Auto-responses

An auto-response is an email that is sent automatically in reply to another email - they are most commonly used by people who are on holiday. Unfortunately there have been instances where unscrupulous members have set up auto-responses in order to try and harvest items from Freegle groups, or advertise services. These messages don't always come from an email address that is subscribed to a group. Additionally email accounts (particularly hotmail) can be hacked into so an auto-response may have nothing to do with the account holder. The section below called spammers <---hyperlink here please has some useful tips

How to recognise an auto-response:

• The message will arrive almost as soon as a post has been made - they can even arrive shortly after sending a special notice or an admin to the group!

• They usually don't mention the item offered by name – they may say something like ‘I’d like to have that’

What to do about auto-responses:

• Encourage members not to give their items to the first person to respond (see Fair Offer Policy <---hyperlink here)

• Encourage members to only give items to posts that mention the item in their initial response, or show other signs that someone has read the post.

• If the auto-response is offering a service or advertising a product, search the membership list for the email address or similar.

• Set any member who seems to be auto-responding to moderation and 'no emails.'

• Contact the member and inform them that using Freegle to advertise is not allowed.

• Issue a warning.

• Inform other Freegle group mods by sending a message to your regional mods group.