Unsupported Browser

Hello! We’ve noticed that you are using Internet Explorer to access our site. This browser is no longer supported. Please switch to another browser and try again.

Click here for more information.

Technical problems

For Members With Problems Signing in

For Members with Problems Signing Up

For Members with Password Problems

As Moderator, you will occasionally encounter glitches with the system, and you will hear from members who suspect things aren't working the way they should. This section tells you where to report problems and describes the information you need to provide when reporting problems. Use the who, what, when, and where approach to analyze the error and learn where to report the error.

Before reporting an error, take a moment to find out if it's a known issue.

Where to report an error

First, choose the appropriate site for reporting your problem. There are four choices:

  1. Tech Discussion Group/(formerly known as FIOD) -- You can post any technical problem or question on FIOD and get a quick response by other moderators. The tech team also monitors FIOD and will take care of problems that need attention. Click here for more information on how to join.
  2. For members -- ask your member to click the green question mark at the bottom-right of any Freecycle.org page to search our knowledge base of Help articles or send our Help Team volunteers a message.
  3. For Moderators only -- If the error can't be resolved through FIOD, contact SiteModHelp using the orange question mark beacon on moderator.freecycle.org. Always include your Town name. 

Please note: If you are a member of a Freecycle.org team, please report technical issues to your Team Leader rather than going through FIOD or SiteModHelp. See your team's wiki for more information.

How to report an error

When reporting an error, a proper who, what, when and where error report must include the following.

These are mandatory:

  • The Town name
  • The User ID or email address.
  • Post ID (if relevant)
  • The name of virus protection being used.
  • The name of ad blocker being used.
  • The URL of the page the error happened. Example: http://moderator.Freecycle.org/login 

These are helpful and may be asked in follow up emails:

  • Describe (or provide screen shot) of error message displayed on screen
  • Describe what steps you have already tried. Example: I used a different browser - I shut down the computer using the Ctrl + f5 key for a fresh restart - I closed and reopened the browser - I tried a different browser - I tried a different computer - I tried a different ISP provider - I cleared the browsers cache - I cleared browser cookies - I cleared browsers temp internet files - I removed saved passwords from the browser - I removed bookmark and typed Freecycle.org to get the newest cookie then re-bookmarked the newer page

Inappropriate ads on Freecycle.org

Pop up ads

Noisy ads. If you or a member of yours has noticed a particularly annoying ad on Freecycle.org with sound and you'd like to report this for removal please take the following steps:

  1. Do a screenshot of the page showing the exact ad. This site explains how to take screenshots for multiple devices: https://www.take-a-screenshot.org
  2. Quickly right mouse click on the ad and then on "Inspect Element". On some browsers it might say simply "Inspect". Scroll down in this code to where the SOVRN or OpenX part starts in the "code" and screenshot that too (this code line may also be green or highlighted). If this does not work, hover over ad, right click and copy link location.
  3. For mobile device users:
    • Android: In the Chrome browser, go to the website you want to inspect. In the address bar, type "view-source:" before the "http" and reload the page.The whole elements of the page will be shown.
    • IOS: From the Safari menu bar click Safari > Preferences then select the Advanced tab. Select Show Develop menu in menu bar. Now click Develop from the menu bar, click Show Web Inspector.
  4. Send both screenshots to Site Mod Help using the orange question mark beacon on moderator.freecycle.org.

Tags: #fcmodman

<< Return to Mod Manual Home