I have to disagree to a certain extent

I love freecycle. I was able to get rid of a lot of junk through them that I really did not feel like hauling myself to the goodwill or like places. In fact, I usedto sell media on Amazon and I had about 7,000 books, CDs, DVDs, VHS, etc to get rid of and Goodwill and other like places would not come to pick it all up (even though they really wanted them).

I put it all on freecycle and got rid of it immediately.

But about the rude thing. Personally, the examples you gave don;t strike me as ride at all. Some people just express themselves in different ways. Sure, I understand the mentality that one should be nice when asking for free stuff, but in the case of freecycle, it's different. People are not begging you for stuff, you are offering it openly. I see no need to hold it over someone's head. You should only be giving stuff away on freecycle that you you really want to get rid of and do not want to throw it away. May times, around my neck of the woods, people will post that they just put something by the garbage pile that will be picked up on XX date so you can pick it up if you want it at anytime. Others even just say they set it out on their porch or doorstep.

No offense, but it sounds to me like it is your own fault that you still have the bikes, no offense. If you really wanted to get rid of them you had the opportunity. You simply did not take it. You were too worried about people being nice for getting something for free. But the mentality of freecycle is that you need to get rid of something just as badly as a person might want to take it off your hands amd you are grateful to give it away jsut so long as they come pick it up and follow the rules you set in your post. No need to try to make friends. Your just looking ot get rid of your junk.

The only thing I don't like is when people don't read your post and ask questions that are answered or try to circumvent your rules. Like that lot of media I was giving away. it was all boxed up and ready to just be packed in a van, truck. I really could not let people come in and look through each and every box just to cherry pick for things here and there and then leave my neatly packed boxes all in a mess.

I needed to find someone who had the truck and the manpower and was willing to take-all. site unseen. I found the guy, but it took many cherry pickers and non-post-readers to get him. He came, was non-talkative, took the stuff, that's it. You could call it rude, you could call it ungrateful. But i called it a godsend.