When Did Your Buy-Nothing Group Jump the Shark?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen people post sofas from a dog friendly home that are stained and thread bare. They claim it still has plenty of life and cover it with a throw blanket. Disgusting! Take it to the dump!

I just posted a sofa my cats have destroyed the arms of. I didn’t claim it had life in it though I just let the photo speak for itself. Someone actually said she was interested much to my shock — I was just posting it on the off-chance I could avoid the bulk trash fee. Nothing wrong with posting, even if you consider takers unlikely.

You are enabling hoarding

I have a friend who is a hoarder, and stayed with her for moral support when she got some outside help for it in an attempt to stay in her home. She spent much of the time on her phone surfing the buy nothing group, and left -- in the middle of the day as the organizers were working on her house -- to pick something useless up.

[Anonymous]

There are two "official" buy nothing groups in our area, both of which claim to be the ONLY official group and cover almost the exact same area. Is there a way to find out which one is associated with the actual BN organization?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are two "official" buy nothing groups in our area, both of which claim to be the ONLY official group and cover almost the exact same area. Is there a way to find out which one is associated with the actual BN organization?

I will say that I just moved here and neither of them seems to follow the same rules as the one in my old area which was very strict and asked your address and would sometimes even verify it before letting you join.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not white nonsense. Yes I read the article.
I don’t love all the rules not that’s why some of the groups changed names. I just gave away a swim team bag and picked up a plastic kids pool for the dog.
It’s an awesome concept.

It's a deeply flawed concept, largely because of the control structures built into it (ultimately for profit) by it's creators. Like literally everything else white people make, it was built on a very white foundation. Even the creators have (half-assedly) acknowledged this, so you don't need to cape for them: https://buynothingproject.org/tpost/judjdav7e1-racial-justice-amp-the-buy-nothing-proje

"Additional Public Statement from the Co-founders of the Buy Nothing Project:
7 June, 2020

In the beginning of the Buy Nothing Project, our white fragility and privilege so clouded our understanding and judgement that we asked people not to call other group members or items being offered racist. In fact, this white fragility and privilege is so deeply rooted in us that we didn’t even remember taking this stance until after releasing our statement above about racial justice in the Buy Nothing Project in June of 2020, almost seven years into this experiment, when a past participant took the time to remind us and call us out on our gaslighting and racism. We are grateful to her for her work to hold us accountable. She made it possible for us to see more clearly just how deeply entrenched racist norms are in us, even today, after daily personal work, education, and conversations about these issues over the past two years."

If you honestly thought two white ladies built a properly anti-racist structure from the jump, perhaps you'd also like to buy a bridge?

This is one of the most absurd things I’ve ever read on DCUM, and that’s saying something.

[Anonymous]

How does my participation in my local BNG make money for the founders?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not white nonsense. Yes I read the article.
I don’t love all the rules not that’s why some of the groups changed names. I just gave away a swim team bag and picked up a plastic kids pool for the dog.
It’s an awesome concept.

It's a deeply flawed concept, largely because of the control structures built into it (ultimately for profit) by it's creators. Like literally everything else white people make, it was built on a very white foundation. Even the creators have (half-assedly) acknowledged this, so you don't need to cape for them: https://buynothingproject.org/tpost/judjdav7e1-racial-justice-amp-the-buy-nothing-proje

"Additional Public Statement from the Co-founders of the Buy Nothing Project:
7 June, 2020

In the beginning of the Buy Nothing Project, our white fragility and privilege so clouded our understanding and judgement that we asked people not to call other group members or items being offered racist. In fact, this white fragility and privilege is so deeply rooted in us that we didn’t even remember taking this stance until after releasing our statement above about racial justice in the Buy Nothing Project in June of 2020, almost seven years into this experiment, when a past participant took the time to remind us and call us out on our gaslighting and racism. We are grateful to her for her work to hold us accountable. She made it possible for us to see more clearly just how deeply entrenched racist norms are in us, even today, after daily personal work, education, and conversations about these issues over the past two years."

If you honestly thought two white ladies built a properly anti-racist structure from the jump, perhaps you'd also like to buy a bridge?

This is one of the most absurd things I’ve ever read on DCUM, and that’s saying something.

I don't necessarily find it absurd.

But I will say that pretty much every internet group had to post something to this effect a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whole concept of Buy Nothing groups is white nonsense: https://www.wired.com/story/the-battle-for-buy-nothing/

The story was really long and boring. I read a lot but didn't finish and it never got to the part where it was "white" or "racist." Care to explain?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is one lady in ours that’s hustles to grab baby formula. Any brand, unopened or opened, doesn’t matter.

She probably selling it somewhere.

Or owns a daycare center or volunteers with kids in a church or a baby pantry or other help center ???

Why do we always go to the negative? It must be sad to first assume the worst in others. Why not just give the “benefit of the doubt”!

In our group, most tell you that what they are doing if they take lots of stuff. We have people who collect for animal and women's shelters all the time, but they tell you and not hoarding.

Many have been caught selling and kicked out.

"Caught selling?" How???!

This is part of the structural nonsense of Buy Nothing groups. If the only rule was "neighbors helping neighbors" there'd be plenty of room for reselling, because that's a form of neighbors helping neighbors. I pick up the crap you don't want, and sell it, using the money to buy something I need. But the groups have eleventy stupid rules about what you can post, when you can post, how to word your post... some of them even try to monitor what people do with the items received from group posts.

It leads to a bunch of nosy parkers making stupid accusations about the final disposition of stuff they didn't want anyway, and is more "neighbors policing neighbors' stuff and behavior" than being actually helpful

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole concept of Buy Nothing groups is white nonsense: https://www.wired.com/story/the-battle-for-buy-nothing/

The story was really long and boring. I read a lot but didn't finish and it never got to the part where it was "white" or "racist." Care to explain?

Sweetie, if you can't read, I can't help you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole concept of Buy Nothing groups is white nonsense: https://www.wired.com/story/the-battle-for-buy-nothing/

The story was really long and boring. I read a lot but didn't finish and it never got to the part where it was "white" or "racist." Care to explain?

Sweetie, if you can't read, I can't help you.

Because it doesn’t in any meaningful way. There are maybe two sentences in that incredibly long article that mentions that these two ladies are white and the author doesn’t give significance to that fact. Even the Wired journalist thinks it’s irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

People post items for sale on Facebook Marketplace. We had one woman post the original picture and didn’t even take a new picture.

The intent is for someone to actually use it and enjoy it and not profit from it. The poster could sell it too but prefers someone enjoy it. I love my BN group. We are a community that helps each other. We post all kinds of stuff. The good, the bad, and the ugly. We have tea boxes, clothing boxes and makeup also. It’s a fun bunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My group has not jumped the shark, but there are a few people that I recognize because they are always offering literal trash. "Gallon-sized bag of packing peanuts that came in a big Amazon delivery - please pick up by Sunday." "Four leftover paper Happy Birthday plates from a party this weekend - must take all." It's always the same two people, no one ever replies to their posts, but they're tenacious.

At this point I read their posts out loud to DH like "warm up the car, we'd better hurry if we want to get first dibs!"

Funny how one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Packing peanuts, boxes, and those type of supplies get taken up fast.

We also have many ISOs for toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls.

It's not boxes, which are in demand. It's a handful of peanuts. We have an extremely active group and nothing this woman posts gets any takers. But I'm sure we're just missing the gold under our noses.

[Anonymous]

I don’t care if someone sells things I’ve gifted. It’s theirs now. If I wanted to sell it I would have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen people post sofas from a dog friendly home that are stained and thread bare. They claim it still has plenty of life and cover it with a throw blanket. Disgusting! Take it to the dump!

I did this and several people wanted it. The only positive was that it wasn't stained. But I was clear that it was a 15 year old couch in a home with cats and a dog, and I posted good pictures of the lumpy cushions and damaged spots (rips, shredded areas from cats). My friend asked why I didn't sell it for $20. That's what she does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen people post sofas from a dog friendly home that are stained and thread bare. They claim it still has plenty of life and cover it with a throw blanket. Disgusting! Take it to the dump!

I just posted a sofa my cats have destroyed the arms of. I didn’t claim it had life in it though I just let the photo speak for itself. Someone actually said she was interested much to my shock — I was just posting it on the off-chance I could avoid the bulk trash fee. Nothing wrong with posting, even if you consider takers unlikely.

You are enabling hoarding

It’s disgusting. Have some common decency. Don’t give trash. Have some dignity.

It’s disgusting to landfill something that still has use. If you’re honest about the condition and someone will willingly pick it up, then you’re not compromising anyone’s dignity.

I could never in good conscience offer up trash.

DP. A used sofa is not trash, even if the fabric isn't in good shape (I seriously doubt cats were able to damage the frame). You do realize that sofas can be recovered and it's even not that hard to DIY? Maybe the person who took it can sew slipcovers?