Too many wanteds
WANTEDs can be just as good as offers at keeping stuff out of landfill. If people complain a good thing to do is to do a search within the last 31 days on WANTED and OFFER. Often you’ll find that OFFERs significantly exceed WANTEDs. Sending people the search links shows them that this is true.
You can also point out the advantages of WANTEDs:
- They can jog your memory about stuff that you hadn't thought of offering, including things like used jars, broken i-pods, rags etc needed for a hobby.
- The item requested is really needed, so you know it is going to be appreciated.
- People who initially post a lot of WANTEDs and get stuff usually start offering later. That's the magic of generosity - it breeds more!
If someone's still unhappy, suggest they filter out emails from your group with WANTED in the title.
Explain that if someone is being too greedy, other members will notice it, and not respond – so the group can become self-policing without the need for additional rules.
There can be disadvantages to limiting, WANTED posts:
- You will have to keep track of all the wanted posts to ensure your limits are not exceeded.
- There are members that don't like to post offers on the list who frequently respond off list to WANTEDS - these members may also post WANTEDS.
- Members might just start posting WANTEDs on neighbouring groups, causing people to travel further and use more fuel to collect stuff.
- If your group is all OFFERS you may end up only attracting people who want to get stuff.
Only consider imposing rules on WANTEDs if they are seriously upsetting the group rather than just one or two individuals – for more information on this go to *wanted posts*: <---Link here to 'wanted posts' in the advice section of the handbook
<<<Link to too many wanteds admins here>>
Moderation Extension reference/s:
Limiting WANTED messages = http://wiki.modplugin.org/Limiting_WANTED_messages
