Welcome to Full Circles Ottawa!

Thanks for being part of the ever-expanding online gifting and reusing 
movement. These guidelines are sent to all subscribers when they join.

Please read before joining the fun! 

USING THE LIST
===============
To post a message to the group, send an e-mail to: 
FullCirclesOttawa@Yahoogroups.ca

To unsubscribe, send an email to: 
FullCirclesOttawa-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.ca

To post, read or reply to messages, or to manage your membership settings 
(including email delivery options), go to: 
http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/FullCirclesOttawa

*** Please use "Special Notices" mail delivery option if you wish to read 
online at the FCO web site, DO NOT choose ‘No Mail’.  You may miss important

announcements. ***

If you need to contact the moderators, please send a message to: 
Team.Ottawa@FullCircles.org 


**FULL CIRCLES OTTAWA GUIDELINES **

    Updated 08/12/2009
===================================

 ********* BE NICE ***********

1. KEEP IT FREE, LEGAL & APPROPRIATE FOR ALL AGES. 
 No alcohol, tobacco, weapons of any kind (eg. firearms, swords, bow & 
arrow, slingshots)1, drugs (prescription, and contraband), sexually explicit 
material and pirated copies of software, movies or music. 

*Cautions re copyrighted material:
If you offer/request software, it
1. Must be original software, not a copy.
2. Must no longer be used by any previous owner.
3. Cannot have been used to obtain an upgrade.
4. Must follow the terms in its End User License Agreement (EULA).

 Music, videos, books and other copyrighted works, offered/wanted must be:
 1. Originals, not copies, 
 2. Can no longer be used by any previous owner.

2. NEW MEMBERS TAKEN OFF MODERATED STATUS WHEN POSTING PRACTICES DEMONSTRATE 
 A BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF FULLCIRCLES GUIDELINES. 

3. TWO STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT. This list is monitored and we follow up on 
 complaints. If your posts don't follow our guidelines, or there are 
 legitimate complaints about your community behavior or practices, you 
 may have your membership suspended, temporarily or permanently. 

4. USE SUGGESTED SUBJECT HEADERS & INCLUDE YOUR LOCATION IN THE SUBJECT LINE. 
 
 There are five suggested headers for posts: 
 Offer, Taken, Wanted, Received and Admin. 
 Use of these headers makes it easy for others to sort their incoming mail. 
 
 Examples: 

 OFFER: Love seat (Sandy Hill) 

 TAKEN: Love seat [Use TAKEN as a follow-up to an OFFER post so that 
 people know your item is not still available.]

 WANTED: Love seat (Barrhaven) [Please don't ask for luxury items.]

 RECEIVED: Love seat [Use RECEIVED as a follow-up to a WANTED post so 
 that others know you've found what you wanted and are no 
 longer looking for the item.]

 ADMIN: [Reserved for list administrators.] 

The following headers can be used less often for specific circumstances:

 WANTED - LOANER: To be used for items you wish to borrow for a short 
 period of time 

 AT THE CURB: ONLY for items spotted at the curb that you were not able to 
 "rescue" and post yourself - Please give general location, eg. 
 100 block Somerset, not the exact address.

5. GIVE A BRIEF, HONEST DESCRIPTION
 Help members decide whether or not to "bid" on your item. Give us a bit of 
 description of your item -- size, color, age, condition, etc. Eg. 25 year 
 old, 3 seater sofa; wine and green; pattern; fair condition; no rips; but 
 may need cleaning; non-smoker household. Full descriptions reduce the need 
 for questioning emails. NO SOB STORIES please! They turn off more members 
 than they attract.

6. ONCE A WEEK MAX! ONLY repeat the same offer or wanted posting every seven 
 days!

7. NO money; religion; spam; politics; trading; bartering; advertising; 
 no selling links in your signature; no chat/conversations; no personal 
 attacks / bullying / threats... ever!; and last but not least... 
 no rudeness; 

8. DON'T OFFER OR REQUEST LIVE ANIMALS OF ANY KIND. 
 The Ottawa area has a great network of non-profit pet organizations such 
 as Friends of Abandoned Pets (www.foap.on.ca) and the Ottawa Humane Society
 (www.ottawahumane.ca). 

 Please visit www.petfinder.com to look up many other pet-related resources 
 in the Ottawa area.

9. TANGIBLE ITEMS ONLY. 

 Don't use the list to offer or solicit services or advice. 

10. SEND RESPONSES ONLY TO THE POSTER AND NOT TO THE ENTIRE LIST. 

 No unsolicited emails to other members. Respond only if you’re interested 
 in their OFFER, or if you can fulfill their WANTED. If you wish to 
 comment on a member’s activities, contact the moderators. If you wish to 
 comment on the list’s activities you are welcome to initiate discussion at
 Full Circles Ottawa’s Bulletin Board at:
 
 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ottawa_recyclingbb/

11. PICKUPS. Please arrange pickups with one person only, rather than posting 

 something like "It's on the porch, first come first serve." 

12. TRANSACTIONS ARE BETWEEN THE OFFERER AND TAKER AND WILL NOT BE MEDIATED 

 OR ARBITRATED BY FULL CIRCLES OTTAWA ADMINISTRATORS. 

13. DISCLAIMER: FULL CIRCLES NETWORK MEMBERS USE THE LIST AT THEIR OWN RISK. 

 Please take reasonable measures to protect your safety and privacy when 
 posting to the list or participating in an exchange. By joining the list, 
 you agree to hold neither the list owners and moderators nor anyone 
 affiliated with the Full Circles Network responsible or liable for any 
 circumstance resulting from any related exchange or communication.

 SAFETY. Be aware! 

 It is up to each individual member of Full Circles when arranging for 
 pickup of the item being given away to be appropriately aware of the 
 potential risk of having a stranger come to your home to pick something 
 up. Full Circles as a listserv assumes no responsibility for this risk. 
 If you, for example, are a single woman living alone, you may want to say 
 that you'll leave the item on the front porch while you are not home.

 ** DO NOT POST YOUR HOME ADDRESS AND/OR HOME TELEPHONE NUMBER TO THE LIST! 
 BUSINESS ADDRESS / PHONE NUMBERS ARE FINE! ** 

14. FULL CIRCLES ETIQUETTE: ALWAYS. ALWAYS.. ALWAYS... BE NICE!
 We're all neighbours, so please be as thoughtful and considerate of your 
 fellow members as you would be to your family and friends. When conducting 
 a transaction, try to accommodate each other in terms of scheduling, be 
 punctual, and be polite. You are doing each other a favour in offering or 
 taking items, and favours should be handled with courtesy, mutual respect, 
 and gratitude.

15. RE-SELLING OK: 

 But, if you are reselling items obtained via FullCircles, always be open 
 and honest about your intent! Mention that you will be re-selling in your 
 postings, and/or in your requests for offered items. 

Following these guidelines will keep the list running smoothly and 
effectively, and help ensure that your transactions are successful ones. 

Have fun!

The Full Circles Ottawa Team
Team.Ottawa@FullCircles.org 
==============================


[last changed 08/12/2009 @ 08:10 AM, Eric Snyder]
____________________________________________________________________
Copyright 2008, 2009 Eric Snyder
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 
License. To view a copy of this license, visit 
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ or send a letter to 
Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA.
____________________________________________________________________