Nexteritis – Opposition to FcNext

Survey of Eric Burke’s freesharing.org freecycling-type group directory – March 16, 2008

124 randomly selected groups reviewed of the 898 listed in the freesharing directory. Random selection of U.S.-only groups done by first picking every tenth U.S. group on the list, then a second pass through the list selected the first group in each state listed (or second one if first one had already been picked on the first pass).

Table below shows results.

1. “AvgPosts” column is average number of postings per month over the past six full months, Sept ‘07 – Feb ‘08.

2. “ModJoin” column answers the question, “Does the group require moderator approval of new members?”

3. “ModMsg” column answers the question, “Does the group require moderator approval of postings (either new member moderation or full moderation)?”

4. “Selling” column answers the question, “Does the group home page indicate that they allow buy/sell posts?”

5. “Barter” column answers the question, “Does the group home page indicate that they allow barter/trade?”

6. “Legit” column is Yes/No assessment of whether the listed group is truly a legitimate, viable, operating freecycling-type group.

7. “Comments” column explains decision made in “Legit” column, when not obvious.

(“Unmoderated joins allowed” note made on many groups in the Comments column was not a factor in deciding the “Legit” status. It is only a comment.)

Summary: Of the 124 randomly selected groups surveyed, only 49 (40%) are “legit” groups.  60% are junk groups, dead groups, inactive links or not legitimate, viable freecycling groups.  It seems a safe bet that half or more of all the 898 entries in the directory are not legitimate, viable freecycling groups, making the directory highly unreliable for reference or searching for a local group, and proving that Eric Burke exercises no quality control over his directory (but he does use it to make money).