Hi there. Freecycle confuses me. How do you use it?

You sign up for a membership

You locate a group that is in your area ( example Atlanta GA has several different groups)

Then you post or pick the items you are looking for

All right, I shall try that. Thank you.

I did it. I was so confused because I was going to freecycle.com and not org... woopsie.

They are based off a bunch ( 1000's) of separate and what it appears to be is independent groups. They are all using Yahoo groups as a method of posting their items.
They seem very heavy moderated and to be honest I have not been very impressed by the sign up process

They have a "approval" process that looks like it could take some time to become approved to use their site.

It also appears they want you to offer free stuff for others before you go and get free stuff. There may not be a requirement but the first email I got from them was a note asking that I do this

I just posted something, and just signed up...

I tried to sign up for two separate groups, both said they had to be approved by their moderator first, and one group required my address. I have not heard back from a moderator yet.

Keep posting your results and I will post mine, this will be sort of a review of their system.

Mine was approved automatically via email. Strange. And I just posted a search in my area.

It appears that the Atlanta group and the Cobb County group both are moderated and require approval before they allow you to join. It may be because of issues of fraud, spam and criminal usage but that is just a guess. Perhaps I will ask them why their group is and others are not.