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

[Anonymous]

OMG the whole simmering thing is so stupid. IME the first person who wants it is far more likely to pick it up than the lady who sees it three days later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be the voice of dissent. I love the way our BN admins run our group. Without rules there is chaos (!) and BN would become just like any other group on FB. Interestingly, in our spin-off group there was just a long thread from people who have moved away who miss our local BN groups and the community they've created. They said in their news groups it's just "Interested!" and first-come, first-served. That misses the point of BN, which is more than just getting rid of stuff, for that there is Freecycle, Next Door, and FB garage sale groups, among others.

I’m sorry, but the “let it simmer” rule is just power tripping insanity. There is no chaos prevented by that.

No, it's not. It's for people who can't be on Facebook all the time. We have a lot of nurses and teachers in our group who can't sit on FB like some other members. They'd never get chosen if it was always FCFS.

So it is a rule designed mostly to help white women.

Quite the opposite actually - white women are the ones who have the luxury to be tethered to their phones most of the time.

Anyway, my local Buy Nothing group is probably 75% immigrant women (mostly south asian, filipino, and hispanic).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG the whole simmering thing is so stupid. IME the first person who wants it is far more likely to pick it up than the lady who sees it three days later.

My experience is the opposite. In our BN group we have a few people who comment first on basically everything. They then fail to pick up or "ghost" or forget items because they're commenting on so much stuff. The person who comments a day later is usually someone who really wants the item. Again, my experience based on how our group works.

[Anonymous]

One of the admins in one of the springfield groups is just like this. who has time to micro manage every post complaining that things didn’t simmer long enough or any other rule they decide to ruminate on.

[Anonymous]

Those are the general rules of my group. You don’t like the rules, quit the group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be the voice of dissent. I love the way our BN admins run our group. Without rules there is chaos (!) and BN would become just like any other group on FB. Interestingly, in our spin-off group there was just a long thread from people who have moved away who miss our local BN groups and the community they've created. They said in their news groups it's just "Interested!" and first-come, first-served. That misses the point of BN, which is more than just getting rid of stuff, for that there is Freecycle, Next Door, and FB garage sale groups, among others.

I’m sorry, but the “let it simmer” rule is just power tripping insanity. There is no chaos prevented by that.

No, it's not. It's for people who can't be on Facebook all the time. We have a lot of nurses and teachers in our group who can't sit on FB like some other members. They'd never get chosen if it was always FCFS.

So it is a rule designed mostly to help white women.

Quite the opposite actually - white women are the ones who have the luxury to be tethered to their phones most of the time.

Anyway, my local Buy Nothing group is probably 75% immigrant women (mostly south asian, filipino, and hispanic).

Wow, not in our group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the admins in one of the springfield groups is just like this. who has time to micro manage every post complaining that things didn’t simmer long enough or any other rule they decide to ruminate on.

In our group, I always suspect they want things to simmer so they can get them. Usually its a popular item and they didn't request it enough.

[Anonymous]

I prefer the sale groups and just list the items really cheap. It still gets confusing because some groups want each item in a seperate post, other groups explicetly want all items grouped together, some want more pictures some want fewer blah blah blah.

I give it a couple days effort then schedule Pickup Please for the rest. They don't hastle me or complain or ghost me.

[Anonymous]

If those are the rules when you signed up and you agreed to them the. you don’t have much of a leg to vent on. But I think you should propose a change because many groups don’t have the requirement to let offers simmer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG the whole simmering thing is so stupid. IME the first person who wants it is far more likely to pick it up than the lady who sees it three days later.

My experience is the opposite. In our BN group we have a few people who comment first on basically everything. They then fail to pick up or "ghost" or forget items because they're commenting on so much stuff. The person who comments a day later is usually someone who really wants the item. Again, my experience based on how our group works.

That's been my experience with my local group as well. The people who a tethered to their phones are the ones most likely to flake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those are the general rules of my group. You don’t like the rules, quit the group.

LOL, or I’ll just continue to give my stuff away as I see fit. You’ll have to find another corner of the universe to try to control, Nance.

[Anonymous]

I also don't want to hear people's sob stories or why they are most deserving. First come, first serve, no holds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

You would think, but neither are true. So, I have given up. Local charities and freecycle get our stuff.

[Anonymous]

This is a common theme!! It's crazy.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been in 2 buy nothing groups (we moved). In both groups simmering was not required. And giving was not based on need. I would find that really uncomfortable if people had to explain their neediness to a group of strangers.