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Interesting. I signed up for Nextdoor to see what it is based on this article. For my NYC neighborhood it’s all tag sales, requests for opthomology recommendati

Interesting. I signed up for Nextdoor to see what it is based on this article. For my NYC neighborhood it’s all tag sales, requests for opthomology recommendations, etc... No fear monger it in sight.

CodeMage 7y ago
I've been on Nextdoor for months now. Here's my take on it: if you need to get recommendations for local businesses, it's great. Most of the rest is headache-inducing display of NIMBYism, self-righteousness, self-entitlement and armchair politics. It's basically watered-down Facebook -- without the benefit of having friends -- that happens to be a pretty decent complement to Yelp.
- TallGuyShort 7y ago
  I'm suspicious of it's value for local business recommendations. I've used it in 3 neighborhoods and it seems like it's mostly everyone just recommending their friend's business. Is that not everyone else's experience? At least that's better than all the people hawking their multi-level marketing crap.
  - TomVDB 7y ago
    The recommendation part is not my experience. (The whining about suspicious people walking on the street OTOH...) We pretty much only use Nextdoor for the occasional recommendation or when we have some garage stuff to sell/give away.
orthecreedence 7y ago
Try it in a mostly-white suburban neighborhood. You'll rapidly add new items to your library of dog whistles.
- taborj 7y ago
  Checking in from a mostly-white suburban neighborhood. The only "crime" post I've ever seen was about a homeless guy going through trashcans and yelling at people. Everything else is as OP states; yard sales, missing (and found) pets, etc. Edit: I also find it ironical that you're fear mongering on a post complaining that apps are fear mongering...
  - res0nat0r 7y ago
    Like everyone's complaints about Slack, it's the users and not Nextdoor that are the problem.
    - cantchoose 7y ago
      Sure, but like Slack at work, you don't have the option to choose who you're connected to on it. So if you happen to have bad people on it (and both apps incentivize people who are inclined to act poorly to do so), you're boned.
- PascLeRasc 7y ago
  Nextdoor around me is awful. It's just older white people posting pictures of people of color who walk in front of their house and saying "Does anyone know if this guy lives here??? I think he was trying to rob my house!!!" and everyone piles on with "Yeah I don't know that guy, call the cops!". Fuck Nextdoor. I can't wait until it's out of business.
- ImprovedSilence 7y ago
  I used next door in the white burbs. It didn’t seem too bad. It Was mostly people setting up garage sales, or the trying to get the whole street to do some kind of themed Christmas lights. The biggest flame war I saw was a bunch of people ganging up on a cop who said he didn’t want the local marijuana dispensary to open up cuz it would bring in the riff raff...
kradroy 7y ago
Just wait. When I signed up for it the bizarre/comedic posts took a while to appear. I have to agree with the article that there are some disturbing sentiments on there. In my immediate area in SF there's a lot of homelessness, petty crime and property crime. The opinions/proposals to solve the problems range from "putting the homeless in compounds" to "giving them sturdier shelters and condoning their homelessness." I stopped checking it regularly because the content is largely irrelevant to me. The new hotness in my area is traffic calming measures, because some residents find it too inconvenient to walk a block to cross at the nearest crosswalk. I wonder what the userbase demographics are by area, and if they reflect the make-up of the population accurately.
mc32 7y ago
My experience is that same: asking for recommendations, alerting neighbors to car break-ins, coyotes, suspicious people on bikes at 3am peering into properties, yard/garage sales, free stuff and occasionally shaming people when they add descriptors to suspects as well as complaining about kids not respecting private property.
gameswithgo 7y ago
Austin,TX suburbs, plenty of of those things but there are resident crime fear discussions, and certain personalities that make themselves 'important' by constantly warning about crime and that "they" are targeting us etc. EVERYONE has a 'ring' or whatever the camera doorbell thing is.
noer 7y ago
In my experience NYC residents are a lot more comfortable with seeing strangers on street.
duskwuff 7y ago
Since Nextdoor is siloed on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis, the tone of the site can vary significantly from one area to another. And once the fearmongering starts in a neighborhood, it's likely to stick.

CodeMage 7y ago

I've been on Nextdoor for months now. Here's my take on it: if you need to get recommendations for local businesses, it's great. Most of the rest is headache-inducing display of NIMBYism, self-righteousness, self-entitlement and armchair politics. It's basically watered-down Facebook -- without the benefit of having friends -- that happens to be a pretty decent complement to Yelp.

TallGuyShort 7y ago
I'm suspicious of it's value for local business recommendations. I've used it in 3 neighborhoods and it seems like it's mostly everyone just recommending their friend's business. Is that not everyone else's experience? At least that's better than all the people hawking their multi-level marketing crap.
- TomVDB 7y ago
  The recommendation part is not my experience. (The whining about suspicious people walking on the street OTOH...) We pretty much only use Nextdoor for the occasional recommendation or when we have some garage stuff to sell/give away.

orthecreedence 7y ago

Try it in a mostly-white suburban neighborhood. You'll rapidly add new items to your library of dog whistles.

taborj 7y ago
Checking in from a mostly-white suburban neighborhood. The only "crime" post I've ever seen was about a homeless guy going through trashcans and yelling at people. Everything else is as OP states; yard sales, missing (and found) pets, etc. Edit: I also find it ironical that you're fear mongering on a post complaining that apps are fear mongering...
- res0nat0r 7y ago
  Like everyone's complaints about Slack, it's the users and not Nextdoor that are the problem.
  - cantchoose 7y ago
    Sure, but like Slack at work, you don't have the option to choose who you're connected to on it. So if you happen to have bad people on it (and both apps incentivize people who are inclined to act poorly to do so), you're boned.
PascLeRasc 7y ago
Nextdoor around me is awful. It's just older white people posting pictures of people of color who walk in front of their house and saying "Does anyone know if this guy lives here??? I think he was trying to rob my house!!!" and everyone piles on with "Yeah I don't know that guy, call the cops!". Fuck Nextdoor. I can't wait until it's out of business.
ImprovedSilence 7y ago
I used next door in the white burbs. It didn’t seem too bad. It Was mostly people setting up garage sales, or the trying to get the whole street to do some kind of themed Christmas lights. The biggest flame war I saw was a bunch of people ganging up on a cop who said he didn’t want the local marijuana dispensary to open up cuz it would bring in the riff raff...

kradroy 7y ago

Just wait. When I signed up for it the bizarre/comedic posts took a while to appear. I have to agree with the article that there are some disturbing sentiments on there. In my immediate area in SF there's a lot of homelessness, petty crime and property crime. The opinions/proposals to solve the problems range from "putting the homeless in compounds" to "giving them sturdier shelters and condoning their homelessness." I stopped checking it regularly because the content is largely irrelevant to me. The new hotness in my area is traffic calming measures, because some residents find it too inconvenient to walk a block to cross at the nearest crosswalk. I wonder what the userbase demographics are by area, and if they reflect the make-up of the population accurately.

mc32 7y ago

My experience is that same: asking for recommendations, alerting neighbors to car break-ins, coyotes, suspicious people on bikes at 3am peering into properties, yard/garage sales, free stuff and occasionally shaming people when they add descriptors to suspects as well as complaining about kids not respecting private property.

gameswithgo 7y ago

Austin,TX suburbs, plenty of of those things but there are resident crime fear discussions, and certain personalities that make themselves 'important' by constantly warning about crime and that "they" are targeting us etc. EVERYONE has a 'ring' or whatever the camera doorbell thing is.

noer 7y ago

In my experience NYC residents are a lot more comfortable with seeing strangers on street.

duskwuff 7y ago

Since Nextdoor is siloed on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis, the tone of the site can vary significantly from one area to another. And once the fearmongering starts in a neighborhood, it's likely to stick.