Was this mean?

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As I’ve often mentioned, I’m a keen user of ‘Freegle’, where you pass on unwanted things, or ask for things other people might have going spare. Since I started (on what was then Freecycle) in 2003 I must have Freegled many hundreds, probably over a thousand, things. So I’m quite used to how the system works and the different things people say. The best ‘customers’ are those who are polite and tell you how they would like the thing you are offering, possibly even why they want it, and when they could come to collect it. The worst ones are those who just reply immediately to a post simply with ‘plz’ and then if you offer it to them, they don’t reply again for days, or they don’t bother to turn up. Yesterday I offered something I had picked up from somewhere along with some other stuff for the garden. I thought I might be able to use it but so far I haven’t, so I decided to offer that. I’m not even sure what it is, maybe some sort of keep net for fishing. Anyway I offered it with an explanation and a picture, and as usual I asked people to say when they could come for it. When I got home last night I found that one person had replied with the words ‘Is available’ They didn’t even bother to add a question mark! And of course they didn’t say when they could collect. It was tempting to just ignore them, but on the other hand I do want to re-home this thing. And I don’t want to exclude people if, perhaps, they struggle with English. Normally I would reply to enquires to say, yes the item was available, and would they like it, and if so when could they come? But it was late at night, and why should I write a long polite reply if they didn’t bother? So I compromised and in response to the query ‘Is available’ I simply replied ‘Is’ Still waiting to see what they say next. The picture is nothing at all to do with the post. All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2024.