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September 2009 Update!

Well it has finally happened!

The Freedom of Freecycling in the UK is under attack!

That's right, TFN has finally started to de-list groups in the UK that are not towing the line for Mr Beal.

Many Charter groups and organizers have left the clutches of TFN. This is large folks, large! The UK has much more stringent laws for non-profits than the USA, and the fallout form this could but very damaging to TFN UK.

Groups are being de-listed in multiples at a time. This was bound to happen with the new MyFreecycle implementation. MyFreecycle is the way TFN is gaining ownership of all groups remaining with TFN. Most Group Owners have no clue that they are giving up their group ownership by moving their groups to MyFreecycle. Not a clue!

I would like to see someone from the UK (one of the past leadership) contact us with a statement about exactly what is going on there. We are hearing rumors and bits and pieces but not the whole truth. How about it, is anyone willing to fill us in on exactly what is happening with TFN UK and the departure of many founding groups? We would love to post your Statement here on the Green Ribbon.

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First Statement Forwarded 09-08-2009 Anonymously

Posted by Ed on Plugin group and permission to repost in message at end.

If you have no interest in Freecycle politics, then I envy you, and you can stop reading.

As some of you may know, there has been considerable unhappiness in the Uk at how Freecycle is being run, particularly with the lack of consultation with volunteers when making policies which affect them, and with the summary removal of volunteers who push for a more accountable, transparent and therefore more effective Freecycle.

I have been quite involved in this process, and in the formation of a democratically run association of moderators to represent our collective interests.

We had hoped TFN would engage constructively with this association to resolve some of these issues. Sadly, the TFN response has simply been to remove volunteers with no justification, rather than work together.

It therefore looks inevitable that, in one way or another, I will be leaving Freecycle to pursue another initiative within the Uk.

However, whatever happens I will continue to provide support for the various plugins, on Freecycle and other regifting networks.

If you wish to discuss this, then please do so on other Freecycle-related groups, as it's not really what this group is for.

Edward

Permission granted to forward anywhere you like.

( A good place to discuss this is FCNEXT)

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Update 09-10-2009

UK Groups Break Away

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Update 09-11-2009

Karyne Bailey has given permission to share the following list of facts that will quickly bring group owners up to speed on what's wrong with tfn. She and I encourage you to feel free to circulate it at will.

While you're at it, you might want to let tfn mods know that the archives at Karyne Bailey has given me permission to share the following list of facts that will quickly bring group owners up to speed on what's wrong with tfn. She and I encourage you to feel free to circulate it at will.

While you're at it, you might want to let tfn mods know that the archives at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fcnext/ are open to the public. They can find out what's really happening, without the filter or spying eyes of Deron and his goons.

I encourage mods interested in taking their groups out of tfn to write to Ready2LeaveFC-owner@yahoogroups.com for assistance or to consult "Details. Details. Details. Step-by-Step Instructions for Leaving TFN," which do-it-yourselfers will find about two-thirds of the way down the Files section of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fcnext/

Keep on freecyclin'

Anonymous (at this time)

"The best way to approach any Owner is with the Truth and Facts. Let her know you are concerned over the current actions against the UK FC groups and let her know that you have a list of facts that also concern you.

Let her know that this has been going on for 5 years now, behind the scenes and that anyone speaking about it openly, is removed from TFN immediately.

Here are the Facts:

Fact: Deron gifted the concept and usage of the word "Freecycle" to well over 100+ groups in 2003.

Fact: Deron chose to umbrella the worldwide groups he had gifted the name to *without* consulting the folks he gifted the name to and without a vote.

Fact: Deron chose to attempt to TM the name, without consulting the folks and without a vote.

Fact: Thousands of groups have been delisted and/or shut down and/or left the network due to this unilateral choice.

Fact: Deron has lost the lawsuit in regards to this. Tim Oey has won the right to full usage of the name Freecycle and the Freecycle logo which he was gifted. The law courts have recognized the fact that these things were indeed gifted. Deron is appealing.

Fact: Deron tries to tell folks that they can not use the word Freecycle in alternate way - freecycling, freecyclers, freecycles, etc.

Fact: Deron fought and lost a lawsuit to this effect.

Fact: Freecycle and all derivative usages can be used out in public.

Fact: Deron has not told anyone about this loss at OIDG to date. He only speaks about the other lawsuit and the fact that it's in appeals.

Fact: Deron claims to have a (R) on the Freecycle name and logo. And in some ways he does; however, it is based on a lie.

Fact: The graphics used to create the TFN logo are previously copyrighted by the company that created them.

Fact: The license Deron bought, after the fact, does not allow him to Trademark anything created with the elements. He was informed by the company of this via letter.

Fact: Deron chose to proceed with the UK registration regardless of knowing that fact.

Fact: The UK (R) of the logo is illegal!!!

Fact: Deron stated for 6 years that he was going to build a site that would host our community groups.

Fact: Deron has stated for 6 years that he would build a site that was free of all advertising. Quote from a Deron MS posting: "in a commerce-free environment (no pop up ads, etc.)".

Fact: Deron built a site that will revert ownership of every group joining over to TFN - this is NOT hosting our community groups.

Fact: The new website has commercial ads - Google ads - on it.

Fact: Deron refused for 4 years to inform his family of Owners that ownership of all groups will be revert to TFN once the groups merge over to the new website.

Fact: The My Freecycle site went live somewhere back in March 2008; however, no one announced it for close to 3 months.

Fact: Deron knew the website was live, but chose not to say anything until it was revealed by a moderator who stumbled on it.

Fact: It was a UK mod asking at OIDG that finally allowed those who are a part of OIDG to find out about it.

Fact: It was then announced to the UK, AU and USA due to pressure to announce; however, moderators in Canada were not informed for another 5 weeks after that.

Fact: All groups could have been listed but not activated. All groups were activated *and* were allowed to take new members for months before telling us.

Fact: Your local GOA is currently the Lead Moderator on your My Freecycle group, until you request to be made Lead Moderator.

Fact: TFN is the ONLY Owner of all groups on My Freecycle.

Fact: Deron stated at the Modsquad that EF would never be used to remove or demote a Moderator or Owner of a group. That it is a neutral entity.

Fact: Only Deron Beal and one other Employee of his, have access to the EF password at any one time.

Fact: EF (the voluntary anon Co-owner that you can request of TFN) removed an Owner from his group cause the GOA didn't like the way he was speaking to his members. Deron authorized said removal.

Fact: EF was used to demote Imods from various groups around the world, who asked to stay after the Imod exodus of 2007.

Fact: Deron and TPTB continue to claim that EF has never removed an Owner from a group.

Fact: EF is a neutral entity - never to be used other than to save a group.

Fact: EF was used in a Regional Modsquad vote, even though we specifically requested that Deron not vote since he was a member of the Modsquad for information purposes only, and was not local to the area.

Fact: When asked why EF had voted on a Regional Modsquad vote on OIDG, Deron lied to the members and stated that this never happened. However, we have screen shot proof of EF voting.

Fact: TFN's Finder Tool - this tool was forwarding emails to the new TFN website.

Fact: The TFN finder tool is a clear violation of Yahoo TOS agreement and for years Deron refuses to answer questions in regards to this.

Fact: For over 2 years Deron stated that he had a written agreement with Yahoo PTB and not to worry about it.

Fact: When asked to show us this agreement, Deron refused to produce a copy of it.

Fact: When Yahoo was informed about the finder tool, Yahoo forced Deron to shut the tool down, stating it was a clear violation of the Yahoo TOS.

Fact: The Community Groups Manager had no knowledge of any written agreement and/or verbal agreement okaying the Finder Tool.

Fact: When asked what had happened with the Finder tool on OIDG, he stated he was working with Yahoo to figure out how to best use it. He did not admit that Yahoo had forced him to shut it down. Nor did he ever product the written agreement.

Fact: If said written agreement had indeed existed, the Finder tool would never have been shut down permanently.

Fact: Deron refuses to inform his family of Owners that the move to the MF website is in theory One Way.

Fact: It has been stated publicly that groups can move to the new website, and move back to Yahoo groups once and once only. It has also been stated that this is highly unrecommended and many wonder if they will hold their word to this. But they state they will allow it.

Fact: Once a group has merged over to MF, all contact information for said group is now stored on TFN servers.

Should your group choose to leave LF, DB could easily claim you to be a "not good fit" volunteer, and replace your group on MF and re-add all your members to his new groups owned by TFN.

Yes, indeed, this last sentence is speculation of what could happen, but you need to be aware that this type of actions has already occurred before, with GOAs downloading memberships of groups and re-creating them as new TFN owned groups.

Fact: TFN has delisted numerous groups, the groups from the folks who are speaking and exposing the truth.

Fact: TFN states the reason for the delisting and request to step down is for breaking confidentiality; however, to my knowledge everything expressed here was knowledge that was known to many - not a specific part of any job.

Fact: When requested to show where the breech of confidentially is, TFN refuses to supply any proof and simply proceeds with delisting and replacement of said individual's group. They actually do not even try to talk to the person.

Fact: TFN puts anyone speaking out here or at a MS on moderation as "a precaution".

Fact: Deron, Stephanie (formerly) and Nan state this to be a "way to protect the other Owners from the upset, irritation and needless ratings".

Fact: Deron & crew think that censorship is a way to protect TFN.

Fact: TFN Leadership Mods placed someone on moderation for answering and questioning to a resignation letter. TFN Leadership stated that resignation letters are to be assumed to be deleted and are not to be addressed at all.

Fact: Therefore, according to the TFN Leadership mods, resignation letters are not allowed to be discussed.

Fact: The moderator who questioned the resignation was not just

moderated at OIDG, but at ALL Leadership groups.

Fact: Censorship is generally considered to be acceptable in the following areas of life: politics, government, military.

Fact: The root of censorship lays in fear - fear of exposure; fear of outcome of information, etc.

Fact: Various TFN Team Members are known for entering groups under alias, downloading yahoo IDs and emails, and inviting them to the new replacement group once the original one has been delisted for whatever reason.

Fact: Spamming in this manner is a clear violation of Yahoo TOS agreement. Members are not given the authority to do this.

Fact: The former TM Team Coordinator started a series of shadow groups as a scare tactic to silence folks who were speaking the truth … . This individual made the mistake of using the ID she named after her partner - who used to be an Owner in my own group.

Fact: The former TM Team Coordinator used multiple Yahoo IDs to enter groups unannounced, review their groups and look for any reason to C&D, delist or otherwise flag the group as one to watch.

Fact: The former TM Team Coordinator owns/owned (? - not sure if this is still the current situation) both the Maritimes MS and the Quebec MS - both out of area for her and a considerable conflict of interest.

Fact: The "Maritimes NGA", the former TM Team Coordinator's husband, removed a moderator from the Maritimes MS after she resigned from TFN. Although warranted, this is not the job of a New Group Approver; therefore, a major conflict of interest & slip in judgment.

Fact: Deron & his very small board will now claim that they OWN all the groups around the world and a huge database of email addresses.

Fact: The group members and Owners have No Say, No Vote in how that database will be used.

Fact: Deron has publicly stated that he will not sell the database. He claims this as the ED of TFN.

However, given the Board of Directors is three people, all it would take is the other two members voting to sell the database in order to raise money. Deron would have to abide by it. And how easy will it be for him to say he was outvoted and it's not his fault.

Yes, indeed, this last sentence is again speculation, but you need to see how easily he can manipulate what he says versus what TFN BOD will do.

Fact: the IRS990s are missing some of the monies declared on the Arizona non-profit papers.

Fact: when someone tries to ask about this at OIDG, the email is deleted and the person is informed that they were professionally completed and don't warrant questioning. (Then again on the Arizona non-profit forms, I found an error in the addition of one part so why not scrutinize them - me, I found an error!!)

Fact: the Arizona papers state that the non-profit has "members' but indeed Deron never opened up the membership of the non-profit.

Note: as members we have the right to be informed of BOD meetings, attend them, give input; however, we still have no vote.

Fact: the IRS990s does not list the website. We wonder why. When asking about it, we ended up moderated and/or removed from OIDG.

Fact: In 2004 and 2005, similar exoduses to these next ones occurred and were kept quiet. All groups were requested to be handed over to TFN.

Fact: A large contingent, 3/4, of the GOA team publicly resigned over TFN Management in 2006.

Fact: All Team volunteers who resigned were asked to release their groups to TFN and step down.

Fact: The IMOD Team publicly resigned en mass in 2007 over TFN

Management in 2007.

Fact: Within weeks, the ex Imods were targeted with letters of "not good fit" and were requested to all turn their groups over to TFN.

Fact: Said groups were delisted immediately, before choices regarding ownership could be made.

Fact: The UK BOD Director, Neil Morris, and the entire Freecycle UK Management Team resigned over TFN Management in 2009.

Fact: TFN refused to negotiate with the UK Mods Committee.

Fact: Within weeks of the resignations, all groups owned by the Management Team and the newly formed Mods Committee are being targeted as "not good fit" and are being requested to turn over their groups.

I'm sure there is more I am forgetting right this moment, but I can always add to it later if need be.

Speculation: There's tons of it out there, but it's not worth going there as there is no foundation to stand on with speculation. And anyways, aren't there enough facts to stand on, that we really don't *need* to speculate very much in order to show why the organization is crumbling.

As I have always said, you can not build a strong foundation on tops of lies. Deron has lied to his people over and over. He has told half truths, which is the same as lying. Omitting half the truth is the same as lying.

Wow, but it is getting to be a long, long list.

Hope this helps you. It's the quick catch up method.

Karyne" are open to the public. They can find out what's really happening, without the filter or spying eyes of Deron and his goons.

I encourage mods interested in taking their groups out of tfn to write to Ready2LeaveFC-owner@yahoogroups.com for assistance or to consult "Details. Details. Details. Step-by-Step Instructions for Leaving TFN," which do-it-yourselfers will find about two-thirds of the way down the Files section of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fcnext/

Keep on freecyclin'

Nancy