Would an MN "Freecycle" section be a good idea?

[MadameDefarge]

I'm just thinking that there are so many of us with kids stuff, and other stuff that we would love to give a good home to...and i for one never get around to going to the charity shop.

Maybe we could post all our stuff we don't need anymore with a "going to charity shop" deadline, and all the recipient needs to do is to pay for postage? (or collect if near enough.

Or would that be a bit tricky to administer and cause massive headaches/crossness/falling outs?

Are you really thinking that MadameDefarge? I thought I was just stating the obvious!

We already have Local sections on Mumsnet Talk. They (well the one's in my area) don't seem to be used that much. So if Mumsnet did do some kind of Freecycle thing, then putting it on Local makes sense... though ads would need to be permitted in several Locals, such a the one in which you live, plus the ones surrounding that area.

Wonder what it could be called. FreeMumnetterStuffRecycling is a bit long!
Mumcycling - hmm, not sure about that.

Problem is, Mumsnet Local isn't used that much in some areas... so initially there won't be much of an audience. But if it gets featured enough, mentioned enough, then maybe it will take off... which will mean more people looking at Mumsnet Local.

I do wonder why Mumsnet Local features so low down on the topics list. Maybe it should be moved to the top of the list and expanded... so it shows the Mumsnet Local sites to which you are subscribed at the top of the Topics page. That may help get local area boards more visits.

To get people to use local there needs to be useful content - FreeMumStuff (or whatever name it gets) could be the 'loss leader' as it were to drag people into viewing the boards. Then the boards may get more local postings on it, such as people asking questions about local events, places to visit etc. Then the boards may appeal to advertisers who want to target ads based on geographic areas.