Buy Nothing/sale group admins who get off on nonsensical 'rules'

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree, our group is like that. I usually pick based on other people giving stuff away vs. someone just constantly taking.

I do that, too, sometimes. I also sometimes say prefer to split if it's, say, a few children's books/toys/items so it all doesn't go to the same person. I've also used random name or number generators. I actually like using those online spinner ones, so I really do it if I say I'm doing it.

[Anonymous]

I can't get the admins of ANY local bst group to approve my posts because I don't have a public location listed in my profile. Idiots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Then this is not the group for you. Use Freecycle or post free on marketplace. But Nothing groups want you to let things simmer for at a minimum a few hours so the greedy ones don’t get everything and you can pick someone that maybe hasn’t ever been picked.

Just leave the group and set your stuff on the curb then.

+1

If everyone went with FIRST or INTERESTED the same handful of hoarders would take everything.

I don't understand why that matters.

Maybe not to you. But I actually give a sh!t about people and want to help out people who actually want or need something, not some bored retiree who wants everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow that dynamic of deciding who is most deserving of your old stuff is unbelievably unappealing! I’m happy it works for the people who like that style but I’m with you, op-would seek another format.

You don't have to pick the most deserving. You can do a random number pick. The point is to give others an opportunity to reply. The expectation is that not everyone is tethered to FB.

Funny how not-"random" those "random" picks can be sometimes, though.

Yeah, I’m the PP who left after being uncomfortable with the selection process. I do not believe the people who claimed they picked randomly. It obviously wasn’t random, and what is worse, the fact they claimed they were using a random number generator showed that they knew they were wrong.

NP but yep. I left a once good BNG over this. I think the "simmering" idea has merit, in theory. But, once it caught on like wildfire in the group, people without "families" (aka groupspeak for a couple with multiple kids) had almost zero chance of getting picked for much of anything.

[Anonymous]

OP I don’t understand why this bothers you. The same thing happens in my buy nothing group but I just ignore the announcements. I’m not mad when the flight attendants do the safety thing. This is like that. Why are you letting it bother you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Then this is not the group for you. Use Freecycle or post free on marketplace. But Nothing groups want you to let things simmer for at a minimum a few hours so the greedy ones don’t get everything and you can pick someone that maybe hasn’t ever been picked.

Just leave the group and set your stuff on the curb then.

+1

If everyone went with FIRST or INTERESTED the same handful of hoarders would take everything.

That's just...not true. I just scrolled through our group and saw the activity and it is not the same people saying "Interested" first, and literally no one is saying "FIRST."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Then this is not the group for you. Use Freecycle or post free on marketplace. But Nothing groups want you to let things simmer for at a minimum a few hours so the greedy ones don’t get everything and you can pick someone that maybe hasn’t ever been picked.

Just leave the group and set your stuff on the curb then.

+1

If everyone went with FIRST or INTERESTED the same handful of hoarders would take everything.

I don't understand why that matters.

Maybe not to you. But I actually give a sh!t about people and want to help out people who actually want or need something, not some bored retiree who wants everything.

There it is! Op who has different time/patience/preferences than you must not give a sh!t about others!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My buy nothing has the opposite problem — our admin takes months (like up to 6 months) to admit new members to the group because she’s “busy” but has rejected all offers of support from other members to maybe help clear out the backlog.

Oh my gosh, is this in Silver Spring, by any chance? I have been trying to join my neighborhood group for years, and I finally gave up. I do freecycle instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP I don’t understand why this bothers you. The same thing happens in my buy nothing group but I just ignore the announcements. I’m not mad when the flight attendants do the safety thing. This is like that. Why are you letting it bother you?

Why are you letting OP's premise/post bother you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My buy nothing has the opposite problem — our admin takes months (like up to 6 months) to admit new members to the group because she’s “busy” but has rejected all offers of support from other members to maybe help clear out the backlog.

Oh my gosh, is this in Silver Spring, by any chance? I have been trying to join my neighborhood group for years, and I finally gave up. I do freecycle instead.

Either you are not in bounds for the group you are trying to join, or you are already in another group

Those are my guesses

[Anonymous]

An admin in mine had a bad alcohol problem, as she outright admitted when posting a picture offering over a half-dozen identical, full-size, empty, pretty, liquor bottles, in the middle of the pandemic, and promising their.
A couple of weeks later, I commented on someone's offer of a bunch of coffee mugs and cups, and made a self-deprecating joke about already owning too many mugs but just having to have this beautiful handmade one, and this other one with stuff on it my kid would love.
Above-mentioned admin immediately made a big announcement about how the group should be responding to need, not consumerism and that displays of shopaholic behavior were not healthy and could be upsetting to people in need.

[Anonymous]

I think I was in the same group, op. Very tiresome. I’d rather put things on my curb. We live on a busy street in front of a bus stop. It will be taken in a jif.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An admin in mine had a bad alcohol problem, as she outright admitted when posting a picture offering over a half-dozen identical, full-size, empty, pretty, liquor bottles, in the middle of the pandemic, and promising their.
A couple of weeks later, I commented on someone's offer of a bunch of coffee mugs and cups, and made a self-deprecating joke about already owning too many mugs but just having to have this beautiful handmade one, and this other one with stuff on it my kid would love.
Above-mentioned admin immediately made a big announcement about how the group should be responding to need, not consumerism and that displays of shopaholic behavior were not healthy and could be upsetting to people in need.

That’s both terrible and hilarious!

[Anonymous]

I have a different experience. In my (prosperous, non-DC) community, the “simmer” rule is never enforced, things almost always go to the first person, and the same handful of women who spend all their time on Facebook get everything. It also annoys me because people will say, “mine!” Or “I’ll take it!” Or “nil” on the assumption that it’s first come first served.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a different experience. In my (prosperous, non-DC) community, the “simmer” rule is never enforced, things almost always go to the first person, and the same handful of women who spend all their time on Facebook get everything. It also annoys me because people will say, “mine!” Or “I’ll take it!” Or “nil” on the assumption that it’s first come first served.

I have even had somebody send me pouty dMs when I didn’t give them an item with multiple claims, and they posted first.