NeighborFilter

August 16, 2004 4:03 PM

iNeighborsis like groupware for neighbors. The site lets members define neighborhoods and provides tools for meeting and talking to your neighbors, like posting reviews and building a mailing list. It sounds like MeFites want to meet people nearby, a desire this site is banking on. (via Smart Mobs)
posted by revgeorge (18 comments total)

(My first FPP, be kind)

I've always been nostalgic for the small size of the BBSes of yesteryear. While the value of networks may be exponential, there's something to be said for talking to small groups of local people. Hopefully this site can provide that feeling again. Of course it won't be perfect until it gets rid of all those graphics in favor of ANSI...
posted by revgeorge at 4:07 PM on August 16, 2004

It's a cool idea. However the design of the site is hideous in my opinion and the UI could use some works. I get the feeling (by the design and UI) they are less interested in helping build communities then they are in making 1999 style $$$. But that is pure speculation.

Imagine a 'craigslist-ified' version of this site. Now that's something I could get in to.
posted by cell divide at 4:17 PM on August 16, 2004

what humanity needs is software tools for meeting and talking to your neighbors.
posted by quonsar at 4:38 PM on August 16, 2004

what humanity needs is software tools for meeting and talking to your neighbors.

shudder...
posted by toby\flat2 at 4:44 PM on August 16, 2004

heh, quonsar always says exactly what I'm thinking.

(ok, minus the salt and the truncheons and the morris-dancers, but granted....)
posted by dorian at 4:44 PM on August 16, 2004

what humanity needs is software tools for meeting and talking to your neighbors.

Well there definitely seems to be a problem; I don't think "Kill Your Television" bumper stickers have brought people out of their homes to meet their neighbors. Also, Meetup.com seems to be doing pretty well doing just that.

If this helps a someone meet a neighbor they wouldn't have, I'd put it in the positive column.
posted by revgeorge at 4:55 PM on August 16, 2004

h.b. fyfe wrote about exactly this sort of thing back in 1952. well, the bizarre effects of interaction with "neighbours", anyway.

/red-three to the tennis lawn, please.
posted by dorian at 5:30 PM on August 16, 2004

If I want to get my neighbors' attention, I just
POST VERY VERY LOUDLY!
posted by wendell at 5:37 PM on August 16, 2004

It's a good idea, I wish I had known about this a few months ago. I set up a BBS for my apt building the "old-fashioned" way, bought a domain and installed phpBB. Works pretty well all-in-all, but a bit expensive.
posted by milovoo at 5:57 PM on August 16, 2004

I always wanted to start a site for my apartment buildings back in college and after, probably because I didn't know anyone and wanted a way to share info with others.

This iNeighbors thing sounds like an easy way to do that, but my guess is that in practice I bet all the introverts flock to the site, while the extroverts avoid it and just meet over the fence like they used to.
posted by mathowie at 6:38 PM on August 16, 2004

This is a kind of rad alternative to the local newsletter. For those of us who live in a place without a main gathering point such as a public transportation hub or coffee shop, this could be kinda neat. We'll see....
posted by ph00dz at 6:46 PM on August 16, 2004

I always wanted to start a site for my apartment buildings back in college and after, probably because I didn't know anyone and wanted a way to share info with others.

The apt. complex I live in has a website you can personalize with the ability to post classifieds, bbs, etc. Granted, it's freaking massive (some 14 complexes with ~15,000 units total). I haven't used it much, but I think it's nice that it's there.
posted by Ufez Jones at 7:11 PM on August 16, 2004

There was this tv ad that intended to sell the Classifieds of a newspaper. It said that the Classifieds of newspaper X really worked because, according to them, it could connect the seller and the buyer in the simpler and more direct way. Take 1: a guy swimming in a pool and a narrow points to him saying "he needs to sell his car". Take 2: a woman swimming in the same pool, but unknown to him, and a narrow points to her saying "she wants to buy a car like his". Gotcha.

I guess I-Neighbors has EXACTLY this potential, but of course not (only) commercial. The interest I have in a site that is full of sellers of the kind of notebook I want to buy is similar to the interest I have in the people that surrounds me and that can be my friends - but are not (yet). It's a great idea. It is, after all, to think global and act local, isn't it?

P.S.: Well, for example, I would love to find buddies to play soccer more easily in my neighborhood, and I would love to make a union against the gas seller trucks that bore everybody I know with their annoying horns. Uh?
posted by nandop at 7:53 PM on August 16, 2004

well, being that my askmefi question got linked in this article (it worked, the first movie night went great and i'm definitly doing it again), i feel like i have to comment. I think the real issue here is not meeting neighbors, it's meeting neighbors of quality. I could go around knocking on doors and trying to meet everyone in my building, but really what i wanted was to find a group of people my age who had slightly similar interests.
It's not really terribly surprising that there's now a move to take online communities and segway them into actual communities (how would people feel if we started trying to get mefites to move into the same building (well, we'll have to keep paris and hama on opposite sides of the building)).
While quantity may have a quality of it's own, i'll still take quality over quantity any day.

oh, and if your in SF or east bay i'm thinking shaol lin soccer on the bigscreen saturday at 8pm :)
posted by NGnerd at 10:06 PM on August 16, 2004

Neater: http://multiply.com

The other site is a cool idea, but like someone said, the design and UI are craptastic.

Nice FPP :) (You said be kind!)
posted by erratic frog at 11:50 PM on August 16, 2004

MeFi users building sites like this, discussed here..
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 1:59 AM on August 17, 2004

NGnerd, if we all lived together would the use of our vocal cords keep us from posting, or would we sneak back online to complain and snark about our last conversation? Either way it sounds like one hell of a concept for a reality show. Let's make Quonsar and Miguel room together and see what happens!
posted by Songdog at 6:19 AM on August 17, 2004

I wrote this exact site, in my head of course, a month or so ago. Off to Froogle to find some tinfoil hats. In the mean time, please email million-dollar, unused ideas to ihaveanideathatisnottakenthatyoucanusetocreateyourdotcomempire AT matthannan DOT com
posted by m@ at 7:52 AM on August 17, 2004