Many of you will know of freecycle - a very worthy system of posting unwanted items on the web, in case anyone else can make use of them - no money changes hands.    You can also post wanted items.

This was on freecycle Brighton this morning:

My Border collie bitch has just come into season, and she would love to meet a respectable Border Collie Dog for friendship and definately more!  If anyone knows of a possible match please let me know.

When I posted the moderator to say this wasn't the sort of post in the spririt of Freecycle (and breifly explained why), this was the reply:

think I moderated this post and I was happy to let it onto the list.
I personally think this list is a proper channel for such requests, as the owner is obviously not wanting to simply let her pet out into the street and have puppies by the next dog she happens on. We are no more
" potentially adding to the already over-full rescue centres " than allowing posts for electrical tools potentially adds to the queues in A&E. This list is not moderated with respect to the 'responsibility level' of its members, it is moderated to prevent spam, personal attacks and the like.

Yours

:rolleyes:Well - you did your best Jo - Heaven help us all!!

All we can do is say that we won't use/check out freecycle by way of voicing our disapproval :(

Margot

Margot - if you or anyone would like to explain further to the moderators of Freecycle why this is a worrying post, I would appreciate some back-up.

You can send to

freecyclebrighton-owner@yahoogroups.com

Subject: ATTENTION MODERATORS

I don't think there's a need to boycott freecycle - it's a good outlet for all you unwanted items, but they really must understand this  problem.

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

I'm in the Brighton area and will give them a piece of my mind right now!

I daresay they'll be putting the puppies on freecycle too.Grrrrrrr.

Fran

Jo, please could you pm me the post that appeared on Freecycle Brighton? My addy is woofwoof@allatall.eclipse.co.uk.

I can feel a letter to the Argus (local paper) coming on.<G>

Thanks

Fran

ps One of my neighbours has one of your dogs - he's a cracker!

Well, I got a much more supportive reply from the owner/moderator.

"I completely agree, but there are several moderators and we all have our own positions.

As far as I am aware this type of post is contrary to the main freecycle rules, but you'd need to check up on that.


I for one would be completely in favour of a blanket ban on these types of posts.

Cheers


Larry"

Fran

Trouble was that there are about 6 moderators, and imagine they take it in turns.   Larry was sympathetic, but obviously the one who was on duty that day didn't understand at all.

Gives you a better insight into the lack of canine eduaction with the public, though, doesn't it?

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

Tell me about it! I did Discover Dogs for the first time last year, and I was gobsmacked at some of the questions. Loads of people seem to think that dogs come ready-trained. And I have a terrier breed, so they're barely trained at the best of times! We also had a woman with 3 young kids and one on the way who was determined to get a puppy around the time her baby was due. The club sec was very patient and diplomatic at pointing out the pitfalls (eg imagine what a puppy can do with a full nappy, or a baby crawling where a pup has an accident), but she wouldn't be persuaded it was a bad idea.

Anyway, there's been some response from the other Brighton freecycle mods, and it looks as though they're going to ban posts along those lines in future. I'll pm them to you for info.

Fran

Cheers, Fran.    By the way, Boz is by our Noof, out of a very nice bitch who lives in Burgess Hill - we own his Dad!

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats