Abortive attempt to freecycle

You know, the basic concept of freecyling appeals to me. I wanted to try it, I really did. I figure it's wasteful to throw away something that might have value for someone else. I've been giving away stuff for years, mainly on interest-specific forums and craigslist. I wanted to get involved in a community of folks that had a similar approach to excess material goods.

Turns out it's actually a collection of mailing lists. I read the FAQ and thought the banned list was a bit draconian: no "vitamins, creams, etc", no firearms, and many allow no pets. OK, a little controlling. Maybe it's for good reasons (past flamewars, whatever). Anyhow, none of the stuff I had to give away was in the prohibited list.

So I ran the yahoo gauntlet (yay, more yahoo signature spam), only to get denied by the dfwfreecycle moderator for using the the word "trade" in my introductory questionaire. How hard should a person work to join a group where you give your stuff away?

Subject: Request to join DFWFreecycle denied
Your request to join the DFWFreecycle group was not approved.
The moderator of each Yahoo! group chooses whether to restrict
membership in the group. Moderators who choose to restrict
membership also choose whom to admit.

Please note that this decision is final and that Yahoo! Groups
does not control group membership.

Part of my original response:

I have many things to give away... I will give them away elsewhere, probably Craig's list although I suspect there are more moochers there.

Doesn't matter to me where they go; I wanted to reward people who recycle and live frugally, but I am not going to fight uphill to do it.

I later edited my extended rant down to "It's your sandbox".

Reminds me of when I was delivering food to the Arlington Night Shelter in the mid-90s; I started getting harrassed by the recipients so much that I started to dread the delivery. Hey, if I'm giving you stuff you don't have to be gracious; I don't want your thanks or gratitude. Just don't be actively obnoxious or try to control the gift unnecessarily.

So try freecycling if you are so inclined; just remember that your membership in the group depends on how you answer the questions that are presented when you try to join the list. So don't blow through the questionaire quickly in your desire to start sharing. You may be shunned. Definately don't use any conjugation of the infinitive "to trade".