What weird/outrageous requests have you seen on Freecycle/Craigslist?

[MissRose]

I guess I wouldn't qualify as I am a fat chick myself... then again, I would want to date someone who could care less about what my size is!!!!

My boyfriend just found out about this winning personals ad that a guy he knew in high school just posted: http://littlerock.craigslist.org/m4w/1715626839.html

Oh man! That guy is a real winner, an uneducated intellectual elitist? Any woman who would stoop so low as to date someone like him REALLY has an issue!

Oh Lordy! I think I might've dated this guy, because there can't be 2 people this pathetic in the world!

Like the village idiot and the village drunk - I think that these are an archetype that every village is issued.....at least in the 21st century.

[afbluebelle]

My boyfriend just found out about this winning personals ad that a guy he knew in high school just posted: http://littlerock.craigslist.org/m4w/1715626839.html

I would totally date this guy. No really, I would.

I enjoy a challenge/torture session.

[dawnfire]

There is also the annual trend at the end of the school year, the requests for text books start coming in. yes, some of of the books are expensive but to list all the books on your school list (including latest editions) is a bit much

[Azrail]

My boyfriend just found out about this winning personals ad that a guy he knew in high school just posted: http://littlerock.craigslist.org/m4w/1715626839.html

I would totally date this guy. No really, I would.

I enjoy a challenge/torture session.

I thought the ad was hilarious! It was, like a joke... right?

[Azrail]

Here's one word for word from today's Freecycle:

to all i know a young lady who is due in five weeks she has only justfound out and has nothing for a baby any baby items will help if you canhelp this lady out plz call (mobile phone number) thank you ps we have no car so ifyou do have anything you would like to give we will have to work outsomething to pick up thank you again

[afbluebelle]

My boyfriend just found out about this winning personals ad that a guy he knew in high school just posted: http://littlerock.craigslist.org/m4w/1715626839.html

I would totally date this guy. No really, I would.

I enjoy a challenge/torture session.

I thought the ad was hilarious! It was, like a joke... right?

That is why I would want to go!

I think I could keep his interest four at least four dates... I have enough random stories to last that long at least.

[Garden Goblin]

I should put up a wanted on freecycle, see if I can get some of the items I've been looking for at garage sales.  What do you think my chances are?

Upright chest freezer (need not be in working order or even have the motor)
Pennies from 1981 and earlier

[MommyPenguin]

You'd probably get lots of hits on pennies, I'd imagine.  Especially if you've offered things in the past.  Maybe it's just me, but when I see a name that I know has done a *ton* of offers and they want something that I might have if I went looking, I'll put more effort into it than somebody who I don't remember doing any offers.

As for the freezer, I think it's fine to ask for.  Chances somebody will have one lying around?  Probably depends on your locale.  If you live near a big city and the list is large and very active, chance might not be bad.  If you live near smaller cities or in a more rural area, I'd be surprised.  But you never know, so go for it!

[Suze]

I should put up a wanted on freecycle, see if I can get some of the items I've been looking for at garage sales.  What do you think my chances are?

Upright chest freezer (need not be in working order or even have the motor)
Pennies from 1981 and earlier

ok -- now I GOT to know

what are you going to do with a chest freezer that don't work?

[Fi]

I should put up a wanted on freecycle, see if I can get some of the items I've been looking for at garage sales.  What do you think my chances are?

Upright chest freezer (need not be in working order or even have the motor)
Pennies from 1981 and earlier

ok -- now I GOT to know

what are you going to do with a chest freezer that don't work?

I'm guessing storing animal feed of some kind. It's the cheapest way to get an absolutely secure feed bin - I've used them a lot out at stables, because they're easy to open, close and access, and they're mouseproof.

[BrittMontero]

Bummer, the personal ad is blocked here at work...I'll have to look at it later!

Here's today's awesome post from my Freecycle list...

I am looking for some gardening stuff so I can make an attempt to grow my own vegetables.
I am looking for any of the following;

Tomato cages
top soil
Lg planting containers
Mulch
Compost
plant starters or seeds
small amount of Horse manure
Wood pallets
rain barrel
watering can
Sun Shine (lol)
and what ever else may help with my venture.

Every little bit helps.

So she wants to grow tomatoes, but doesn't want to put any effort or money into the project.  I wonder if she'll be asking for people to come water and weed her tomatoes in a few weeks?   

I guess I don't understand all of the snark about posts like the one quoted above.

Having had a small hand in bringing Freecycle to my area some years ago, I can tell you that it really doesn't matter if other posters think the recipients "deserve" items disseminated via the bulletin board.  Freecycle isnt about charity, merit, pulling oneself up by the bootstraps, having an "acceptable" motivation to make a request or otherwise being judgmental of the participants.  It's about keeping useful items out of the landfill, period.  I know of many cases where a "want" post has jogged the memories of people who were grateful to be rid of items like tomato cages or whatnot cluttering up their storage space.  The persons posting the "wants" saved the givers of the trouble of posting "offers," if you want to look at it that way. 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the polite and somewhat humorous request quoted above, as far as the tenets of Freecycle are concerned.  Yes, opportunists, resale artists and convoluted sob stories have infiltrated some boards but alert moderators know how to manage that and really, some people do get rid of stuff by fulfilling these requests. Again, whatever the "wanter's" intent may be, keeping items out of the trash is the goal so even if he or she is going to resell the booty at a garage sale or swap meet, so what?

Merely posting a detailed "want" is not at all considered greedy or a faux pas let alone worthy of the scorn demonstrated in this thread.  Why begrudge people something that doesn't cost you a dime and is good for our eco-system? 

[deadbody]

I should put up a wanted on freecycle, see if I can get some of the items I've been looking for at garage sales.  What do you think my chances are?

Upright chest freezer (need not be in working order or even have the motor)
Pennies from 1981 and earlier

ok -- now I GOT to know

what are you going to do with a chest freezer that don't work?

Store Pennies, I would think that would have been obvious

[Suze]

I should put up a wanted on freecycle, see if I can get some of the items I've been looking for at garage sales.  What do you think my chances are?

Upright chest freezer (need not be in working order or even have the motor)
Pennies from 1981 and earlier

ok -- now I GOT to know

what are you going to do with a chest freezer that don't work?

Store Pennies, I would think that would have been obvious

ouch

[Pinky830]

He probably told his sister that he was getting a ride from a stranger he met off the internet and she freaked.

I mistakenly told my parents about meeting someone on EHell for dinner once. They acted like I was 16yo and meeting an ax murderer or something! My mom kept calling me all through dinner and was upset when I called her back. I had to remind my parents that I am an adult and can take care of myself.

ginlyn

I've spent the last 14 years...almost the entire time I've been online...on a very large professional website. Part of it is a message board that has folders for work-related questions as well as off-topic discussions. Everyone posts under their real name and makes no secret at all of their location or any other personal info. (Your identity is confirmed independently and the site is double password protected.) Since we're all colleagues, several people know each other IRL anyway. So anyway, some of us that live in the same region have an annual get-together. The first time I went, my parents were just befuddled. Not like scared, they just couldn't get their minds around the fact that I was going canoeing with a bunch of people that I had never met. It was so hard to explain that I knew these people very well...we just weren't sure what each other looked like. 

[alegria]

Merely posting a detailed "want" is not at all considered greedy or a faux pas let alone worthy of the scorn demonstrated in this thread.  Why begrudge people something that doesn't cost you a dime and is good for our eco-system? 

I disagree with you.    Looking at this post specifically, it would be far more appropriate to post a "Wanted: Gardening Supplies" and then mention you are hoping to grow tomatoes in the body of the post.  Listing out a huge long list of things you need, especially when that list encompasses *everything* that you need, looks very gimme-pig.  Sure, you can post as detailed a "Wanted" post as you want, but you run the risk of being considered a special snowflake if you expect to find Perfect Exact Item for free instead of purchasing it yourself.  It also looks very greedy to post multiple specific requests while offering little or no items up in return.  I also think it's in quite bad taste to request more than one large ticket item at a time, and also to request the same item multiple times within a few weeks.

For example, the person who I've posted about twice now looking for baby stuff, has today requested (a) a photo printer with paper, (b) a digital camera that has no delay from startup to taking pictures, and (c) a double jogging stroller.  That's three big series of posts looking for specific big-ticket items within about four weeks.  Even if I had any of these items that I wanted to get rid of, I would not give them to her at this point because it's only rewarding the unbridled greed.  And no, she has not put up anything on offer beyond the bag of "mixed baby clothes" that she had up a few weeks ago.

People are welcome to post whatever they want on Freecycle.  Other people are perfectly free to ignore the postings, judge them for being gimme-pigs, or offer them items as they see fit.