Do You Use Nextdoor?

[ExFlyBoy5]

The "rant of the day" and a couple of comments about Facebook reminded me about the website Nextdoor. For those who are unfamiliar, it's a social networking site that is geared to specific areas, basically, your "neighbors".

I was an early adopter and actually enjoyed it. There was/is a vetting process of sorts that helps eliminate the trolls by requiring you to verify your identity and that you actually live where you say you live. It *was* a good place to get information from around your community. I say *was* because it has now become a dumpster fire almost as big as Facebook. My neighbors now number over 11,000 and the connected neighborhoods stretch to the next county almost 10 miles away.

This blogpost really sums it up very well for the folks in my "neighborhood"

https://suburbanturmoil.com/8-truths-about-nextdoor-com/2017/08/24/

So...do you use Nextdoor and if so, do you find it useful?

 

[Meadbh]

Never heard of it.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Never heard of it.

Here is a recent summary of the company, its growth and coverage around the world.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/20/nextdoor-now-in-160000-neighborhoods-globally-expands-to-germany/

 

[MuirWannabe]

I'd say that summary in your original post nails it pretty well. Why are neighbors so eager to fight with each other?

Also, I'd add another rule. If you have cr*p you want to get rid of, Nextdoor is the app for you.

 

[aja8888]

I don't bother with any social media stuff. It's generally a waste of time for me.

 

[Major Tom]

This blogpost really sums it up very well for the folks in my "neighborhood"

https://suburbanturmoil.com/8-truths-about-nextdoor-com/2017/08/24/

Yes, that pretty much sums it up for my neighborhood too. Every now and again, a thread gets out of control when some "social justice warrior" decides that the terminology or perspective of another member is not exactly in keeping with their precise way of seeing things, and the whole thing blows up. At times it's entertaining, but it can also be rather tiring. Too many people, some of whom are trying way too hard, IMO.

I briefly check the digest e-mails from NextDoor but these days, only read a thread in more detail if it specifically interests me, which isn't very often. Nevertheless, it can be entertaining to see that almost every time there is a loud noise in the neighborhood, someone is on NextDoor asking everyone else if they heard it, and what they think it was. Sheesh!

I don't bother with any social media stuff. It's generally a waste of time for me.

Very wise, I think.

 

[FIREd]

Never heard of Nextdoor, but the linked blogpost sounds a lot like the conversations during our monthly neighborhood get-togethers... Ugh. Those get-togethers were supposed to foster community

 

[Big_Hitter]

we use it

 

[braumeister]

I had never heard of it, but went there to check. Turns out my street is not included, although it has been here since 1996. Lucky me!

 

[Carpediem]

We recently joined it but I'm quickly growing tired of all the crap subjects, emails, and notifications. If DW didn't enjoy reading it, I would unsubscribe.

 

[FrankiesGirl]

I am a member and it helped enormously during the hurricane. Got info from folks near the bayous and around the general area of where to avoid, places open, roadways to be cautious with and community information.

I use it also to find garage sales, give away building materials and keep an eye out for lost pets.

I turned off all notifications other than emergencies. I also make sure to report the garbage posters (spam, drama queens) when I come across them.

 

[omni550]

I belong to it at my Michigan house. Good for finding owners of lost pets. Lately some crabbiness/complaining.

Where we could really use it, at my Florida condo (due to being a mix of snowbirds who live far away and year-round residents), the 'management' team doesn't want to get it started.

omni

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I find it useful for items like rattle snake sightings, what was that loud bang last night at 3 am kind of thing, public service announcements and local crime and accident reports. I tune out the fights between the grown up mean girls and get off my lawn posters. I've never used the lost pets or classified and free item type posts yet but I could see those being useful some day.

It is pretty crazy the free stuff people give away on our Nextdoor group. Given enough time, I'm sure someone could furnish a whole house for free including appliances, with just the free items that get posted.

 

[pb4uski]

We have something similar called Front Porch Forum.... sort of like an electrnic town bulletin board. Ours works very well and even with the more controversial political hot topics people are quite civil... after all, with only 1,250 people in town there is a good chance that you will run into each other at the post office or hardware store or wherever.... also, that person whose view you are 180 on may be the person that comes long with their truck and a two strap when you are stuck in a ditch some dark winter night.

 

[sheldon cornped]

We have been members in two communities. I check in and out occasionally. Conversations that have been useful include: stuff for sale, crime alerts, recommended services like medical, auto, home repair etc...In the first week of our current location, I put a notice out for anyone interested in digging up two ornamental shrubs in our front yard. A couple down the street showed up with a pickup truck and shovels and I helped them load our unwanted shrubs. Sometimes the squabbles are entertaining and others make you wonder why you moved into the area. You can belong to adjoining neighborhoods to expand as you like. Anyway, I find it more useful than not.

 

[MBAustin]

Our neighborhood has had a Yahoo group for many years, but I see more of the posts migrating over to Nextdoor as folks from neighboring neighborhoods () can also see them. As above, mostly odd animal sightings, reporting teenagers speeding on the streets, selling/giving away household items, asking for contractor recommendations. It's handy.

 

[Tailgate]

Our Nextdoor group is pretty entertaining at times.. here's a post from a couple of months back about a supposed Meth house in the hood. It's bizarre....

 

[gerntz]

We recently joined it but I'm quickly growing tired of all the crap subjects, emails, and notifications. If DW didn't enjoy reading it, I would unsubscribe.

Anything I could say would be considered sexist.

 

[travelover]

I use it. It is great for buying and selling stuff locally, getting business recommendations and finding out about local news and gossip. I recently found a blue tooth earpiece and posted it. Within an hour the owner had it back. There are occasional squabbles there, but on the whole, I like it.

 

[rodi]

I'm on it. There are a few hot button topics in our neighborhood that trigger some really un neighborly posts... Unfortunately, facts don't seem to matter in the mud slinging. It gets really tiring.

But the majority of posts are people selling furniture and lost/found pets. Sometimes some good free stuff is posted (someone gave away a bunch of fescue sod yesterday).

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I belong to it at my Michigan house. Good for finding owners of lost pets. Lately some crabbiness/complaining.

Where we could really use it, at my Florida condo (due to being a mix of snowbirds who live far away and year-round residents), the 'management' team doesn't want to get it started.

omni

Well, you can start it yourself...as a founding member. When it first rolled out, I suggested it to our HOA (it's not a mandatory one and less than 40% of the homes are members) and was shot down...so I created it on my own of which about 60% of homes are members.

 

[Rustic23]

I check it every once in a while, but for our neighborhood it has become a place to bitch and politic.

 

[Jerry1]

Ours is not to bad. Good for business reviews and recommendations, lost animals, crime issues etc. What I tire of is the "businesses" that are your neighbor advertising. It's essentially impossible to get away from people advertising these days. Just thought that maybe a neighborhood site might not be so bad.

The funny thing is the one guy who has to comment. His last post was the correcting of english/spelling post. He did get pretty well ripped for that, though I'm sure it wont stop him.

 

[Sanstar]

I use it. It is great for buying and selling stuff locally, getting business recommendations and finding out about local news and gossip. I recently found a blue tooth earpiece and posted it. Within an hour the owner had it back. There are occasional squabbles there, but on the whole, I like it.

Same with us.

 

[Aerides]

If you like your neighbors, stay off it, except for getting recommendations or to be on the look out for lost pets.

There's probably one of these in every neighborhood:

The person who posts/replies in all caps and unintelligible sentences all the time
The person who always asks, in reference to any suspect activity, "what race were they?"
The realtor who overposts her open houses in spite of warnings
The rebel who wants to convert everyone against the HOA or reasonable standards