terrier boy, and our very first friend in need of finding. Head on over to the PPP blog to learn more about Beetle, or jump straight to his Petfinder listing.

Later, gators. (See you around, bloodhound?)

I just wanted to thank everyone for the words of support and understanding that I’ve received in the past several weeks. After closing the list, I avoided checking my email for a few days, afraid of what I might find awaiting me. With only a few exceptions, everyone has been terribly kind and supportive – for which I cannot adequately express my gratitude. I’ve emailed many members privately, but have also decided to post this open letter on www.kcfreecycle.org so that all former KCF members can read it.

A few members have graciously offered their advice and/or services, or expressed an interest in running KC Freecycle. Unfortunately, when a group is deleted from Yahoo, it’s permanent and nearly instantaneous. The good news is that one of our former moderators has already set up an another “free reusing/recycling” group, ReUseIt Kansas City. It’s quite similar to the late Kansas City Freecycle, but with a smaller (for now!) membership, fewer rules and just a more relaxed atmosphere in general. Probably she won’t need additional moderators for a few months or so, but if you’re interested in joining or perhaps helping out in the future, you can check it out here: groups.yahoo.com/group/reuseitkc/

Along these lines, she also transitioned the old Chat Cafe into a chat list for the new group: groups.yahoo.com/group/KCChatCafe/

I’m a member of each group, so maybe I’ll see you around?

Until then, be green – and thanks for all you do!

- Kelly

When I first launched Kansas City Freecycle back in September 2003, I had no idea what to expect. At the time, we were only the 5th or 6th freecycle group in existence, and the term “freecycle” hadn’t yet become a staple of the green lexicon. Nearly seven years later, the group has grown in leaps and bounds, serving as a resource with which to rehome unwanted junk for tens of thousands of Kansas Citians (at its peak, the group boasted over 14,000 members). Dozens of smaller local groups have sprung up as well, catering to those living outside the KC metro area.

Though I moderated the group solo for the first year or so, I was lucky to have a number of wonderful, dedicated moderators pitch in and help out as the list matured: Ann and Bill. Shelly and Craig. Danielle. Carla. Brooke. Debra. Sheree. Susan. (And many more whose names escape me at this late hour!) Without them, Kansas City Freecycle would not have lasted as long as it did.

Over time, however, most of the first and second waves of volunteer moderators had to resign due to other commitments or simple burnout. It’s proven tough to replace them; each new call for moderators has generated fewer and fewer responses, even as the list’s membership continues to climb. (The number of chronic complainers and backseat drivers who stepped up to moderate when the opportunity arose? Exactly zero. Interesting, that.) So we’ve limped along, into and halfway through 2010, our resources stretched thinner and thinner. Somewhere along the way, I reached my own breaking point.

And so, with a mixture of regret and relief, I’ve decided that it’s finally time to say goodbye to Kansas City Freecycle. With no other viable options in front of me, I have chosen to delete the list. As of 11 PM, Saturday, July 24, 2010, the Kansas City Freecycle Yahoo Group will cease to exist.

Of course, I do have several alternatives available to me; but, after months of deliberation, I’ve decided that summarily deleting the group is the only course of action I can live with.

I might have tried to recruit and train additional moderators – but, as I’ve already implied, this would require more time, energy and motivation than I have left.

I might have handed ownership of the group over to another member – but this scenario involves a gamble that I’m not willing to make, namely: that the new owner will uphold those ethics and principles that I worked so hard to instill in Kansas City Freecycle (particularly in relation to the group’s no-animal policy, the enforcement of which is the sole reason why I’ve stuck around this long).

I might have given Kansas City Freecyle to freecycle.org and let them choose a new owner and team of moderators. Again, in this scenario I risk freecycle.org misusing my hard work to permit or even promote the freecycling of animals, a practice which opens the doors to all sorts of abuses. Additionally, I’ve grown increasingly disillusioned with freecycle.org and its founder, Deron Beal, over the course of my involvement with KC Freecycle; so much so that I’d rather spend another seven years moderating the group than allow Beal to appropriate my work and take credit for it. *

No doubt, some of you may see this as a selfish move on my part; maybe it is. When weighed against the seven years of blood, sweat and (at times) tears I’ve poured into Kansas City Freecycle, I think it a rather fair bargain.

Luckily, for those of you still interested in participating in a local buy/sell/trade/recycle/freecycle group online, there are plenty of options available. As I said earlier, many smaller freecycle groups exist in Kansas and Missouri; you can find a complete list at freecycle.org. Yahoo also hosts a number of local buy/sell/trade/free groups; we have a partial list on www.kcfreecycle.org (see the sidebar); and no doubt you’ll discover more by searching Yahoo, Craigslist, Google and the like. I’m also confident that another freecycle group – or two or three! – will quickly spring up to serve the cities of KCMO and KCKS, whether it’s hosted on freecycle.org, Yahoo Groups, or elsewhere. Maybe you’re the next Kansas City Freecycle moderator? (If so, no animals, mkay?)

Until next we meet, I want to thank the moderators of Kansas City Freecycle for helping to make the group such a success. And, to our many members, current and past – we couldn’t have done it without you.

Keep on (f)re(e)cyclin’,

Kelly G.
founder, list owner and moderator
Kansas City Freecycle | www.kcfreecycle.org
September 3, 2003 – July 24, 2010
 
P.S.:

- Under Beal’s leadership, freecycle.org has worked with Yahoo to seize local freecycle groups from those creators/owners/moderators who are vocal in their disagreement with freecycle.org.

- In order to defend a trademark which it doesn’t (yet) have, freecycle.org is pursuing legal action against groups and individuals for using the term “freecycle” as anything but a proper title (e.g., as a noun or verb, such as “freecycling”), or for using derivatives thereof (e.g., “freegal”). This litigation is still pending, with free speech advocates – including the Electronic Frontier Foundation – opposing freecycle.org‘s attempts to regulate speech. (Remember that green lexicon I referred to at the opening of this post?)

- Freecycle.org has sued at least one ex-moderator, Tim Oey, for “disparaging” the group. (I call it “speaking the truth”; apparently the court agrees, as Oey eventually prevailed.)

- Freecycle.org has at times insisted (under vague threat of trademark violation and group seizure) that I attach a copyright notice to my own materials attributing them to freecycle.org.

- In 2005, freecycle.org entered into a controversial partnership with Waste Management – accepting $130,000 in the bargain – without consulting with any of its many volunteer moderators, who arguably make the greatest contribution to freecycle.org‘s continued success. Since that time, freecycle.org has continued to accept donations, corporate sponsorships, and the like, with none of this money finding its way to individual groups and moderators (at least not that I am aware of). According to its own materials, freecycle.org has an annual budget and income of “about $140,000″ a year. Freecycle.org says that “90% of these funds are used directly for program expenses. The remaining 10% is split evenly between membership, fundraising and other administrative expenses.”

Given that 1) Yahoo can host freecycle groups for free and 2) group owners and moderators work as volunteers, for free, I wonder what freecycle.org‘s “program” and “administrative expenses” might be, or why it sees a need to spend money making money in the form of “fundraising.” Freecycle.org did launch a centralized website in 2009 – after nearly four years of promises and (presumably) thousands of dollars in cost – but again, given the plethora of free options available online, this was money wasted. For a group that initially billed itself as “grassroots,” freecycle.org sure has swelled to bloating.

- Along these lines, I was appalled to see freecycle.org competing against other nonprofits in Pepsi’s Refresh Project in early 2010. In this round of the competition, there were four monetary classes – $5k, 25k, 50k, and 250k – into which an individual or group could submit his, her or its idea in order to win funding. Freecycle.org entered itself in the highest prize class of $250,000; in its project details, the group stated that $150,000 would go towards “Server upgrades, equipment purchases”; $75,000 would be allocated for “Engineer, Developer and tech costs”; and $25,000 would be used for “Server, Urls and Web hosting.” In sum: nearly $250,000 to pay for a website and associated services that Yahoo provides for free.

Some of the projects freecycle.org was competing against? Youth centers in inner-city neighborhoods, spay and neuter programs in rural areas, and community gardens in impoverished urban communities. (Many of these projects, it’s worth noting, were asking for considerably less money than freecycle.org!) You know, necessary and worthwhile stuff.

Upon learning of this, I was so appalled that I registered with the Refresh Project just so I could vote against freecycle.org. They lost.

If you’d like to learn more, there are plenty resources and commentary critical of freecycle.org available online; Google, for example, “freecycle + Oey,” “freecycle + breakaway,” “freecycle + lawsuit,” “freecycle + censorship” – you get the idea. I had a list of links saved on delicious at one time, but they’ve long since been deleted.
 
 

Greetings, y’all!

A member asked me to pass along the following information re: “Large Item Recirculation Day” in Leawood, Kansas, this Saturday, June 5th.

Over on Leawood’s website (www.leawood.org/parks/), the city describes the event thusly:

“Leawood homes located from Somerset to 95th St, between State Line and Mission Roads. Here’s an opportunity to let that couch or chair find a new home and avoid ending up in a land fill.”

Additional information is available at www.leawood.org/parks/pdf/recirculation.pdf, but for those who cannot view the .pdf file, here are the details.

Pickup will be throughout the day on Saturday, June 5th. The town of Leawood kindly asks that you NOT put out any items prior to Friday, June 4th.

Allowable items include: couches, chairs, love seats, tables, end tables, refrigerators, stoves, washers/dryers, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, beds, bed frames, stereos, electronics, microwaves, TVs & PCs.

Items NOT included in this pickup: liquids, glass, hazardous waste, paint, pesticides, chemicals, oils, clothes, car batteries, tires, automotive parts, construction materials, concrete, dirt, old lumber, basketball poles, shingles & fencing.

(To arrange for disposal of these items, please call Johnson County Hazardous Waste at 913.715.6900. Note: Any non-allowed items placed curbside will not be picked up and will be subject to fines per code
violation.)

For more information about the Large Item Recirculation Day, please contact the City of Leawood at 913.339.6700 x 151.

Please do not respond to this ADMIN message on the Kansas City Freecycle list. If you have any questions, contact the City of Leawood rather than the KCF list moderators. We don’t know any more than you do!

If you’d like to share details about your town’s large/bulky item pickup day, please send the details to me at kelly [at] kcfreecycle.org and I’ll be happy to post them as an ADMIN message.

Members may also be interested in joining the Kansas City Freecycle Chat Cafe at groups.yahoo.com/group/KCChatCafe/, which is more conducive to conversations and the like.

Happy Cleaning!

Kelly G.
Kansas City Freecycle list owner

I’m a little strapped for time this week, so I decided to borrow one of Wayside Waifs’ “Waifs of the Week” for this week’s Featured Adoptable post. Normally, Wayside Waifs highlights younger, more “adoptable” animals in its newsletter. This week, though, they (kinda sorta) broke with tradition and included a senior beagle named Montana (alongside Demi, a one-year-old Belgian Malinois Mix and Espresso, a ten-month-old kitten).

It appears that Wayside Waifs no longer relies on Petfinder as its primary adoption listing source; instead, its newsletter links to Petango (which is new to me!). Here’s Montana’s listing:

Name: Montana
Animal ID: 7894997
Breed: Beagle / Mix Learn more
Age: 9 years 2 months
Gender: Female
Color: Brown / Black
Spayed/Neutered: Yes
Size: Medium

This sweet girl is Montana! She is a nine year old Beagle, and true to her breed, she is interested in following her nose wherever it takes her. Montana is easygoing and gentle, and she loves a good walk. She loves to check out everything around her. Montana came into Wayside as a transfer from another shelter with her best friend, Dakota. They’ve been together for a very long time, and they need to go home with each other. These two would be a great pick for a first time dog owner. They are both relaxed, social, and have great doggie manners. They are affectionate with everybody who stops along their walk to say hello! If you have room in your heart and home for these two sweethearts, come down to meet them today! Montana is currently in foster and is not at the shelter. If you would like to meet Montana and Dakota, please call Sarah Little at 816- 256-9310.

In addition to being an older lady, Montana is one half of a bonded pair; as you may recall, this can make it even more difficult for Montana (and her dog friend) to find a forever home. If you have room in your heart and home for two senior girls, please consider adopting Montana and Dakota.

And what about Dakota, hmmm? Let’s find out more about the second senior lady, shall we?:

Name: Dakota
Animal ID: 2838312
Breed: German Shepherd / Mix Learn more
Age: 9 years 5 months
Gender: Female
Color: Brown / Black
Spayed/Neutered: Yes
Size: Medium

This sweet girl is Dakota! She is a nine year old Shepherd mix. Dakota is easygoing and gentle, and she loves a good walk. She loves to check out everything around her. Dakota came into Wayside as a transfer from another shelter with her best friend, Montana. They’ve been together for a very long time, and they need to go home with each other. These two would be a great pick for a first time dog owner. They are both relaxed, social, and have great doggie manners. They are affectionate with everybody who stops along their walk to say hello! If you have room in your heart and home for these two sweethearts, come down to meet them today! This dog is in foster and is not at the shelter. If you would like to meet Dakota and Montana please call Sarah Little at 816- 256-9310.

How can you resist those smiley dog faces?

———————–

Each Wednesday, the Kansas City Freecycle blog will feature one adoptable animal from a local KC rescue group or animal shelter.

We do this for several reasons:

- To highlight the plight of abused, neglected and/or homeless non-human animals in the Kansas City (and surrounding) area.

- To remind members of our no-animal policy, and provide an alternative venue for members who wish to adopt an unwanted animal companion.

- To encourage members to adopt a furry, feathered or scaled friend.

- To help out out local animal rescue groups and animal shelters, many of which are overwhelmed by the sheer number of animals in need.

- To illustrate these animals’ unique personalities and characteristics, thus underscoring the fact that they are not objects and should not be “freecycled”.

Click here to view past Featured Adoptables (complete with adoption updates!).

———————–

Tagged: kcfreecycle freecycle kansas ks missouri mo kcmo kcks featured adoptables animal adoption animal rescue petfinder pet companion animal nonhuman companion furkid wayside waifs dog canine dakota montana pair bonded beagle german shepherd mix mutt german shepherd mix senior

One of our moderators, Brooke, is stepping down after three years of helping to moderate Kansas City Freecycle. We thank her for all the help she’s given us over the years, and wish her well. Now comes the hard task of finding a replacement. Or two or three! She was that good, really.

So here’s the deal. We’re looking for at least two – preferably three – members to help us moderate the list. If you’re interested, keep reading; below I’ve outlined the “qualifications” we’re looking for in potential moderators, as well as the duties of a moderator.

If you’re not interested, we respectfully ask that you bear with us while we make the transition. We’re already stretched a little thin, and finding and training new moderators will no doubt take up more of our time. Please be patient while we get everything settled.

MODERATOR DUTIES

Moderators must be able to dedicate one day, possibly two, to moderating the board. By this, I mean: reading each message that’s posted to the board; reading and approving pending messages; sending out reminder emails as needed; and dealing with any questions or concerns that arise during the day. We don’t expect moderators to be glued to the computer throughout the day, but we would prefer that each moderator check the board periodically during his or her day – at least three times a day, ideally more.

Each moderator has his or her set day(s), during which s/he is expected to watch the board and answer emails; if a moderator is unable to perform his or her duties during his or her set day, we just ask for some advance notice so we can find someone else to cover that day.

Occasionally, moderators may be asked to pick up extra duties or days, such as when another moderator is busy, on vacation, etc.

Also, we ask that moderators check their email and the special, dedicated Yahoo group for KCF moderators every day or two, in case any issues or questions pop up among the moderators.

QUALIFICATIONS

1- We’re looking for someone to cover one or more of the following days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday. By this, I don’t mean that we need *all* these days filled – it’s just that the current moderators are somewhat flexible in what days they can cover. We need at least one new moderator for the weekdays, and one for the weekends.

2 – Our dream moderator either works at home and/or is a stay-at-home parent and/or is retired. Either way, s/he must have reliable internet access, and be able to check the board throughout the day during his/her day. If you work a 9 to 5 job and would like to moderate on a work day, your work situation must allow you to check the board once or twice throughout the day.

3 – You must be somewhat familiar with the list rules and netiquette, and in agreement with them, at least enough to enforce them equitably and fairly.

4 – You must be somewhat familiar with Yahoo, Yahoo Groups, email, etc. That is, we’re looking for someone who’s moderately internet-savvy already.

5 – We prefer that new moderators set up a @kcfreecycle.org email address for all moderator-related activity.

6 – In this vein, if new moderators would prefer to create a new Yahoo ID solely for moderating purposes, and participate in the group using their old ID, we’re open to this possibility. You just need to be careful to not post any wanteds with your moderator ID (i.e., don’t abuse your double IDs to exceed the limit on wanteds).

If you’d like to volunteer as a moderator, drop me a line at kelly [at] kcfreecycle.org (I’ll forward all the replies to the rest of the moderators.)

Please include the following in your email:

1) Which days you’d be able to moderate the board; if you’re available on multiple days, let me know which day(s) you’d prefer.

2) Any other responsibilities you may have to fulfill during the day(s).

3) Any relevant experience you have (i.e., moderating online groups or forums, tech training/work, etc.)

4) Your internet setup (e.g., access and reliability).

5) Anything else that you think is pertinent.

We’ll leave this open for at least a week, maybe more. Naturally, we’d like to fill the position(s) as soon as possible, so the sooner y’all can get back to us, the better.

Thanks in advance, and happy freecycling!

Kelly G.
KC Freecycle list owner
kelly [at] kcfreecycle.org

If your membership to Kansas City Freecycle is still “pending” and you don’t know why, please go see our brand-spanking new Application page for more details: www.kcfreecycle.org/application/

In short, we require pending members to return an “application” before we approve new membership requests. Until then, you’re stuck in pending member limbo…for approximately two weeks, at which time Yahoo auto-expires your membership request and you have to go through the whole rigmarole again.

If you didn’t receive a copy of the application, most likely it’s in your spam folder, or otherwise eaten by the internets. No problemo; you can find a copy here!: www.kcfreecycle.org/application/

If you did receive a copy of the application and returned it – but your membership request is still pending – then it’s quite possible that we didn’t receive your reply. (Those intertubes be hungry, yo!) Please resend it, to all four email addresses listed in the application (i.e., kcfreecycle-owner [at] yahoogroups.com, ann [at] kcfreecycle.org, kelly [at] kcfreecycle.org, craig [at] kcfreecycle.org). This will help to ensure that it’s not lost a second time.

Please and thank you for your patience and understanding. Yahoo can be a pain to work with; rest assured that we also get frustrated with its temperamental ways, too. Unless you’re willing to finance the development of a dedicated KC Freecycle system, we’d appreciate it if you could keep the complaining to the minimum. Really, there isn’t much we can do! We are but lowly Yahoo users, much like yourselves.

Toodles.

—————

Tagged: freecycle kcfreecycle kansas city freecycle kansas ks missouri mo kcmo kcks kansas city admin

We’ve had this issue come up a few times in the past week, so we thought a clarification might be in order.

We welcome resellers on KC Freecycle, since reselling items fits in well with our mission – namely, keeping usable items (and even so-called “unusable” items) out of the landfill. However, not everyone wants to give their items to resellers; some would rather give them directly to the people who will be using them. Again, that’s fine with us – members are free to do what they want with their stuff. So all we ask of resellers is that they disclose their intentions up front, without first being asked. If you’re a reseller, this means stating this clearly on concisely in your “wanted” or in your reply to someone else’s “offer”.

We consider “scrappers” a form of resellers. Thus, if you plan on selling an item obtained on KCF as scrap metal, you must tell the offeror, up front, in your initial “wanted” email or your reply to their “offer”. The offeror is free to decide *not* to give you the item based on this info.

Again, we don’t have a problem with resellers or scrappers; but some members do, and we want to respect their wishes.

We have updated the list rules (www.kcfreecycle.org/rules/) to reflect this.

Thanks,

Kelly G.
KCF list owner
kelly [at] kcfreecycle.org

The Problem

Hey there Freecycle members (pending, new and old)! Here’s the problem, in brief. Whenever you email the list moderators at our “generic” yahoo email address (kcfreecycle-owner [at] yahoogroups.com), Yahoo “reroutes” that email and sends a copy to each moderator at his or her personal email address. Lately, Yahoo seems to be having some problems with their email system, so that some of the email sent to kcfreecycle-owner [at] yahoogroups.com never makes it to our personal email addresses. Hence, we’ve had a number of emails go missing, especially the applications that require pending members to return before we approve their memberships.

The Solution

So. If you’re trying to contact a moderator, it’s best to send your email to kcfreecycle-owner [at] yahoogroups.com AND CC the moderator(s) you’re writing to. This way, we’re sure to get your email.

Our individual addresses are as follows:

Brooke: brooke [at] kcfreecycle.org
Craig: craig [at] kcfreecycle.org
Shelly: shelly [at] kcfreecycle.org
Sheree: freecycler_sheree [at] yahoo.com
Kelly: kelly [at] kcfreecycle.org
Shane: shane [at] kcfreecycle.org

And a very especial note to pending members:

If you recently requested membership, and your membership is still pending, please return the application to kcfreecycle-owner [at] yahoogroups.com, and CC these two addresses: freecycler_sheree [at] yahoo.com and kelly [at] kcfreecycle.org. The first email address is Sheree’s; she normally approves new members. The second is moi; I’m the backup.

If you did return the application, but your membership is still pending, feel free to resend it to kcfreecycle-owner [at] yahoogroups.com, freecycler_sheree [at] yahoo.com and kelly [at] kcfreecycle.org. It’s possible that we never received the first copy, especially if you sent it directly to kcfreecycle-owner [at] yahoogroups.com and did not CC any of our personal addresses.

FYI: we usually approve pending members every other day, so please be patient. Don’t email us an “OMG I RETURNED UR EMAIL FOUR HOURS AGO WHY ARENT U APPROVING ME DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG!!!!???1?” inquiry/rant before a day or two has passed, because it won’t speed the process up any. If anything, it gives us more email to slog through and will only slow things down for everyone.

Likewise, don’t be offended it you receive a “final notice” email; these are autosent by Yahoo when your membership request expires (which, again via Yahoo, is every two weeks). If you did return your application, this just means it got lost in the internets and you’ll need to resend it. If you never received any of the first notices, again, they just got lost in the internets, and you can easily re-request membership again. No harm, no foul.

As always, our contact info can be found on the front page of the Yahoo group: groups.yahoo.com/group/kcfreecycle/ and on our website: www.kcfreecycle.org/about/

Thanks!

- Kelly G.
KCF List Owner

Your moderators hereby challenge all of you to find one thing in your possession that you can offer here between now and this Saturday, April 26th.

Anything! Big, small, pretty, ugly, working, in need of fixing, children’s items, adults’ items, pet goodies, anything.

Sometimes people list an item to give and say something like “pick up today or it’s going in the trash tomorrow!”

Let’s avoid that by offering it tonight or tomorrow.

Has your spouse been nagging you to get rid of something? Do your kids think you’re hanging onto an eyesore? Are you tired of the astronomical amount of toys cluttering the house?

Here’s your chance. Take the Earth Day/Week Challenge right now.

It’s so easy to do; just sweep through your house and you’ll probably find something in the first room you visit.

I double dare you all to meet this challenge.

Yes, all 11,196 of you could keep 11,196 items out of the landfill this week by offering something to your neighbors now.

Let’s go!

Shelly, KC Freecycle List Moderator
shelly [at] kcfreecycle.org