The person on your block you should fear the most is...
February 5, 2024 2:05 PM Subscribe
The guy at the keyboard (gift link) Are you bummed you weren’t around when the Stasi ruled? Do you wish you could’ve been one of Mao Zedong’s millions of neighborhood snitches? Maybe watch the Red Guards drag off your least favorite aunt?
Not to worry, the bad old days are back — thanks to Nextdoor.com.
I've felt like rule of law was cracking in many small ways (in addition to the big ones).
As a bicyclist , I have blocked and shouted at a driver who took an illegal turn and almost hit me.
Feeling like you can do something about the erosion of the social contract probably makes plenty of people feel better.
posted by constraint at 2:15 PM on February 5 [6 favorites]
As a bicyclist , I have blocked and shouted at a driver who took an illegal turn and almost hit me.
Feeling like you can do something about the erosion of the social contract probably makes plenty of people feel better.
posted by constraint at 2:15 PM on February 5 [6 favorites]
That whole "they came for the ______" thing they talk about?
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I had reported who they were on Nextdoor.
posted by hippybear at 2:19 PM on February 5 [8 favorites]
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I had reported who they were on Nextdoor.
posted by hippybear at 2:19 PM on February 5 [8 favorites]
My neighborhood conducts business via a Facebook group, not that I’m pleased with that. There is, apparently, an unofficial NextDoor group, but I’ve yet to meet anyone who will admit to being on it.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:23 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 2:23 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
Oh, man. 7-8 years ago, I lived in a posh Atlanta neighborhood (Candler Park) that voted 10-1 for Hillary Clinton over Trump. Socially liberal (superficially), absolutely tone-deaf. Literally across the railroad tracks was what was then a pretty downscale neighborhood. Nextdoor was SUCH a shitshow: "There's a THUG walking the streets!" Yeah, he's going to the park, you twat. The all-time best/worst, and the one that made me delete Nextdoor for good, was when three different people tracked the progress of a black guy through the neighborhood: "He's wearing a blue polo shirt, like the employees do at Kroger!" Because he worked there, and was walking to work. When I called them out for being stupid as well as racist, the response that got over 100 likes or upvotes or whatever was that if he couldn't afford a car, he was likely a threat to the neighborhood anyway; the top reply was "Better not leave your TV out on the porch, then." SMH.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 2:23 PM on February 5 [24 favorites]
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 2:23 PM on February 5 [24 favorites]
Nextdoor is really, really, really good at exposing you to all the things happening around you - including when the cops are called, what happened over there, who's missing a dog, etc.
It terrifyingly good at exposing just how racist/scared shitless many of your neighbors are.
posted by drewbage1847 at 2:26 PM on February 5 [36 favorites]
It terrifyingly good at exposing just how racist/scared shitless many of your neighbors are.
posted by drewbage1847 at 2:26 PM on February 5 [36 favorites]
I'm only on Nextdoor so I can accuse the people leaving poorly written right-wing non sequitur comments of being AI bots.
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:26 PM on February 5 [17 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:26 PM on February 5 [17 favorites]
Nextdoor still a toilet, film at 11. Previously.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 2:32 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
posted by Cardinal Fang at 2:32 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
That your neighbors are terrified of surly gazebo teens but don't mind their unattended children driving golf carts on the same roads as speeding murder trucks demonstrates that our cerebrum is not tuned very well
posted by credulous at 2:37 PM on February 5 [10 favorites]
posted by credulous at 2:37 PM on February 5 [10 favorites]
Oh god, NextDoor is for insufferable NIMBYs. My least favourite are of two flavours: suburbanites who bought a house in downtown Kingston then are upset--nay, HORRIFIED--that there are unhoused people and people with addictions around them. ("What do I tell my toddler about the used syringes??" I dunno, that not everyone is lucky to be carted around in a four digit fucking stroller?) or Torontonians who sold their houses during the pandemic and are upset--nay, SHOCKED--that Kingston also has crime.
posted by Kitteh at 2:48 PM on February 5 [12 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 2:48 PM on February 5 [12 favorites]
apparently I have an account, because I get emails from them, but I have never been on the platform. I got the lowdown years ago about it being a racist pit of garbage and hysteria and just decided I did not need that in my life. now I am wondering if my neighbors are talking about me on there, but not enough to actually go there.
posted by supermedusa at 2:49 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 2:49 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
Surly Gazebo Teens is my new band name.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 2:50 PM on February 5 [52 favorites]
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 2:50 PM on February 5 [52 favorites]
The other day I got a random email telling me that one of my neighbors had invited me to join Nextdoor and I laughed and laughed (after sending it to dev/null).
posted by moonbiter at 3:08 PM on February 5 [6 favorites]
posted by moonbiter at 3:08 PM on February 5 [6 favorites]
I actually like NextDoor. There's a guy who posts detailed notes about city council meetings for my little suburb, I can find out when the farmer's market will have live music, and another guy posts lots of updates on efforts to revitalize our little downtown. I got a pretty good free desk from somebody on NextDoor and a good deal on an electric drum kit for my kids. Of course, to get it into a reasonable state, I had to mute 50% of the regular commenters for being rabid fascists.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 3:22 PM on February 5 [28 favorites]
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 3:22 PM on February 5 [28 favorites]
The other day I got a random email telling me that one of my neighbors had invited me to join Nextdoor
I don't know how long Nextdoor has existed, but I've lived in this house for 20 years and I've gotten at least 10 piece of physical mail inviting me to join Nextdoor. And not a postcard -- a notecard inside an envelope. Sent from a "neighbor" near me. From an address that seems like it should be near me, but since there's an actual name on the return address I google around and find there is nobody by that name living in the community that I can discover. And certainly not at that address. Which may or may not exist.
The whole thing is sketchy as fuck.
posted by hippybear at 3:24 PM on February 5 [19 favorites]
I don't know how long Nextdoor has existed, but I've lived in this house for 20 years and I've gotten at least 10 piece of physical mail inviting me to join Nextdoor. And not a postcard -- a notecard inside an envelope. Sent from a "neighbor" near me. From an address that seems like it should be near me, but since there's an actual name on the return address I google around and find there is nobody by that name living in the community that I can discover. And certainly not at that address. Which may or may not exist.
The whole thing is sketchy as fuck.
posted by hippybear at 3:24 PM on February 5 [19 favorites]
The things that absolutely baffle me about Nextdoor are the near-universal innumeracy and strange inability to compare two things that dominate its userbase.
In my part of Brooklyn, and probably many other urban neighborhoods, there are dozens of posters that cannot comprehend (1) that cars are intrinsically more dangerous than bicycles due to mass and acceleration; and (2) that official statistics posted by agencies designed primarily to serve drivers' interests prove this out.
Sometimes I feel like I've stumbled on a flat earth Facebook group.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:28 PM on February 5 [13 favorites]
In my part of Brooklyn, and probably many other urban neighborhoods, there are dozens of posters that cannot comprehend (1) that cars are intrinsically more dangerous than bicycles due to mass and acceleration; and (2) that official statistics posted by agencies designed primarily to serve drivers' interests prove this out.
Sometimes I feel like I've stumbled on a flat earth Facebook group.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:28 PM on February 5 [13 favorites]
Eeek. Nextdoor, huh? I use it only for selling things and I'm happy to not know what people have said about me on there.
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 3:52 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 3:52 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
My parents neighborhood online bitchfest watch/buy/sell/trade community started as a Yahoo! group that you could join without affirming you 'belonged' there but couldn't post until the admins vetted that you actually lived where you said. That trucked along fairly well until some folks got kicked out for egregious shit-stirring, so they went and started populating NextDoor. As you might imagine, this really set the tone for the discourse there. Then, Yahoo Groups finally folded and the rest of the crowd tried to migrate and set up shop in ND and that went about as well as you'd think.
Weirdly, around the same time the Buy Nothing thing took my town by storm and so all those Y! people just went to Facebook under the BN umbrella and every once in a while someone new will move in and we take bets on which community they'll join.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ As hobbies go, at least it's cheap.
posted by ApathyGirl at 3:57 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
Weirdly, around the same time the Buy Nothing thing took my town by storm and so all those Y! people just went to Facebook under the BN umbrella and every once in a while someone new will move in and we take bets on which community they'll join.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ As hobbies go, at least it's cheap.
posted by ApathyGirl at 3:57 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
So there’s a 0% chance that NextDoor isn’t an NSA project, right?
posted by star gentle uterus at 4:11 PM on February 5 [7 favorites]
posted by star gentle uterus at 4:11 PM on February 5 [7 favorites]
The thing about Nextdoor is it’s a social media app, so people are incentivized to post the most fearmongering things they can to generate engagement, just like Facebook and local evening news before them.
posted by Jon_Evil at 4:22 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
posted by Jon_Evil at 4:22 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
I tried Nextdoor at the start of the pandemic to see if I could coordinate mutual aid and community supports, but it really wound up not being a good forum for doing so in our case (I’m embarrassed to say our local mutual aid group used Slack for communication). But now I live in a totally different neighborhood but I can’t unsubscribe from the NextDoor updates in my inbox without signing into my account, and I can’t recover my password because the recovery option is “we’ll send a PIN code in the mail to your address”, where I don’t live.
posted by Jon_Evil at 4:26 PM on February 5 [5 favorites]
posted by Jon_Evil at 4:26 PM on February 5 [5 favorites]
My neighborhood isn’t big on Nextdoor that I know of. For a while during the early pandemic my block had a slack, but that fell off when lockdown ended. There are several probably a few dozen facebook groups and a few email list hosts (many of them for specific things like buy nothing, parents, etc) for the broader neighborhood and they get a fair amount of traffic but relatively little of it is fear-mongering.
The Facebook group I belong to is a delightful mix of neighborhood news, photos, events, reminiscences from old-timers, and historical photos. It is pretty well-moderated and they ban bigots.
posted by mai at 4:29 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
The Facebook group I belong to is a delightful mix of neighborhood news, photos, events, reminiscences from old-timers, and historical photos. It is pretty well-moderated and they ban bigots.
posted by mai at 4:29 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
I nuked my Nextdoor account after it fed me a post from someone (who wasn't even from my city, let alone my neighborhood) opining that California needs a Stand Your Ground law.
More recently, my neighbors who still used the app reported that someone used Nextdoor to spread false claims of a mass shooting a few blocks away.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 4:30 PM on February 5 [3 favorites]
More recently, my neighbors who still used the app reported that someone used Nextdoor to spread false claims of a mass shooting a few blocks away.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 4:30 PM on February 5 [3 favorites]
I joined ND when i first moved into my house because i was curious about a couple of construction projects going on in the area and the local news was thin on details. Nothing much interesting happened, but I did start to pay attention to a movement to have an intersection that I use on my commute changed.
At first it seemed reasonable, there had been a history of collisions at a point where a 4 lane highway is crossed and turned onto, and since the locals all speed terribly on the highway, these collisions, when they occurred, tended to be catastrophic, but there hadn't been an accident in many many years, and a large group felt the problem had solved itself over time. There was a lot of back and forth, mostly from calmer heads warning that nothing good would come of this, but the movements organizers were a smaller, but more vocal crowd who went to all the planning meetings and eventually got their way.
IMHO better signage would have helped a lot, but nevertheless the group wanted a traffic circle (which would have been pretty nice). Problem was, the terrain of the area made a circle impossible, because there was a blind spot that occurred just under a railway crossing that would have made the circle a dangerous slow zone on this otherwise speedy stretch of rural highway.
Now comes the fun part. The DOT came back with a plan to put in a thing they call a J-turn. In effect, no one would be able to cross the highway, or make a left hand turn onto it at this intersection. The only option is to make a right hand turn, travel some distance and then make a U-turn to get to the desired direction of travel. totally dumb on this road because it still forces cars to enter the highway at the U-turn in the same unsafe conditions as the intersection. No one liked the idea, and when it became clear the the DOT had made it's decision, basically making the intersection worse, and that the process, once begun was irrevocable, the real NextDoor action began.
Oh the vitriol that was spewed at the organizers of the movement, and oh the hatred, starting with how much the unwanted construction screwed with local traffic, and then with how much everyone hated the inconvenience of the new traffic pattern.
It was glorious to witness.
For my part I just chose an alternate route and have never used that crossing since, but I chuckle every time i see someone stuck in the u-turn, having a worse time than if they had left the thing alone.
I left ND shortly after, never to return, but the memories...
posted by OHenryPacey at 4:43 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
At first it seemed reasonable, there had been a history of collisions at a point where a 4 lane highway is crossed and turned onto, and since the locals all speed terribly on the highway, these collisions, when they occurred, tended to be catastrophic, but there hadn't been an accident in many many years, and a large group felt the problem had solved itself over time. There was a lot of back and forth, mostly from calmer heads warning that nothing good would come of this, but the movements organizers were a smaller, but more vocal crowd who went to all the planning meetings and eventually got their way.
IMHO better signage would have helped a lot, but nevertheless the group wanted a traffic circle (which would have been pretty nice). Problem was, the terrain of the area made a circle impossible, because there was a blind spot that occurred just under a railway crossing that would have made the circle a dangerous slow zone on this otherwise speedy stretch of rural highway.
Now comes the fun part. The DOT came back with a plan to put in a thing they call a J-turn. In effect, no one would be able to cross the highway, or make a left hand turn onto it at this intersection. The only option is to make a right hand turn, travel some distance and then make a U-turn to get to the desired direction of travel. totally dumb on this road because it still forces cars to enter the highway at the U-turn in the same unsafe conditions as the intersection. No one liked the idea, and when it became clear the the DOT had made it's decision, basically making the intersection worse, and that the process, once begun was irrevocable, the real NextDoor action began.
Oh the vitriol that was spewed at the organizers of the movement, and oh the hatred, starting with how much the unwanted construction screwed with local traffic, and then with how much everyone hated the inconvenience of the new traffic pattern.
It was glorious to witness.
For my part I just chose an alternate route and have never used that crossing since, but I chuckle every time i see someone stuck in the u-turn, having a worse time than if they had left the thing alone.
I left ND shortly after, never to return, but the memories...
posted by OHenryPacey at 4:43 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
I never thought I'd ever see a real case of Cucamongaphobia
posted by All Out of Lulz at 4:46 PM on February 5 [5 favorites]
posted by All Out of Lulz at 4:46 PM on February 5 [5 favorites]
Just last week, a guy having some sort of mental breakdown barricaded himself for hours and hours before finally surrendering himself and he was taken away for evaluation.
On NextDoor, It was reported as a triple homicide and that was repeated, carried over to Facebook, etc., until it fiinally faded into silence for lack of information.
I run a local news site and lately have been adding links to some stories onto NextDoor. That led one unhappy person to write that she didn't like to read these "rumors" about people getting arrested, and she thought NextDoor was only for finding a good plumber. To their credit, a bunch of people snapped at her that news about the community was being posted, and she seemed to shut up.
So definitely mixed feelings. The residents warning neighbors about every single person who walks, drives, bikes past their house after 10 p.m. is tiresome, and, no surprise, often coated in racism.
posted by etaoin at 4:51 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
On NextDoor, It was reported as a triple homicide and that was repeated, carried over to Facebook, etc., until it fiinally faded into silence for lack of information.
I run a local news site and lately have been adding links to some stories onto NextDoor. That led one unhappy person to write that she didn't like to read these "rumors" about people getting arrested, and she thought NextDoor was only for finding a good plumber. To their credit, a bunch of people snapped at her that news about the community was being posted, and she seemed to shut up.
So definitely mixed feelings. The residents warning neighbors about every single person who walks, drives, bikes past their house after 10 p.m. is tiresome, and, no surprise, often coated in racism.
posted by etaoin at 4:51 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
One of my friends has a neighbourhood group and apparently it is full of "there's a suspicious person (ie anyone that isn't Chinese, this is in a suburb of Toronto) walking down the street" type posts with doorbell cam video. I always feel like slowly walking down his street, pretending to take photographs, just to freak them all out but it wouldn't actually accomplish anything.
I signed up for Nextdoor but there is very little from my neighbourhood and just random posts from all over Toronto so it isn't very useful.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:53 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
I signed up for Nextdoor but there is very little from my neighbourhood and just random posts from all over Toronto so it isn't very useful.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:53 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
I wonder if places with shared outdoor spaces and walkable communities, that haven't been subjected to decades of individualism propaganda and car culture, have more pleasant (or zero) Nextdoor experiences.
posted by asok at 5:00 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
posted by asok at 5:00 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
The DOT came back with a plan to put in a thing they call a J-turn
In New Jersey these are known as 'Jug Handles' and they're quite common.
The thing about Nextdoor is it’s a social media app
In my local feed users who button always declare that they're deleting this app, which always baffles me. It's just a web-page - why are you installing an app? (Note that I never access it from my cell.)
posted by Rash at 5:37 PM on February 5 [5 favorites]
In New Jersey these are known as 'Jug Handles' and they're quite common.
The thing about Nextdoor is it’s a social media app
In my local feed users who button always declare that they're deleting this app, which always baffles me. It's just a web-page - why are you installing an app? (Note that I never access it from my cell.)
posted by Rash at 5:37 PM on February 5 [5 favorites]
Nextdoor IS pretty lousy, but I find it useful for two things.
1) "What was that weird thing that just happened?" If there are a zillion cop cars in the neighborhood or a series of loud booms or something, I can go on Next Door and somebody has probably posted about what happened. It will then inevitably degenerate into vicious arguments about the homeless, but at least I'll know what the weird thing was.
2) "Has anybody seen my cat?" If a pet is lost or found, somebody can post about it on Nextdoor and the pet will probably be reunited with its owner in like a day. Neighbors will actually put their differences aside, stop arguing about the homeless and mobilize to reunite somebody with their lost cat!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:39 PM on February 5 [16 favorites]
1) "What was that weird thing that just happened?" If there are a zillion cop cars in the neighborhood or a series of loud booms or something, I can go on Next Door and somebody has probably posted about what happened. It will then inevitably degenerate into vicious arguments about the homeless, but at least I'll know what the weird thing was.
2) "Has anybody seen my cat?" If a pet is lost or found, somebody can post about it on Nextdoor and the pet will probably be reunited with its owner in like a day. Neighbors will actually put their differences aside, stop arguing about the homeless and mobilize to reunite somebody with their lost cat!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:39 PM on February 5 [16 favorites]
I wish there was something like Vermont’s Front Porch Forum where I live. Moderated and it’s sent out once a day so it doesn’t eat your time. But the owners aren’t into scale or collecting eyeballs so they stick with one state and a bit of New York.
posted by zenzenobia at 5:42 PM on February 5 [3 favorites]
posted by zenzenobia at 5:42 PM on February 5 [3 favorites]
In addition to issues like this, one obviously less important one that I really can't stand about Nextdoor is the definition of "neighborhood". A "neighborhood" is apparently decided by whoever first joined in some area that did not yet have a defined "neighborhood". That person then stakes out the bounds of their "neighborhood". As a result, I, being a resident of East Podunkville, am described on Nextdoor as being from North Bumblefuck, several miles away from East Podunkville. And worse, my "neighborhood" seems like it includes pretty much everything within a ten mile radius of North Bumblefuck, much of which approaches like fifteen miles away from me.
"Does anyone know why this... gentleman... would be walking down Froopyforthen Terrace at 9:30 PM?" - seriously? Even if I were to ignore the thinly veiled racism or whatever-other-ism, I've never even heard of Froopyforthen Terrace, and all I know is that it's somewhere within a 700 square mile area. How the fuck am I supposed to know why he's walking down Froopyforthen Terrace? Maybe he's getting some exercise. Maybe he's going to a friend's house. Maybe he's going to work. Maybe he's going to brutally kill every nosy paranoid bigoted fuckhead who lives on Froopyforthen Terrace. I bet it's one of those possibilities, but how the fuck should I know?
posted by Flunkie at 5:45 PM on February 5 [13 favorites]
"Does anyone know why this... gentleman... would be walking down Froopyforthen Terrace at 9:30 PM?" - seriously? Even if I were to ignore the thinly veiled racism or whatever-other-ism, I've never even heard of Froopyforthen Terrace, and all I know is that it's somewhere within a 700 square mile area. How the fuck am I supposed to know why he's walking down Froopyforthen Terrace? Maybe he's getting some exercise. Maybe he's going to a friend's house. Maybe he's going to work. Maybe he's going to brutally kill every nosy paranoid bigoted fuckhead who lives on Froopyforthen Terrace. I bet it's one of those possibilities, but how the fuck should I know?
posted by Flunkie at 5:45 PM on February 5 [13 favorites]
In a highly walkable neighborhood and I largely avoid NextDoor (though I hear there was a great Opossum thread). I feel slightly guilty for having used it exactly once to ask for help in finding a local A/V specialist. Instead a kind neighbor offered/came over and solved our multi-year speaker/TV problem for us and refused payment. So I left him cookies. Win! I wish I had the bandwidth to offer others help in return, but I'm grateful for the help I got!
posted by ldthomps at 5:48 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
posted by ldthomps at 5:48 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
A couple years back I saw nextdoor post written by a guy complaining that he had been shorted two dollars at the local Food Lion. He was enraged that the employee hadn’t been fired on the spot.
This is my Food Lion too, my favorite place to shop and most of the employees are African-American so I made a little joke about hey man I’m glad you survived your awful trauma. I know how important two dollars can be…etc
He absolutely lost his shit. So I continued. Busted his balls, harder and harder until he revealed himself as a trumper racist jackass. It ended up with him swearing he was going to beat my ass, he knew where I worked, and all that.
I told him he was welcome to step into the tattoo shop any day, and see how we handle physical threats.
Then I deleted the app and forgot all about it.
A few days later, some other knucklehead I know messaged me he was so glad I put that dude in his place. He’s always like that-nobody has the balls to speak up to him. he worked with the guy for the past 25 years.
Now, I don’t like this guy either so I just took screenshots of his messages and sent them to the first guy.
“See? Even your friends don’t like you bro.”
It was like setting off a small neutron bomb in our community. Ripping at the very fabric of the lame, racist, drunk, blue-collar Delaware underbelly.
Super fun, but I never went back to nextdoor again.
The End. (or IS it??)
posted by chronkite at 5:49 PM on February 5 [55 favorites]
This is my Food Lion too, my favorite place to shop and most of the employees are African-American so I made a little joke about hey man I’m glad you survived your awful trauma. I know how important two dollars can be…etc
He absolutely lost his shit. So I continued. Busted his balls, harder and harder until he revealed himself as a trumper racist jackass. It ended up with him swearing he was going to beat my ass, he knew where I worked, and all that.
I told him he was welcome to step into the tattoo shop any day, and see how we handle physical threats.
Then I deleted the app and forgot all about it.
A few days later, some other knucklehead I know messaged me he was so glad I put that dude in his place. He’s always like that-nobody has the balls to speak up to him. he worked with the guy for the past 25 years.
Now, I don’t like this guy either so I just took screenshots of his messages and sent them to the first guy.
“See? Even your friends don’t like you bro.”
It was like setting off a small neutron bomb in our community. Ripping at the very fabric of the lame, racist, drunk, blue-collar Delaware underbelly.
Super fun, but I never went back to nextdoor again.
The End. (or IS it??)
posted by chronkite at 5:49 PM on February 5 [55 favorites]
Nextdoor likes to send you messages from 'nearby' neighborhoods if your neighborhood has little to no messages.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 6:03 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 6:03 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
I wish it was possible to have a hyperlocal neighborhood forum without it devolving into Nextdoor. Imagine a site where, rather than the paranoid fantasies of a bunch of creeps, people posted updates on which windows have handsome cats sitting in them, or cool plants that are growing in yards and tree pits, or nice graffiti, or a new sandwich shop, or fun garbage that has been placed out by the curb.
While we're at it, I would also like someone to create a website called IsMyBuildingOnFire.com because our apartment faces out back and without a clear view to the street I can never quite tell whether the sirens that toll on our block are tolling for me. Please and thank you.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 6:07 PM on February 5 [10 favorites]
While we're at it, I would also like someone to create a website called IsMyBuildingOnFire.com because our apartment faces out back and without a clear view to the street I can never quite tell whether the sirens that toll on our block are tolling for me. Please and thank you.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 6:07 PM on February 5 [10 favorites]
one obviously less important one that I really can't stand about Nextdoor is the definition of "neighborhood"
Boy I'll say. I'm right at the border of one neighborhood, such that my neighbors over the back fence are in another. There should be some overlap, but no.
posted by Rash at 6:09 PM on February 5
Boy I'll say. I'm right at the border of one neighborhood, such that my neighbors over the back fence are in another. There should be some overlap, but no.
posted by Rash at 6:09 PM on February 5
One would think that in this era of Internet Of Shit/Things, having the ability to get alerts from one's apartment building's fire alarm system should be a simple thing to achieve.
posted by hippybear at 6:10 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 6:10 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
I live near the town of Vallejo, CA, and the Vallejo Nextdoor is so weirdly, reflexively, pro-cop that it's honestly startling. I grew up in Vallejo, and I never would have predicted it. Every time a cop shoots someone, all the comments are about why they deserved it. Every time someone gets robbed, all the comments are "LOL so much for defunding the cops!" It's vile.
And the thing is, all this is DESPITE:
1) Vallejo has gone democratic every election I can remember.
2) Netflix just released a very well-received documentary about what useless, stupid, corrupt thugs the VPD are (American Nightmare).
3) Back in 2020, the New Yorker (famously averse to giving a shit about anything west of New Jersey) published a huge expose about what useless, stupid, corrupt thugs the VPD are, titled "How a Deadly Police Force Ruled a City"
4) Every third post on Vallejo Nextdoor is about how someone called the cops and they never showed up or showed up 5 hours late, etc.
I have no idea what's up there. Maybe it's just that Nextdoor is for The Olds? But dammit, I'm nearing 50. I AM The Olds, and it still makes no sense.
posted by Myca at 6:19 PM on February 5 [16 favorites]
And the thing is, all this is DESPITE:
1) Vallejo has gone democratic every election I can remember.
2) Netflix just released a very well-received documentary about what useless, stupid, corrupt thugs the VPD are (American Nightmare).
3) Back in 2020, the New Yorker (famously averse to giving a shit about anything west of New Jersey) published a huge expose about what useless, stupid, corrupt thugs the VPD are, titled "How a Deadly Police Force Ruled a City"
4) Every third post on Vallejo Nextdoor is about how someone called the cops and they never showed up or showed up 5 hours late, etc.
I have no idea what's up there. Maybe it's just that Nextdoor is for The Olds? But dammit, I'm nearing 50. I AM The Olds, and it still makes no sense.
posted by Myca at 6:19 PM on February 5 [16 favorites]
etaoin: On NextDoor, It was reported as a triple homicide and that was repeated, carried over to Facebook, etc., until it fiinally faded into silence for lack of information.
Nextdoor was a great place to be creative and go for the gusto for a receptive audience . Triple homicide? Ha! Try a centuple homicide carried out by the Shining Path Liberation Army, in retaliation for Ned failing to secure reelection on the HOA board.
In short, I’ve been banned from there for some time.
posted by dr_dank at 6:41 PM on February 5 [19 favorites]
Nextdoor was a great place to be creative and go for the gusto for a receptive audience . Triple homicide? Ha! Try a centuple homicide carried out by the Shining Path Liberation Army, in retaliation for Ned failing to secure reelection on the HOA board.
In short, I’ve been banned from there for some time.
posted by dr_dank at 6:41 PM on February 5 [19 favorites]
Someone I like, a MeFite who lives a mile or so away from me, claimed our area on NextDoor. At their suggestion, I signed up. They must have fled quickly, because the place was seething with...NextDoor-ness...instantly.
I can't get my account deleted (any hints??), so the emails keep leaking in under my door. Ugh.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:54 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
I can't get my account deleted (any hints??), so the emails keep leaking in under my door. Ugh.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:54 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
outgrown_hobnail: Surly Gazebo Teens is my new band name.
*sits quietly, lips moving as he counts his knuckles, trying to decide whether he can fit all the letters*
posted by wenestvedt at 6:55 PM on February 5 [11 favorites]
*sits quietly, lips moving as he counts his knuckles, trying to decide whether he can fit all the letters*
posted by wenestvedt at 6:55 PM on February 5 [11 favorites]
Y'all - if Nextdoor vanished tomorrow, and a Mr.-Rogers-themed neighborhood app started up tomorrow, the same damn thing would happen.
It's not the app that's making this happen, it's the people where we all live. These kinds of fruitbats have always been with us.
Where I grew up there was a dude who belonged to the John Birch Society and always attended every town meeting to protest that whatever people were talking about, Thomas Jefferson would have been against it and so it was bad. He often wrote similar things to the letters to the editor in the local paper.
It was easy to dismiss him as a fruitbat because Town Hall Meetings and the opinion column were his only outlets. But if Nextdoor were a thing he would be on there 24/7 and would have acquired some kind of following instead. But he was still there either way.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:57 PM on February 5 [16 favorites]
It's not the app that's making this happen, it's the people where we all live. These kinds of fruitbats have always been with us.
Where I grew up there was a dude who belonged to the John Birch Society and always attended every town meeting to protest that whatever people were talking about, Thomas Jefferson would have been against it and so it was bad. He often wrote similar things to the letters to the editor in the local paper.
It was easy to dismiss him as a fruitbat because Town Hall Meetings and the opinion column were his only outlets. But if Nextdoor were a thing he would be on there 24/7 and would have acquired some kind of following instead. But he was still there either way.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:57 PM on February 5 [16 favorites]
Someone I like, a MeFite who lives a mile or so away from me, claimed our area on NextDoor. At their suggestion, I signed up. They must have fled quicklyThis leads to another issue related to the whole "random person defines a neighborhood" problem: That person is the one and only person who can change the definition. And... poof, they're gone.
It's been a long time since I looked into all this, but I'm totally serious - I did. My "neighborhood" was so poorly defined that I took it upon myself to figure out how to fix it. And at least at that time, the answer was "contact the random person who defined it in the first place, and see if they're willing to lop off some of their neighborhood to make a new one for you."
posted by Flunkie at 7:00 PM on February 5
I'm on my neighborhood's Nextdoor, though I don't much like it, because I figure something like that is going to be inevitable and it's better to have an account and see what's being said than live in ignorance. And sometimes it pays off: one year the Jolly Roger I had flying outside my house went missing on Halloween. I figured kids probably took it but I did want it back, especially since the flagpole itself was gone too. Within a couple hours of posting on Nextdoor the homeowner whose house it had been deposited at replied saying as much and I got my flagpole back!
In an older era a notice on the community bulletin board, or call to the newspaper, might have had similar results and be full of similar cranks and busibodies making those moments of neighborliness more difficult. But at least now we have an electronic version that is as good, or as bad, but faster and online!
posted by traveler_ at 7:06 PM on February 5
In an older era a notice on the community bulletin board, or call to the newspaper, might have had similar results and be full of similar cranks and busibodies making those moments of neighborliness more difficult. But at least now we have an electronic version that is as good, or as bad, but faster and online!
posted by traveler_ at 7:06 PM on February 5
Suburbanites Baffled By Person Outdoors Who Isn’t Delivering Something [SLOnion]
I can't imagine joining NextDoor; it seems like hell on earth.
I live just outside of Toronto and my only social media (the Zuckbook) is plastered by ads for the Toronto Police Services suggesting lots of people will die because their 2024 operating budget is up a measly $20 million from last year to $1.186 billion. The comments are from bots and people no smarter than bots demanding that we all be allowed submachine guns to fend off the skyrocketing murder rate: 73 homicides being reported in 2023, or a murder rate of 2.6 per 100,000 people. In Chicago, with comparable size, climate, age, and demographics (but plenty more guns), in 2021, there were 804 homicides recorded, representing a murder rate of 29.6 per 100,000.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:06 PM on February 5 [7 favorites]
I can't imagine joining NextDoor; it seems like hell on earth.
I live just outside of Toronto and my only social media (the Zuckbook) is plastered by ads for the Toronto Police Services suggesting lots of people will die because their 2024 operating budget is up a measly $20 million from last year to $1.186 billion. The comments are from bots and people no smarter than bots demanding that we all be allowed submachine guns to fend off the skyrocketing murder rate: 73 homicides being reported in 2023, or a murder rate of 2.6 per 100,000 people. In Chicago, with comparable size, climate, age, and demographics (but plenty more guns), in 2021, there were 804 homicides recorded, representing a murder rate of 29.6 per 100,000.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:06 PM on February 5 [7 favorites]
I just tried looking on nextdoor's site to see if my house was covered by a "neighborhood" and it looks like one of the large rambling non-neighborhoods listed up thread is where we are. I did not sign up, so don't know what people are saying about the "crazy hermit walking his mean dog again!" Maybe there are hot single women in my area lustily tracking our every step? (Unlikely.) Guess I'll stay in the dark. I already know/suspect my neighbors are largely raging trumpers under whatever friendly veneer they present.
posted by maxwelton at 7:15 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
posted by maxwelton at 7:15 PM on February 5 [4 favorites]
My neighbourhood in suburban New Zealand has a Facebook group. Along with the petty crime reports and curtain twitching, there is a seam of niceness, ranging from giving away toys and baby clothes to dropping food off to single parents who are broke until payday and can't afford formula. The mods have done well at keeping the antivax and "freedom" folks out (some local FB groups are cesspits of that shit) and all things considered it could be a lot worse.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 7:25 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 7:25 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
I wonder if we could make a Nextdoor-like app, but as a requirement of membership you have to not be a member of Nextdoor. We could create the anti-Nextdoor. Name it something like MindYourOwn and emphasize the whole helping-each-other-out bits over the bigoted-paranoia part.
But yeah, it'd probably go the same way in a few years.
I sometimes wonder what the local Nextdoor folks think about me; as an openly gay man who feeds the local feral cats and has undergone a bunch of appearance changes due to my health, it seems I'm tailor-made for nosy-neighbor speculation. And sometimes I kind of want to log on as a self-defense thing, because I have the uneasy feeling that in the unlikely event that I'm ever pulled from my house by an angry mob, it will have been organized on Nextdoor.
posted by MrVisible at 7:52 PM on February 5 [6 favorites]
But yeah, it'd probably go the same way in a few years.
I sometimes wonder what the local Nextdoor folks think about me; as an openly gay man who feeds the local feral cats and has undergone a bunch of appearance changes due to my health, it seems I'm tailor-made for nosy-neighbor speculation. And sometimes I kind of want to log on as a self-defense thing, because I have the uneasy feeling that in the unlikely event that I'm ever pulled from my house by an angry mob, it will have been organized on Nextdoor.
posted by MrVisible at 7:52 PM on February 5 [6 favorites]
I'm on a local Facebook group for my suburb (NOT Next Door), called "PLACENAME community notices and chat group" and it's a useful resource and 98% free of racism and fear mongering (it helps that it has volunteer moderators and a code of conduct).
Regular posts include:
"I found a lost dog/cat/duck/chicken, is it yours?"
"I found a lost bicycle/pendant/prescription glasses, is it yours?"
"Does anyone want free lemons/rosemary/olives?"
"Here's a survey about proposed changes to the local busroutes"
"Here's a survey about what would make your life easier as a cyclist"
"There's a local homeless man with an alcohol problem sleeping in the park near the public library - I bought him lunch, does anyone want to buy him a hot dinner, it's pretty cold at the moment?"
"I have an air mattress he can have for free, but no pump"
"I have a pump you can collect for free and give him with the air mattress"
"It's pretty cold at the moment, do you think he'd like this heavy jacket?"
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:03 PM on February 5 [24 favorites]
Regular posts include:
"I found a lost dog/cat/duck/chicken, is it yours?"
"I found a lost bicycle/pendant/prescription glasses, is it yours?"
"Does anyone want free lemons/rosemary/olives?"
"Here's a survey about proposed changes to the local busroutes"
"Here's a survey about what would make your life easier as a cyclist"
"There's a local homeless man with an alcohol problem sleeping in the park near the public library - I bought him lunch, does anyone want to buy him a hot dinner, it's pretty cold at the moment?"
"I have an air mattress he can have for free, but no pump"
"I have a pump you can collect for free and give him with the air mattress"
"It's pretty cold at the moment, do you think he'd like this heavy jacket?"
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:03 PM on February 5 [24 favorites]
Ursala Hitler:
3) "Anyone know the history of that weird thing..." If there's a strange structure or tree or whatever and you wonder what it is, you can ask and get some accurate (and some weird and whimsical) answers. I've learned a bunch about my community's history and have thoroughly enjoyed that part of Nextdoor.
95% of the posts are garbage that isn't even warm enough to be considered hot garbage.
posted by Joey Michaels at 8:06 PM on February 5 [3 favorites]
1) "What was that weird thing that just happened?" If there are a zillion cop cars in the neighborhood or a series of loud booms or something, I can go on Next Door and somebody has probably posted about what happened. It will then inevitably degenerate into vicious arguments about the homeless, but at least I'll know what the weird thing was.Cosigned and I'll add:
2) "Has anybody seen my cat?" If a pet is lost or found, somebody can post about it on Nextdoor and the pet will probably be reunited with its owner in like a day. Neighbors will actually put their differences aside, stop arguing about the homeless and mobilize to reunite somebody with their lost cat!
3) "Anyone know the history of that weird thing..." If there's a strange structure or tree or whatever and you wonder what it is, you can ask and get some accurate (and some weird and whimsical) answers. I've learned a bunch about my community's history and have thoroughly enjoyed that part of Nextdoor.
95% of the posts are garbage that isn't even warm enough to be considered hot garbage.
posted by Joey Michaels at 8:06 PM on February 5 [3 favorites]
Ah, nextdoor. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
I never login to the website (nor the app), so generally I get random emails with urgent questions and warnings ("suspicious teen walking down the street!!!") way too late for them to be of any use (in the few times they might have actually been useful).
They include just enough of the subject line to make me wonder if this actually a useful post, so I end up clicking on it out of curiosity. Really, I wonder who figured out what the perfect number of words are to make people click on the link. It seems to be around 75 characters or 15 words.
I've considered quitting for years, but the occasional useful post still keeps me coming back. But I am surprised how afraid people are.
posted by DrumsIntheDeep at 8:12 PM on February 5 [3 favorites]
I never login to the website (nor the app), so generally I get random emails with urgent questions and warnings ("suspicious teen walking down the street!!!") way too late for them to be of any use (in the few times they might have actually been useful).
They include just enough of the subject line to make me wonder if this actually a useful post, so I end up clicking on it out of curiosity. Really, I wonder who figured out what the perfect number of words are to make people click on the link. It seems to be around 75 characters or 15 words.
I've considered quitting for years, but the occasional useful post still keeps me coming back. But I am surprised how afraid people are.
posted by DrumsIntheDeep at 8:12 PM on February 5 [3 favorites]
The DOT came back with a plan to put in a thing they call a J-turn
In New Jersey these are known as 'Jug Handles' and they're quite common.
And that's what I was expecting (having been to Jersey many times), but this is washington state and it ain't what we got. It's a center median turn lane that allows only a u-turn into the left lane of a 60MPH highway, from a dead stop. it's so dumb.
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:21 PM on February 5 [5 favorites]
In New Jersey these are known as 'Jug Handles' and they're quite common.
And that's what I was expecting (having been to Jersey many times), but this is washington state and it ain't what we got. It's a center median turn lane that allows only a u-turn into the left lane of a 60MPH highway, from a dead stop. it's so dumb.
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:21 PM on February 5 [5 favorites]
New social media neighborhood-ish website. Isn't based on a neighborhood, but is based on line of sight between locations. So if person A is posting, and person B can see A's house from their house, they get the message. Messages are not routed beyond the line of sight metric. But this is GladysKravitz.com, and you can always do a "Hey Abner" alert so people within line-of-sight of YOUR house can hear about what YOU just saw out of sight from those other people.
posted by hippybear at 8:25 PM on February 5
posted by hippybear at 8:25 PM on February 5
I got an invite from NextDoor today asking me to join the 6XX Ave, Smalltown MN group. Said avenue is approximately two city blocks long (tho this is a rural area), about a mile and a half away from me. My response:
"This is the equivalent of two city blocks, and certainly does not contain enough residents to justify a Nextdoor group [I think there's about 5 houses there?]. Nor can I see this road from my front door, and thus I cannot participate in whatever creepiness/facism/ageism Nextdoor likes to encourage."
"facism" was meant to be "racism", and while sometimes autocorrect cannot spell, it's right anyway, so I left it.
I would like it if there were a legit Nextdoor environment for us rural folk, because mine wouldn't be likely to be filled with "who is that (insert racist bullshit) person wandering the streets" but would have a lot of "I found this thing on the side of the road, did it fall off your trailer?" and it'd sometimes be nice to know who's shooting off fireworks in advance so I can watch. But I am FB friends with enough of my neighbors that a missing pet does usually get reunited with it's family.
posted by cinnamonduff at 8:56 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
"This is the equivalent of two city blocks, and certainly does not contain enough residents to justify a Nextdoor group [I think there's about 5 houses there?]. Nor can I see this road from my front door, and thus I cannot participate in whatever creepiness/facism/ageism Nextdoor likes to encourage."
"facism" was meant to be "racism", and while sometimes autocorrect cannot spell, it's right anyway, so I left it.
I would like it if there were a legit Nextdoor environment for us rural folk, because mine wouldn't be likely to be filled with "who is that (insert racist bullshit) person wandering the streets" but would have a lot of "I found this thing on the side of the road, did it fall off your trailer?" and it'd sometimes be nice to know who's shooting off fireworks in advance so I can watch. But I am FB friends with enough of my neighbors that a missing pet does usually get reunited with it's family.
posted by cinnamonduff at 8:56 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I did an experiment recently where I started accepting FB wanting me to friend all the people who I recognized from high school. Has had weird results. Wouldn't touch ND with a ten foot pole. We have a local thing, well, Ballard, that used to be OK, and still has some info, but it went sideways a while back from troll comments and such.
America wants you to be afraid...
posted by Windopaene at 9:03 PM on February 5
America wants you to be afraid...
posted by Windopaene at 9:03 PM on February 5
And not to abuse the edit window...
Law Enforcement will keep you safe! Guns will keep you safe! Stopping immigration will keep you safe!!!
((The MAGA) what a bunch of fraidy-cats. Get your shit together, and then you might not be so afraid of, people?).
Love it when my coding kicks in and I get the parentheses in the places I want them.
posted by Windopaene at 9:10 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
Law Enforcement will keep you safe! Guns will keep you safe! Stopping immigration will keep you safe!!!
((The MAGA) what a bunch of fraidy-cats. Get your shit together, and then you might not be so afraid of, people?).
Love it when my coding kicks in and I get the parentheses in the places I want them.
posted by Windopaene at 9:10 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
I'm curious to know how much the design of NextDoor exaggerates the nastyer behaviour, or if it's just there no matter what.
We don't have NextDoor in South Africa so we mostly use either WhatsApp or Facebook.
Our WhatsApp group has the occasional "why are there teens walking outside?", but not nearly as much as a friend who lives in a more affluent area.
Our group consists mostly of old people asking when loadshedding will be, and younger people posting screenshots of their loadshedding apps timetable.
Also, pictures of dog poop, because it's way easier to make everyone look at dog poop than to confront the guilty neighbour face to face.
posted by Zumbador at 9:26 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
We don't have NextDoor in South Africa so we mostly use either WhatsApp or Facebook.
Our WhatsApp group has the occasional "why are there teens walking outside?", but not nearly as much as a friend who lives in a more affluent area.
Our group consists mostly of old people asking when loadshedding will be, and younger people posting screenshots of their loadshedding apps timetable.
Also, pictures of dog poop, because it's way easier to make everyone look at dog poop than to confront the guilty neighbour face to face.
posted by Zumbador at 9:26 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]
The UK comedian Stewart Lee, sightings of whom are sometime snapped without his permission and posted online, compared it to living in East Germany "only this time the Stasi is staffed by enthusiastic volunteers".
posted by Paul Slade at 10:45 PM on February 5 [3 favorites]
posted by Paul Slade at 10:45 PM on February 5 [3 favorites]
Didn't Next Door do some kind of de-racist-ication in 2020? I recall when I was briefly on there there was some kind of auto pop-up on posts that was like "Does your post unnecessary identify someone's race?" Or something along those lines.
posted by latkes at 2:00 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
posted by latkes at 2:00 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
We could create the anti-Nextdoor. Name it something like MindYourOwn and emphasize the whole helping-each-other-out bits over the bigoted-paranoia part. But yeah, it'd probably go the same way in a few years.
Some Buy Nothing groups are this way. My own, covering a couple of Brooklyn neighborhoods, is pretty active - I've gotten help moving, I've gotten emergency stage management tools, I've gotten advice about weird hardware things. Just this morning I responded to someone looking for random shit for mixed-media art with the news that "I just cleaned out my craft room and I have a box of stuff you can look at". I've given away yarn, I've gotten dishes and plates.
And my Buy Nothing group is most active these days in collecting things for the refugees that Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbot are bussing up to NYC, and who've landed in the 2 shelters we have in the neighborhood. (And in fact, the most recent post on the matter is from a person saying that "the shelters told me to tell you guys to cut it out for a couple weeks, they're a little swamped with donations".)
I'm also finding an IRL version of this at my branch of Brooklyn's library.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:52 AM on February 6 [8 favorites]
Some Buy Nothing groups are this way. My own, covering a couple of Brooklyn neighborhoods, is pretty active - I've gotten help moving, I've gotten emergency stage management tools, I've gotten advice about weird hardware things. Just this morning I responded to someone looking for random shit for mixed-media art with the news that "I just cleaned out my craft room and I have a box of stuff you can look at". I've given away yarn, I've gotten dishes and plates.
And my Buy Nothing group is most active these days in collecting things for the refugees that Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbot are bussing up to NYC, and who've landed in the 2 shelters we have in the neighborhood. (And in fact, the most recent post on the matter is from a person saying that "the shelters told me to tell you guys to cut it out for a couple weeks, they're a little swamped with donations".)
I'm also finding an IRL version of this at my branch of Brooklyn's library.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:52 AM on February 6 [8 favorites]
I joined NextDoor because I thought it would let me organize block parties,
Ahahahahhaha the naïveté.
posted by corb at 4:16 AM on February 6 [3 favorites]
Ahahahahhaha the naïveté.
posted by corb at 4:16 AM on February 6 [3 favorites]
I’m another who noped out before even joining after seeing what my ostensibly progressive neighbors spend their time fretting about semi-publicly. Yech.
posted by aspersioncast at 4:50 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
posted by aspersioncast at 4:50 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
I signed up to NextDoor when we moved into our current house over six years ago. I almost never read it...it's mostly people warning about scam artists going door to door (useful) and catching people on their doorbell cams trying their back doors at 1 AM (less useful and alarming).
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 4:54 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 4:54 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
There was a nice guy who'd post a set of nature pictures he'd taken every week on nextdoor. Honestly I visited regularly because it was lovely to see his pictures of local hawks and herons and such.
I did get into a little fight or three with the "free speech" guy who felt strongly that no one should ever be able to censor (his) speech anywhere, 'cause I was under the delusion that explaining about private businesses would change his mind or something.
The nature guy died, RIP.
The free speech guy gathered a number of supporters in his stance that nextdoor is "news that neighbors are interested in", not "neighborhood news". That group was generally interested in ragebait right-wing "news" supposedly happening in other parts of the nation.
Luckily none of those people are actually my neighbors!
posted by Baethan at 5:00 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
I did get into a little fight or three with the "free speech" guy who felt strongly that no one should ever be able to censor (his) speech anywhere, 'cause I was under the delusion that explaining about private businesses would change his mind or something.
The nature guy died, RIP.
The free speech guy gathered a number of supporters in his stance that nextdoor is "news that neighbors are interested in", not "neighborhood news". That group was generally interested in ragebait right-wing "news" supposedly happening in other parts of the nation.
Luckily none of those people are actually my neighbors!
posted by Baethan at 5:00 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
If you want to know all of the neighborhood goss (who's moving, who's getting divorced, who called the cops, who the ambulance was for), just make friends with your chatty retiree neighbor. They know everything.
Chris, the retired guy in the house behind ours spends his day thus: having breakfast on back porch; watching TV; taking a walk (chatting up everyone he passes); sitting on front porch saying hi to delivery guys; having lunch; taking another walk and saying hi to more people; taking a nap; drinking beer in the backyard; drinking beer in the front yard (he follows the sun this time of day); having dinner; watching TV; having beer on the back porch; going to bed. He has all the time in the world to answer questions.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:40 AM on February 6 [6 favorites]
Chris, the retired guy in the house behind ours spends his day thus: having breakfast on back porch; watching TV; taking a walk (chatting up everyone he passes); sitting on front porch saying hi to delivery guys; having lunch; taking another walk and saying hi to more people; taking a nap; drinking beer in the backyard; drinking beer in the front yard (he follows the sun this time of day); having dinner; watching TV; having beer on the back porch; going to bed. He has all the time in the world to answer questions.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:40 AM on February 6 [6 favorites]
Surly Gazebo Teens is my new band name.*sits quietly, lips moving as he counts his knuckles, trying to decide whether he can fit all the letters*
Fits perfectly, as long as you don't mind putting the middle word someplace midway between hands, like your forehead.
...tell you what, I'll POC it after the first album goes platinum.
posted by Mayor West at 5:54 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
I live in one of the southern neighborhoods of Boston, and NextDoor's utterly insane policy of drawing "neighborhood" lines means my feed is a combination of pearl-clutching rich white assholes from Beacon Hill complaining about sidewalk improvements, and pearl-clutching rich white assholes from inner-ring suburbs complaining about the encroachment of perfidious non-white people in their tree-lined cul-de-sacs. It was possible to filter this out, until recently, when NextDoor decided that the best way to drive engagement is the triple the number of emails they send, right as the Newton Teacher's Union strike happened. Never have I seen such frothing madness, and this includes the time I single-handedly declared war on Boston car owners' rich tradition of appropriating the commons.
Anyway, this has been an instructive week, because I have learned a few important things about NextDoor. First, because of their horrible and transphobic identity policies, just about everybody on NextDoor is posting with their legal name and a location specific enough to uniquely identify them. Second, no one on NextDoor has the faintest grasp of OpSec, five years after even the most retrograde idiots on other platforms have figured out not to post insane screeds under their real names. Finally, aforementioned retrograde idiots almost all have active LinkedIn accounts, and despite my initial suspicion that most of them must be retired because of how much time they have to spew vitriol about the greedy teachers' union--nope, almost all gainfully employed by local employers. Many of those employers have public web presences on social media. All this situation is missing is a way of connecting these dots. Automating the process has proved more difficult than I had originally hoped, but take heart, gentle reader: with a little bit of human TLC, you too can use NextDoor to out your horrible bigoted neighbors to their employers on your lunch break.
posted by Mayor West at 6:11 AM on February 6 [11 favorites]
Anyway, this has been an instructive week, because I have learned a few important things about NextDoor. First, because of their horrible and transphobic identity policies, just about everybody on NextDoor is posting with their legal name and a location specific enough to uniquely identify them. Second, no one on NextDoor has the faintest grasp of OpSec, five years after even the most retrograde idiots on other platforms have figured out not to post insane screeds under their real names. Finally, aforementioned retrograde idiots almost all have active LinkedIn accounts, and despite my initial suspicion that most of them must be retired because of how much time they have to spew vitriol about the greedy teachers' union--nope, almost all gainfully employed by local employers. Many of those employers have public web presences on social media. All this situation is missing is a way of connecting these dots. Automating the process has proved more difficult than I had originally hoped, but take heart, gentle reader: with a little bit of human TLC, you too can use NextDoor to out your horrible bigoted neighbors to their employers on your lunch break.
posted by Mayor West at 6:11 AM on February 6 [11 favorites]
Automating the process has proved more difficult than I had originally hoped, but take heart, gentle reader: with a little bit of human TLC, you too can use NextDoor to out your horrible bigoted neighbors to their employers on your lunch break.
You wanna start a kickstarter to fund making this into an app? Because I would donate.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:27 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
You wanna start a kickstarter to fund making this into an app? Because I would donate.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:27 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
Nextdoor likes to send you messages from 'nearby' neighborhoods if your neighborhood has little to no messages.
And, the e-mail alerts you get will make them sound like they're from your neighborhood, but once you leave the e-mail, drill down and read the content in NextDoor itself, you find that that's simply a lie. Things get reported as "Your [name of neighborhood] neighbors", but they've happened miles, or whole counties away, and NextDoor makes it sound like they happened, well, next door.
Crime posts in particular, like some random porch pirate, get promoted from the city up to people three suburban rings away, which just pours more gasoline on the CRIME IS OUT OF CONTROL rants from scared exurban types. It's almost like the algorithm is designed to inflame people.
posted by gimonca at 8:22 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
And, the e-mail alerts you get will make them sound like they're from your neighborhood, but once you leave the e-mail, drill down and read the content in NextDoor itself, you find that that's simply a lie. Things get reported as "Your [name of neighborhood] neighbors", but they've happened miles, or whole counties away, and NextDoor makes it sound like they happened, well, next door.
Crime posts in particular, like some random porch pirate, get promoted from the city up to people three suburban rings away, which just pours more gasoline on the CRIME IS OUT OF CONTROL rants from scared exurban types. It's almost like the algorithm is designed to inflame people.
posted by gimonca at 8:22 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
2) "Has anybody seen my cat?" If a pet is lost or found, somebody can post about it on Nextdoor and the pet will probably be reunited with its owner in like a day. Neighbors will actually put their differences aside, stop arguing about the homeless and mobilize to reunite somebody with their lost cat!
Can confirm. We found a kitty meowing at our doorstep and brought her in because there's so much traffic. We posted a picture of her on Nextdoor and by the following morning someone recognized the cat and knew who the owner was and we reunited them.
Other than that, I have never used Nextdoor and have no intention to unless another cat comes to our door.
posted by briank at 8:25 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
Can confirm. We found a kitty meowing at our doorstep and brought her in because there's so much traffic. We posted a picture of her on Nextdoor and by the following morning someone recognized the cat and knew who the owner was and we reunited them.
Other than that, I have never used Nextdoor and have no intention to unless another cat comes to our door.
posted by briank at 8:25 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
this thread is mefi being nextdoor about nextdoor
posted by LeafToe at 8:25 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
posted by LeafToe at 8:25 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
While we're at it, I would also like someone to create a website called IsMyBuildingOnFire.com because our apartment faces out back and without a clear view to the street I can never quite tell whether the sirens that toll on our block are tolling for me. Please and thank you.
Oh my god. As someone who spends a few nights per week away from home, I would pay a subscription fee for that shit.
I joined the ND in my mother's new neighborhood when she moved there because I wanted a line on all the garage sales or free furniture while she was getting settled. It's the saddest goddamn place. Every third person is desperately asking for money, shoes, formula. Nobody can keep a handle on their pets--20 posts a day of pets lost and strays found. There's not even room for casual racism amidst a sort of general clamor of desperation and lives well out of hand.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 8:28 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
Oh my god. As someone who spends a few nights per week away from home, I would pay a subscription fee for that shit.
I joined the ND in my mother's new neighborhood when she moved there because I wanted a line on all the garage sales or free furniture while she was getting settled. It's the saddest goddamn place. Every third person is desperately asking for money, shoes, formula. Nobody can keep a handle on their pets--20 posts a day of pets lost and strays found. There's not even room for casual racism amidst a sort of general clamor of desperation and lives well out of hand.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 8:28 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
I wish it was possible to have a hyperlocal neighborhood forum without it devolving into Nextdoor. Imagine a site where, rather than the paranoid fantasies of a bunch of creeps, people posted updates on which windows have handsome cats sitting in them, or cool plants that are growing in yards and tree pits, or nice graffiti, or a new sandwich shop, or fun garbage that has been placed out by the curb.
I have this in my current (going on four years now) neighborhood! It's on Facebook but it's truly a delight. In addition to all the things mentioned, people post about stuff they have to give away, neighborhood improvement projects, city council stuff, requests for help for others, etc. I love this place!
My old neighborhood, however, was full of racist NIMBYs who loved using NextDoor to alert everyone to people of color existing in the neighborhood. So glad we moved.
posted by cooker girl at 10:07 AM on February 6 [3 favorites]
I have this in my current (going on four years now) neighborhood! It's on Facebook but it's truly a delight. In addition to all the things mentioned, people post about stuff they have to give away, neighborhood improvement projects, city council stuff, requests for help for others, etc. I love this place!
My old neighborhood, however, was full of racist NIMBYs who loved using NextDoor to alert everyone to people of color existing in the neighborhood. So glad we moved.
posted by cooker girl at 10:07 AM on February 6 [3 favorites]
I wish it was possible to have a hyperlocal neighborhood forum without it devolving into Nextdoor. Imagine a site where, rather than the paranoid fantasies of a bunch of creeps, people posted updates on which windows have handsome cats sitting in them, or cool plants that are growing in yards and tree pits, or nice graffiti, or a new sandwich shop, or fun garbage that has been placed out by the curb.
Some NYC neighborhoods still have local blogs--kept going by two or three dedicated people--that cover a lot of this (not up-to-the-minute handsome-cat updates, but one of them does profile neighborhood pets on the regular). It's a constant struggle to keep the comments section from going undisputed-fash, especially the UWS one, but...they are good and useful.
posted by praemunire at 10:38 AM on February 6 [4 favorites]
Some NYC neighborhoods still have local blogs--kept going by two or three dedicated people--that cover a lot of this (not up-to-the-minute handsome-cat updates, but one of them does profile neighborhood pets on the regular). It's a constant struggle to keep the comments section from going undisputed-fash, especially the UWS one, but...they are good and useful.
posted by praemunire at 10:38 AM on February 6 [4 favorites]
I first joined Nextdoor when I lived on a small island with a population of less than 1k. It was immensely useful, since we only had access to the mainland from 5am to midnight and we all depended on each other for help. After a few years (and post-Trump) it just degraded into political bitching and and shitposting. It is utterly useless to me now that I am back on the mainland. It's tragic, since it was a lifesaving tool before that.
posted by evilcupcakes at 10:42 AM on February 6
posted by evilcupcakes at 10:42 AM on February 6
I guess this writer has never heard of "The Best of NextDoor".
https://www.reddit.com/r/nextdoor/
posted by pthomas745 at 11:13 AM on February 6
https://www.reddit.com/r/nextdoor/
posted by pthomas745 at 11:13 AM on February 6
Neighbors will actually put their differences aside, stop arguing about the homeless and mobilize to reunite somebody with their lost cat!
Many, yes. Not all.
A few years ago there were two news stories on the same day where I live: one was about the regular animal welfare protesters at a local abbatoir — one woman had been run over and killed by a trucker. The other story was a man facing charges because a property line dispute between two neighbours had escalated and escalated until one guy used a glass bottle to near his neighbour’s car to death.
The comments on the two stories were enlightening, as the same people put forth their arguments that anyone who killed an animal deserved death while anyone who tried to stop animals being killed deserved death.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:25 AM on February 6
Many, yes. Not all.
A few years ago there were two news stories on the same day where I live: one was about the regular animal welfare protesters at a local abbatoir — one woman had been run over and killed by a trucker. The other story was a man facing charges because a property line dispute between two neighbours had escalated and escalated until one guy used a glass bottle to near his neighbour’s car to death.
The comments on the two stories were enlightening, as the same people put forth their arguments that anyone who killed an animal deserved death while anyone who tried to stop animals being killed deserved death.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:25 AM on February 6
Metafilter: a sort of general clamor of desperation and lives well out of hand.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:28 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:28 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
Yes, yes, Nextdoor is a wretched hive of villainous NIMBYs, but if you're in Jeff Vandermeer's neighborhood you could gain access to exclusive flash fictions, so it is truly a land of contrasts.
posted by foxfirefey at 11:32 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
posted by foxfirefey at 11:32 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
Asking for a friend: how does one near a car to death?
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 12:33 PM on February 6 [1 favorite]
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 12:33 PM on February 6 [1 favorite]
Asking for a friend: how does one near a car to death?
It should be “beat his neighbour’s cat to death.” Serves me right for typing on my phone outdoors on a sunny day.
If a mod wanted to correct that, I’d be much obliged.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:41 PM on February 6
It should be “beat his neighbour’s cat to death.” Serves me right for typing on my phone outdoors on a sunny day.
If a mod wanted to correct that, I’d be much obliged.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:41 PM on February 6
I think if it's one of those self-driving taxis you can near it to death by putting a traffic cone on its hood.
posted by hippybear at 1:52 PM on February 6 [2 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 1:52 PM on February 6 [2 favorites]
Jesus, beating a cat to death should be 10 years in prison with no parole, and yes, I know how bad the US carceral system is. What the actual fuck.
posted by caviar2d2 at 2:12 PM on February 6 [1 favorite]
posted by caviar2d2 at 2:12 PM on February 6 [1 favorite]
A few days later, some other knucklehead I know messaged me he was so glad I put that dude in his place. He’s always like that-nobody has the balls to speak up to him. he worked with the guy for the past 25 years.
Now, I don’t like this guy either so I just took screenshots of his messages and sent them to the first guy.
“See? Even your friends don’t like you bro.”
While it is foolish to have that sort of exchange with a stranger, it really isn't cool to take advantage of that lapse to cause drama in their life. There was a reason that guy hadn't ever told the other guy off to his face.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 3:12 PM on February 6 [5 favorites]
Now, I don’t like this guy either so I just took screenshots of his messages and sent them to the first guy.
“See? Even your friends don’t like you bro.”
While it is foolish to have that sort of exchange with a stranger, it really isn't cool to take advantage of that lapse to cause drama in their life. There was a reason that guy hadn't ever told the other guy off to his face.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 3:12 PM on February 6 [5 favorites]
So per suggestion here I went in there and got my username. The amount of information it asked of me to do this was well beyond what I was comfortable yielding to them, involving registering a phone number despite being on a desktop and other things, but I don't plan on signing in again, so... I guess it's okay.
posted by hippybear at 4:13 PM on February 6
posted by hippybear at 4:13 PM on February 6
Unless them sending me a code on my phone to type into my desktop initiated some kind of tracking thing I don't know about...
posted by hippybear at 4:13 PM on February 6
posted by hippybear at 4:13 PM on February 6
Nextdoor is only as good or, more often, as bad as your neighbors. And some of those neighbors are likely to be loudmouthed bigots with way too much time on their hands who are resentful they aren't presidents of their HOAs. Turns out anonymity isn't what emboldens toxic behavior on the internet. Even when names, faces, and places of residence are public, behavior doesn't change
posted by treepour at 4:56 PM on February 6
posted by treepour at 4:56 PM on February 6
‘ There was a reason that guy hadn't ever told the other guy off to his face.’
LOL
Yeah that’s why I did it for him. Guess how much sleep I’ve lost over it.
posted by chronkite at 7:35 PM on February 6 [1 favorite]
LOL
Yeah that’s why I did it for him. Guess how much sleep I’ve lost over it.
posted by chronkite at 7:35 PM on February 6 [1 favorite]
These are the rules for my local PLACENAME Facebook group, which keep it functional, in case anyone wants to use them for their own PLACENAME Facebook group. It sounds like Next Door would be a lot more functional if it adopted these rules.
"Guidelines for posts about crime and suspicious activity
Crime posts suck up an extraordinary amount of time to administer. It is incredibly difficult to make judgement calls on what to allow. While it may be frustrating to have your crime-related post removed or muted, the following guidelines have now been put in place to reduce admin, ensure the well-being, safety and privacy of the community as a whole, and so that future legal action has a minimal chance of being compromised.
1. If you haven’t reported the suspicious activity or crime to the police, it is not worth bothering (or potentially frightening) your neighbours over. It is not illegal to walk around our neighbourhood at any time, nor to walk in a group of people, even if you’re wearing a hoodie or you’re a teenager or you’re talking loudly or you don’t have a home! These people are all also our neighbours and may also be a part of this group. Unless a group or individual is *actively* involved in suspicious activity, please don’t worry your neighbours with your concern - call the police or [LOCATION] Security if you don’t feel comfortable with a vibe.
2. No posting of images identifying young people who might be minors, under any circumstances, without parental consent. You may obscure the face of the potential minor and post by way of warning over a crime, but please check with admin first.
3. You are welcome to post images of criminals and crime from your CCTV (or signal boost on behalf of someone else) or give descriptions while you are seeking information on your crime
4. No stab-in-the-dark guessing at the personal identification of suspects, including using a moniker (i.e. STREET NAME Youths). If you recognise a suspect, please contact the police with their information and inform the poster that you have contacted the police. Contact the admin if you need any guidance on this.
5. No direct or veiled threats of violence or vigilante justice, whether joking or otherwise - members doing this are subject to immediate removal from the group. If someone on your thread suggests this, please actively dissuade them and ask them to delete their comment, then report the comment to admin.
6. No negative personally-identifying posts or imagery. The only exception we make to this is when a crime has been committed and you are seeking identification in conjunction with a police investigation. In some very exceptional cases we may allow an identifying post (eg photo or CCTV video) but only if the suspicious behaviour has been reported to police and is accompanied by a police report number. Recent defamation rulings mean we delete all such negative posts identifying or hinting at individuals (crime-related or not) and you may be subject to immediate removal from the group. If your comment is about a non-individual (such as a bad review of a business) you can attempt to repost by reframing to objective facts you would be comfortable defending in court.
Even if your post meets these guidelines, if a ‘mob mentality’ starts to take over the thread, please turn off comments and report comments to admin. We may have to delete the thread and unfortunately have to have you start again with comments turned off.
Not fair? Feel free to PM the admin if you have a post that falls afoul of these rules but feel it should be shared for the benefit of the community, and we will consider it.
Additional note: With a group of this size the amount of anecdotal stories from all over the town may make you feel we are in the grip of a crime wave, however, this is simply not true. [LOCATION] is not in the list of top 20 [CITY] crime hotspots. We’re not even in the top 100! In fact, we are almost smack-dab in the middle: we have an average amount of crime compared to the rest of [CITY] at about 3.4 per 100 residents. Having an ‘average’ amount of crime, however, equates to 113 home break-ins in [LOCATION] per year. So that can sound like a lot when we are in a group like this, and there are a bunch of other things going on as well: graffiti, petty theft, assaults, etc, etc. But yeah. We’re average. In the best possible way."
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:10 PM on February 6 [7 favorites]
"Guidelines for posts about crime and suspicious activity
Crime posts suck up an extraordinary amount of time to administer. It is incredibly difficult to make judgement calls on what to allow. While it may be frustrating to have your crime-related post removed or muted, the following guidelines have now been put in place to reduce admin, ensure the well-being, safety and privacy of the community as a whole, and so that future legal action has a minimal chance of being compromised.
1. If you haven’t reported the suspicious activity or crime to the police, it is not worth bothering (or potentially frightening) your neighbours over. It is not illegal to walk around our neighbourhood at any time, nor to walk in a group of people, even if you’re wearing a hoodie or you’re a teenager or you’re talking loudly or you don’t have a home! These people are all also our neighbours and may also be a part of this group. Unless a group or individual is *actively* involved in suspicious activity, please don’t worry your neighbours with your concern - call the police or [LOCATION] Security if you don’t feel comfortable with a vibe.
2. No posting of images identifying young people who might be minors, under any circumstances, without parental consent. You may obscure the face of the potential minor and post by way of warning over a crime, but please check with admin first.
3. You are welcome to post images of criminals and crime from your CCTV (or signal boost on behalf of someone else) or give descriptions while you are seeking information on your crime
4. No stab-in-the-dark guessing at the personal identification of suspects, including using a moniker (i.e. STREET NAME Youths). If you recognise a suspect, please contact the police with their information and inform the poster that you have contacted the police. Contact the admin if you need any guidance on this.
5. No direct or veiled threats of violence or vigilante justice, whether joking or otherwise - members doing this are subject to immediate removal from the group. If someone on your thread suggests this, please actively dissuade them and ask them to delete their comment, then report the comment to admin.
6. No negative personally-identifying posts or imagery. The only exception we make to this is when a crime has been committed and you are seeking identification in conjunction with a police investigation. In some very exceptional cases we may allow an identifying post (eg photo or CCTV video) but only if the suspicious behaviour has been reported to police and is accompanied by a police report number. Recent defamation rulings mean we delete all such negative posts identifying or hinting at individuals (crime-related or not) and you may be subject to immediate removal from the group. If your comment is about a non-individual (such as a bad review of a business) you can attempt to repost by reframing to objective facts you would be comfortable defending in court.
Even if your post meets these guidelines, if a ‘mob mentality’ starts to take over the thread, please turn off comments and report comments to admin. We may have to delete the thread and unfortunately have to have you start again with comments turned off.
Not fair? Feel free to PM the admin if you have a post that falls afoul of these rules but feel it should be shared for the benefit of the community, and we will consider it.
Additional note: With a group of this size the amount of anecdotal stories from all over the town may make you feel we are in the grip of a crime wave, however, this is simply not true. [LOCATION] is not in the list of top 20 [CITY] crime hotspots. We’re not even in the top 100! In fact, we are almost smack-dab in the middle: we have an average amount of crime compared to the rest of [CITY] at about 3.4 per 100 residents. Having an ‘average’ amount of crime, however, equates to 113 home break-ins in [LOCATION] per year. So that can sound like a lot when we are in a group like this, and there are a bunch of other things going on as well: graffiti, petty theft, assaults, etc, etc. But yeah. We’re average. In the best possible way."
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:10 PM on February 6 [7 favorites]
Out of curiosity, I looked up what the most recent posts on my suburb's Facebook group were.
From most recent, to less recent:
Warning about an upcoming heatwave
Can anyone recommend a plumber?
Does anyone have a bunch of lemons they are willing to part with? I’m looking for around 15-20. Happy to pay of course.
I found a lost lorikeet
Come to our Rugby Union sausage sizzle!
Does anyone want some free timber?
Has anyone added a second floor to an old house in [SUBURB]? If so, was it hard to get building permits/approvals?
Here's a story about a truck that got stuck underneath a bridge because the truck was too high for the bridge
Come to our art exhibition!
Can anyone recommend a gardener?
Can anyone recommend a cleaning service?
Come to our sip and sculpt event to make stuff with polymer clay
Have you had tiling done recently? What was the price per square metre for floor tiles?
Warning about the destructive beetle Polyphagous shot-hole borer, which kills trees
Join our girls football teams for kids and teenagers
Was there trainline construction last night, my house was shaking/rattling?
Looking for an electrician
Looking for someone to install a garage door
Looking for someone to install a roller shutter
Looking for recommendations for shower tile & grout cleaning
Looking for a roof carpenter recommendation
I saw a man at 4:30am who seemed to be stealing a teenager's bike, in case you are missing a teenager's bike this morning
An E-scooter was stolen from our back porch last night - here's a photo in case you've seen it
I'm looking for someone to deliver a 2 seater couch
Here's a survey about proposed changes to local bus routes
Hello folks. Came across this bike down at the [PARK] during my walk this morning. Looks abandoned/stolen. I’ve propped it against a tree for now (didn’t want to move it too far, in case someone was coming back for it)
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:53 PM on February 6
From most recent, to less recent:
Warning about an upcoming heatwave
Can anyone recommend a plumber?
Does anyone have a bunch of lemons they are willing to part with? I’m looking for around 15-20. Happy to pay of course.
I found a lost lorikeet
Come to our Rugby Union sausage sizzle!
Does anyone want some free timber?
Has anyone added a second floor to an old house in [SUBURB]? If so, was it hard to get building permits/approvals?
Here's a story about a truck that got stuck underneath a bridge because the truck was too high for the bridge
Come to our art exhibition!
Can anyone recommend a gardener?
Can anyone recommend a cleaning service?
Come to our sip and sculpt event to make stuff with polymer clay
Have you had tiling done recently? What was the price per square metre for floor tiles?
Warning about the destructive beetle Polyphagous shot-hole borer, which kills trees
Join our girls football teams for kids and teenagers
Was there trainline construction last night, my house was shaking/rattling?
Looking for an electrician
Looking for someone to install a garage door
Looking for someone to install a roller shutter
Looking for recommendations for shower tile & grout cleaning
Looking for a roof carpenter recommendation
I saw a man at 4:30am who seemed to be stealing a teenager's bike, in case you are missing a teenager's bike this morning
An E-scooter was stolen from our back porch last night - here's a photo in case you've seen it
I'm looking for someone to deliver a 2 seater couch
Here's a survey about proposed changes to local bus routes
Hello folks. Came across this bike down at the [PARK] during my walk this morning. Looks abandoned/stolen. I’ve propped it against a tree for now (didn’t want to move it too far, in case someone was coming back for it)
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:53 PM on February 6
Any other MeFites door-knock during election season? I have every time since about 2016, which is the year after I moved into my current neighborhood and unfortunately joined NextDoor.
Our new precinct chair recently posted about door-knocking for political candidates this year and requesting help to register new voters.
NextDoor quickly devolved into a McCoys vs. Hatfields verbal battle between the people who are excited to meet politically engaged neighbors and learn about local candidates (mostly people who either just moved here, or have older kids just turning 18 and thus are able to vote for the first time) and the people struggling to find ways to infer (without outright saying it and getting perma-banned from ND) that they will, in fact, SHOOT anyone who rings their doorbell for literally any reason at all other than dropping off a package/delivery of some kind.
Friends, I power-walked through my door-knocking territory last time so quickly in was able to cover a 5-square-mile area in less than 2 hours. I also did my territories completely alone vs. with my husband, since he was on call that day and unable to join me.
I don't want the ND "shoot anything that moves unless it's carrying an Amazon box" brigade to target me or threaten my life in 2024, and it certainly is starting to feel like a case of diminishing returns trying to stay engaged in my civic duty as a fellow citizen. In the past, I've had neighbors:
- follow me and my husband for 3+ blocks while walking back towards our house, shouting that we didn't belong here and probably didn't even live in the neighborhood anyway and were actually communist infiltrators
- sic their madly barking dogs on me while yelling to get off their property as I walked down a public sidewalk on the opposite side of the street
- casually wave a gun at me from behind their closed screen door while telling me they didn't want to ever see my face again
- open the door wearing an ankle-monitoring bracelet, house reeking of weed, only to explain that yeahhhhhhh, they're a felon now and can't vote anymore, sorry!
I was already waffling about door-knocking this year based on *points up*, but now, I'm really feeling extra-wary.
I don't want ND psychos to deter me from doing my civic duty and staying engaged with my neighbors and the political process. But I also don't want to be the reason for a ND post asking if anyone just heard what sounded like gunshots on ____ street in the middle of the daytime.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 7:57 AM on February 7 [2 favorites]
Our new precinct chair recently posted about door-knocking for political candidates this year and requesting help to register new voters.
NextDoor quickly devolved into a McCoys vs. Hatfields verbal battle between the people who are excited to meet politically engaged neighbors and learn about local candidates (mostly people who either just moved here, or have older kids just turning 18 and thus are able to vote for the first time) and the people struggling to find ways to infer (without outright saying it and getting perma-banned from ND) that they will, in fact, SHOOT anyone who rings their doorbell for literally any reason at all other than dropping off a package/delivery of some kind.
Friends, I power-walked through my door-knocking territory last time so quickly in was able to cover a 5-square-mile area in less than 2 hours. I also did my territories completely alone vs. with my husband, since he was on call that day and unable to join me.
I don't want the ND "shoot anything that moves unless it's carrying an Amazon box" brigade to target me or threaten my life in 2024, and it certainly is starting to feel like a case of diminishing returns trying to stay engaged in my civic duty as a fellow citizen. In the past, I've had neighbors:
- follow me and my husband for 3+ blocks while walking back towards our house, shouting that we didn't belong here and probably didn't even live in the neighborhood anyway and were actually communist infiltrators
- sic their madly barking dogs on me while yelling to get off their property as I walked down a public sidewalk on the opposite side of the street
- casually wave a gun at me from behind their closed screen door while telling me they didn't want to ever see my face again
- open the door wearing an ankle-monitoring bracelet, house reeking of weed, only to explain that yeahhhhhhh, they're a felon now and can't vote anymore, sorry!
I was already waffling about door-knocking this year based on *points up*, but now, I'm really feeling extra-wary.
I don't want ND psychos to deter me from doing my civic duty and staying engaged with my neighbors and the political process. But I also don't want to be the reason for a ND post asking if anyone just heard what sounded like gunshots on ____ street in the middle of the daytime.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 7:57 AM on February 7 [2 favorites]
LOL
Yeah that’s why I did it for him. Guess how much sleep I’ve lost over it.
Yikes. Well, I guess a solid illustration of the point of the thread: your neighbors are often not people you wanna encounter IRL, even the ones who are "on your side."
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:03 AM on February 7 [2 favorites]
Yeah that’s why I did it for him. Guess how much sleep I’ve lost over it.
Yikes. Well, I guess a solid illustration of the point of the thread: your neighbors are often not people you wanna encounter IRL, even the ones who are "on your side."
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:03 AM on February 7 [2 favorites]
I signed up for Nextdoor when I moved to Chicago to learn what was up in the city and my local neighborhood and it was just a bunch of people who were afraid to go outside their own places. All I could think was "Why live in a city if you won't go outside?" Housing is so much cheaper in so many other places! The facebook groups were even weirder though. They were just filled with people who claimed to have once lived in Chicago and moved away years ago talking about how much Chicago sucked now. The fact that hang out in these groups just screamed massive involuntarily divorced from Chicago energy. Like you moved dude just let it go and live your new life wherever you are now.
posted by srboisvert at 9:32 PM on February 9
posted by srboisvert at 9:32 PM on February 9
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posted by Suedeltica at 2:10 PM on February 5 [32 favorites]