Dear Fellow Freecyclers,

I received the following screen cap this morning:

"OFFER: 16'1" aluminum crestline boat

"trying to sell an aluminum crestline boat with a 48 spl johnson runs great asking 1200.00 obo without being lowballed. i drive this everyday, if not i start it up, its in he water now. anyone intrested [sic] can contact  10 min from pc beach by water <no wake zone> to get there. it needs a trailer"

Okay. The first and most important rule of Freecycle is, EVERYTHING IS FREE. It's in the name! Once in a while, there's a scammer who thinks they can pull a fast one by trying to sell an item through the list or even trick people to come to a yard sale to buy something. These individuals deserve a swift kick from their local lists. They haven't read the rules, they haven't applied basic good sense, and they have not shown interest or consideration for their fellow freecyclers. Any one of those three would have made it obvious that you do not sell things on Freecycle. They are selfish and don't care for the integral community aspect of Freecycle that allows the system to function.

As Always,
Me.

Dear Fellow Freecyclers,

PLEASE REFRAIN FROM USING ALL CAPS FOR YOUR POSTS TO YOUR FREECYCLE GROUPS BECAU... <*ahem*>

Please refrain from using all caps for your posts to your Freecycle groups because regardless of whether all caps is interpreted as yelling or a sign of psychological instability, it is annoying for everyone to read. Your post may attract special attention but not the kind of positive attention that would reward you with the item you want. Studies have shown that comprehension of bodies of text written in all capital letters is lower than that of text written in with grammatically correct capitalization or even that of bodies of text written in all lower case.

There are unhinged people on Freecycle lists. These are people who steal, who harass other Freecyclers and who generally cause problems. Even if we assume that the Freecycler who writes in all caps is not any kind of threat or danger to anyone, the use of all caps implies an urgency or importance to the Freecycle post that trumps all other Freecycle posts. This is against the rules and the spirit of Freecycle.

So, for the love of all, just write like a normal, critical thinking human being.

As Always,

Me.

Dear Fellow Freecyclers,

It's been a while but, thankfully, my freecycle lists have been normal and uneventful. Today I do need to write about one recommendation for the posting of WANTEDs:

BE HONEST

Please be honest. It is true that if you are requesting something for your own personal profit, you are less likely to be given the item, however, do not lie and say you need the item for a project when you don't. Furthermore, do not think people are not smart enough to see that you are lying when your list username reflects that you sell that particular item.

As Always,

Me.