JumbleTown Ireland - View Single Post - what if an item is not "taken" ? should there be a "skipped/dumped" option ?

Chris P · **Posted: 11-06-2008 , 12:44 AM** #2

Hi cascais,

First of all, thanks for your post above -- you obviously put some serious thought into it!

Secondly, I don't think we'll be introducing a "Dumped/Skipped" option to complement the existing "Available/Reserved/Taken" options. The main reason for this is that some Members find it hard enough to update the status of their item with the existing tags and so introducing a fourth option might confuse matters even further! Members need to be reminded that it is their responsibility to monitor and update their ads/threads -- not Admin's. It is obvious that some Members who manage to pass on their item don't fulfil their final "duty" and update their thread. {Now, if €1 were deducted from their bank account for every day they were late, I reckon we wouldn't have a problem with folk forgetting to update their ads/threads! ;-) } Luckily, some Takers write an update on the thread if they notice that the Giver has forgotten to do so. This is a practice that Admin and no doubt other potential Takers would like to see more of -- it helps to keep the forums up-to-date.

Thirdly, as regards statistics, we do provide data to the 34 Local Authorities around the country (15 of these support the work of JumbleTown directly by providing some "Local Agenda 21" funding for marketing purposes). We have neither the time nor the man-power to count every sofa and bed that passes through JumbleTown but by analysing the data in Admin's (hidden) Archive, we can give a reasonably good idea of the number of items that have been life-cycled or re-used. I say "reasonably good idea" because we haven't kept track of the number of ads/threads that have been deleted by Members themselves and furthermore we didn't have an Archive for the first few months of our "life." The figures I indicate below do not take these into account nor do they include the ads that are currently on the Public Forum. So, for the record, at the moment in the Archive we have 13,675 ads/threads, which can be broken down as follows:

Number of Items Marked as Taken by Members (over the past two years) = 8,650

Number of Items Marked as Reserved by Members but which were Archived by Admin because of no update (over the past two years) = 1,275

Number of Items Still Marked as Available by Members but which were Archived by Admin because of no update (over the past two years) = 3,750

We're pretty sure that most of the items marked as Taken were in fact life-cycled/re-used. Some may have been withdrawn because of no expressions of interest from Takers, but these (I think) are very few in number.

Probably most of the Reserved items were life-cycled as well -- it's just that Givers forgot to update their ads/threads on time. They may have already exchanged contact details with potential Takers and simply completed the Giving and Taking process off the Board/Public Forum.

The Archived Available items could have faced one of a number of different fates: 1. They may have actually been life-cycled (on or off the Forum) but the ad was left without an update; (2) They were sent to landfill or burnt (illegally) in backyards; (3) They were the passive party in a bout of furtive late-night fly-tipping; (4) They remain in situ to this day, causing many a stubbed toe or bruised knee-cap.

As for help from the powers-that-be: Waste Management is primarily the concern of Local Government rather than Central Government. Recycling Plants and incinerators are in vogue at the moment (forgive my cynicism/sarcasm but it has been one those days/years/decades) because (arguably) they are badly needed. Of the "Reduce, Re-use, Recycle" triplets, Recycle is the golden-haired boy partly because he demands expensive infrastructure to be built or else big ships to take him abroad ("83% of all items destined for recycling are necessarily exported." - Dept of the Environment) -- infrastructure and exporting create jobs and money; Re-use hasn't got an arse in his trousers but he's popular with discerning folk, and as for Reduce, well, practically no one knows his name.

But still...! -- we intend to apply for funding from all of the Local Authorities in the Irish Republic next month. The managers/developers of the site had hoped to approach the Northern Ireland Local Authorities with regards to funding to support the site up North (JT was designed to be used by all on the island of Ireland) but they've decided that we have to get meaningful backing from public or private sources here in the South before we can even think about promoting the site in Northern Ireland.

Thanks for the feedback, Cascais.

Regards
Chris P
Admin

	Posted: 11-06-2008 , 12:44 AM #2
Chris P Administrator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: JumbleTown Posts: 5,998	from Admin Hi cascais, First of all, thanks for your post above -- you obviously put some serious thought into it! Secondly, I don't think we'll be introducing a "Dumped/Skipped" option to complement the existing "Available/Reserved/Taken" options. The main reason for this is that some Members find it hard enough to update the status of their item with the existing tags and so introducing a fourth option might confuse matters even further! Members need to be reminded that it is their responsibility to monitor and update their ads/threads -- not Admin's. It is obvious that some Members who manage to pass on their item don't fulfil their final "duty" and update their thread. {Now, if €1 were deducted from their bank account for every day they were late, I reckon we wouldn't have a problem with folk forgetting to update their ads/threads! ;-) } Luckily, some Takers write an update on the thread if they notice that the Giver has forgotten to do so. This is a practice that Admin and no doubt other potential Takers would like to see more of -- it helps to keep the forums up-to-date. Thirdly, as regards statistics, we do provide data to the 34 Local Authorities around the country (15 of these support the work of JumbleTown directly by providing some "Local Agenda 21" funding for marketing purposes). We have neither the time nor the man-power to count every sofa and bed that passes through JumbleTown but by analysing the data in Admin's (hidden) Archive, we can give a reasonably good idea of the number of items that have been life-cycled or re-used. I say "reasonably good idea" because we haven't kept track of the number of ads/threads that have been deleted by Members themselves and furthermore we didn't have an Archive for the first few months of our "life." The figures I indicate below do not take these into account nor do they include the ads that are currently on the Public Forum. So, for the record, at the moment in the Archive we have 13,675 ads/threads, which can be broken down as follows: Number of Items Marked as Taken by Members (over the past two years) = 8,650 Number of Items Marked as Reserved by Members but which were Archived by Admin because of no update (over the past two years) = 1,275 Number of Items Still Marked as Available by Members but which were Archived by Admin because of no update (over the past two years) = 3,750 We're pretty sure that most of the items marked as Taken were in fact life-cycled/re-used. Some may have been withdrawn because of no expressions of interest from Takers, but these (I think) are very few in number. Probably most of the Reserved items were life-cycled as well -- it's just that Givers forgot to update their ads/threads on time. They may have already exchanged contact details with potential Takers and simply completed the Giving and Taking process off the Board/Public Forum. The Archived Available items could have faced one of a number of different fates: 1. They may have actually been life-cycled (on or off the Forum) but the ad was left without an update; (2) They were sent to landfill or burnt (illegally) in backyards; (3) They were the passive party in a bout of furtive late-night fly-tipping; (4) They remain in situ to this day, causing many a stubbed toe or bruised knee-cap. As for help from the powers-that-be: Waste Management is primarily the concern of Local Government rather than Central Government. Recycling Plants and incinerators are in vogue at the moment (forgive my cynicism/sarcasm but it has been one those days/years/decades) because (arguably) they are badly needed. Of the "Reduce, Re-use, Recycle" triplets, Recycle is the golden-haired boy partly because he demands expensive infrastructure to be built or else big ships to take him abroad ("83% of all items destined for recycling are necessarily exported." - Dept of the Environment) -- infrastructure and exporting create jobs and money; Re-use hasn't got an arse in his trousers but he's popular with discerning folk, and as for Reduce, well, practically no one knows his name. But still...! -- we intend to apply for funding from all of the Local Authorities in the Irish Republic next month. The managers/developers of the site had hoped to approach the Northern Ireland Local Authorities with regards to funding to support the site up North (JT was designed to be used by all on the island of Ireland) but they've decided that we have to get meaningful backing from public or private sources here in the South before we can even think about promoting the site in Northern Ireland. Thanks for the feedback, Cascais. Regards Chris P Admin