The Grog Blog

RT @bethmason_net: 8 Ways to Green Your Trash. Start right in your own home and see how green your...

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:53:58 -0700

RT @bethmason_net: 8 Ways to Green Your Trash. Start right in your own home and see how green your trash can get. http://bit.ly/1a9XTP

RT @CampusEarthHour College students: Check out the toolkit to promote Earth Hour. Get your...

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 21:25:32 -0700

RT @CampusEarthHour College students: Check out the toolkit to promote Earth Hour. Get your university involved! http://tinyurl.com/cw4q6k

Freebootr will be in Boulder, CO Saturday through Wednesday attending various events. DM or reply if...

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:21:48 -0700

Freebootr will be in Boulder, CO Saturday through Wednesday attending various events. DM or reply if you want to meet up!

Going clear in 2009, as in clear air, water and land that are not filled with litter or pollution....

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:04:32 -0700

Going clear in 2009, as in clear air, water and land that are not filled with litter or pollution. http://is.gd/g7wy

Colleges and Universities participating in RecycleMania 2009 to promote reuse and recycling:...

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:53:30 -0700

Colleges and Universities participating in RecycleMania 2009 to promote reuse and recycling: http://recyclemaniacs.org/overview.htm

Fun post by @lifehacker about repurposing projects from 2008: http://is.gd/dGq7

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:59:56 -0700

Fun post by @lifehacker about repurposing projects from 2008: http://is.gd/dGq7

6 Reasons Why Freebootr is Different

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:09:33 -0700

In the world of reuse The Freecycle Network™ is a behemoth, currently claiming over 6.3 million users in about 4600 Yahoo! Groups. What started as a simple mailing list in Tucson, AZ has turned into a worldwide organization in just 5 1/2 years. The Freecycle Network has done an amazing job advocating for reuse, but the current implementation of the service suffers from some problems. Here are our observations about Freecycle.

The Freecycle Network chose to implement it’s interface through Yahoo! Groups in 2003. Unfortunately, Yahoo! Groups is not very robust; it does what it was intended for, but no more. It also tends to overwhelm people with emails and not just for posts, even signing up involves 5 or more emails. The current Freecycle model involves a single individual per group in charge of moderation, which can cause postings to be delayed and sometimes, not always, can lead to abuse of moderator powers. To work around the limitations of Yahoo! Groups, a posting format was created. Some moderators may reject a posting if the format is specified incorrectly and other may not enforce the format at all. This means that listings might use different terminology, or none at all, making it difficult to manage the emails coming into a user’s inbox through filters/rules.

Freebootr is attempting to solve these problems and more!

1. We’re not a Yahoo! Group…

Freebootr is a dynamic web service. We don’t need to employ workarounds because we have control of the code for the site and can quickly make adjustments based on feedback from our users. Ultimately this leads to improved functionality, ease of use and less user frustration.

2. Excessive emails? Not here!

Freebootr doesn’t send an excessive amount of emails and there are no TAKEN, WANTED or RECEIVED posts to deal with. As a member of Freebootr you see only offers on the site!

3. Searchable AND Geo-located

Our offers are highly searchable and can be viewed on a map so you can find the items closest to your location.

4. Posting is easy

Freebootr’s listing creation interface was designed to require certain data prior to acceptance of the listing. This greatly reduces the amount of improperly formatted listings and obviates the role of a moderator to check this format. This is also what allows us to map items because we require a location for each listing.

5. Self-moderation

In contrast to Freecycle, all of our users are moderators. Moving away from the single-moderator-per-group model removes a major source of frustration for current Freecycle group members. On Freebootr, every listing has an option to “flag this listing”. We review flagged listings and take appropriate steps to correct any problems. We trust the Freebootr community to identify what should or should not be present on the site, as well as errors in the listings.

6. Communication is key

We believe in open, honest communication with our users. You can always contact us through our Freebootr email, Freebootr twitter account or here on the Freebootr blog.

We’re a small organization working in our spare time to make this a thriving community, so please be patient with us if it takes a few days for us to respond. If you have a suggestion or criticism, we want to know, so please talk with us!

Take care and happy reducing, reusing and recycling!

Great article by Libuse Binder on @earth911 about how to start your own reuse revolution in 2009:...

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:45:00 -0700

Great article by Libuse Binder on @earth911 about how to start your own reuse revolution in 2009: http://is.gd/eGIe

Did you know http://freebootr.com has almost 30K listings, in just a few short weeks? Find things in...

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:41:34 -0700

Did you know http://freebootr.com has almost 30K listings, in just a few short weeks? Find things in your area and save them from the trash!

Freebootr: The official version

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:32:00 -0700

Yarrr, we released the official version o’ Freebootr, and it be new and improved! Here be some things ye can expect:

Redesigned front page and logo
Ye can now tell us yer location so we can set the map
Dragin’ the map’ll bring in new results
Improved search
Return to listings from individual listing page takes ye back to the map item ye were lookin’ at
Opt-in/out o’ bein’ contacted by us
Revised TOU, view ‘em o’er here
We provided ye some guidelines ‘bout postin’ and searchin’
Improved readability for ye landlubbers

Thank ye’s are in order!

Big thanks to Jason Newlin and Matt Gist fer their help, inspiration and design skills
Huge thanks to Hacknight fer feedin’ us pizza and various tasty beverages while we slaved in the Freebootr galley whippin’ up the goodness ye see today
Special thanks go out to Remi Taylor who made a custom Rails gem for us to use on Freebootr… and he made it in about 3 hours!
Thanks to all the people who be givin’ us advice and feedback on the site, from developers and designers to angel investors and, of course, our wonderful end users

As always, we cherish yer feedback, so keep it comin’. There be lots o’ stuff already posted, so get out there and freeboot, matey!

Yarrr, a new release of http://freebootr.com! If ye be willin’, check it out. And read the...

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:34:48 -0700

Yarrr, a new release of http://freebootr.com! If ye be willin’, check it out. And read the blog ye landlubber: http://grogblog.freebootr.com

New Features!

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:12:14 -0700

Since the launch on Friday, we been busy. Much like when ye set sail, the launch ain’t the hard part, the rest of the journey be. And like a Chinese proverb say

To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping.

And so it be with Freebootr…

Here be some things that ye may be interested in knowin’

Ye can now browse the listings from the home page!
Want to tell yer friends about a particularly special item? Done. Just say ye want to “Tell yer mates!” on the map or on the listin’ itself.
IE7 be behavin’ better… fer the most part IE6 still be swabbin’ our decks.
Did ya see somethin’ ye wished ye hadn’t? Well, tell us about it’s inappropriate nature so we can check it out fer ourselves… err, we mean take care of the offendin’ listing… by clickin’ “Flag Listing.”

As always if ye see somethin’ that be wrong, contact Freebootr.

We find admins offensive too Yahoo, make ‘em walk the...

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:33:46 -0700

We find admins offensive too Yahoo, make ‘em walk the plank… yarrr!

Hey #phx come join the http://freebootr.com launch party: 2pm @gangplank. Then head out to #pfc,...

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:30:39 -0700

Hey #phx come join the http://freebootr.com launch party: 2pm @gangplank. Then head out to #pfc, #pfb and #pfn. Then #pss (PHX Sat Sleep-in)

The Grog Blog is live on Freebootr.com! Check it out: http://grogblog.freebootr.com

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:30:39 -0700

The Grog Blog is live on Freebootr.com! Check it out: http://grogblog.freebootr.com

Piratey iPhone Apps

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:40:12 -0700

Havin’ trouble coming up with a pirate name when ye be signin’ up fer Freebootr? Try this iPhone app.

iPhone Pirate Name Generator

Want to hear the finer points of the pirate dialect? Try this one.

ayePhone

Freebootr be launched!

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:20:05 -0700

That’s right me hearties, Freebootr.com launched!

And it were with much fanfare and merriment that we did so. There was even a cake. It was delicious and moist.

What the hell is Freebootr?

Arrr, glad ye asked! Freebootr be a green initiative to encourage recyclin’ of things ye no longer be wantin’ or needin’. Instead of throwin’ it in yer local landfill, ye see if some ambitious Freebootr be wantin’ it.

We provide the place to post yer stuff, browse fer stuff and indicate ye be wantin’ stuff. Then we leave it up to the Freebootr who listed the item to make contact and delivery of said item. It be as simple as that!

How to get started

Unlike other sites, there’s nothin’ special ye need to do to browse and search fer stuff. We keep it open and free to all!

Check out the free listings now!

Now, if ye be wantin’ to post, ye simply signup with a minimum of infermation.

Signup fer Freebootr!

How can ye help?

Yer a right nice fella fer asking. The next time ye’re about to throw somethin’ in the trash ask yerself if someone else might be wantin’ it. Chances are, they be… er, wantin’ it, that is. Even if it be broken, there’re many landlubbers who like to tinker with broken stuff or scavenge fer spare parts.

Then, when yer in the market fer somethin’ and don’t want to be spendin’ yer hard earned doubloons, search fer it on Freebootr.com first. It’ll only take a minute, but may save ye money. Not to mention helpin’ the environment!

Finally, talk to us! Either here, through the website or at contact@freebootr.com. We’d love to hear from ye.