12 ms·

The Anti-Facebook

258 points by fourstar 12y ago

AustinDev 12y ago
This is a cool and much needed social network however it appears signup is broken at the moment. I tried 2-3 times to make it through the signup page and couldn't do it with either Facebook or Email signup. Having your user registration broken when you get a positive article published about your service must really suck. EDIT: Seems to be a chrome issue. Submitted a request to their support time. Safari seems to work just fine.
- arbitrage 12y ago
  So, first of all, my neighbourhood name in their map is kinda offensive (a local colloquialism). Second, to complete the registration process, I have to either supply a debit/credit card, the will call a phone number and somehow compare that against phone records to verify my identity, or send me a postcard. This seems incredibly intrusive and a big privacy ingress. No thanks.
  - spindritf 12y ago
    A postcard seems perfect for a neighbourhood-based social network.
  - includeme 12y ago
    That also gives you confidence that all members in the neighborhood are verified.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - worklogin 12y ago
    I'm not sure how I feel about debit/credit cards, but the postcard idea is clever. What better way to validate identity on a neighborhood-based network than postage?
    - callahad 12y ago
      I believe CouchSurfing has been doing the postcard thing for years, as well.
  - onedev 12y ago
    > Second, to complete the registration process, I have to either supply a debit/credit card, the will call a phone number and somehow compare that against phone records to verify my identity, or send me a postcard. This is actually a HUGE piece of what makes the social network special. This builds inherent trust into the network so you actually know that the people that you're talking to are actually who they say they are and actually live in your neighborhood. This means that, if you're selling your couch, or buying something from a neighbor, you can be sure that it's trusted neighbor that you're interacting with. This actually HELPS privacy rather than impeding it. Nextdoor also cross references with sex offender databases as well as "some" criminal databases so that they are banned from joining. It's also a safety feature.
    - adrianh 12y ago
      You should identify yourself as a Nextdoor employee! (Looks like you've promoted them several times in your comment history.)
    - hnha 12y ago
      I'd much rather have a simple web of trust between the people than this central authority.
      - wavefunction 12y ago
        That's called real life isn't it? Just choose an unmediated life if that's what you want.
    - comex 12y ago
      > Nextdoor also cross references with sex offender databases as well as "some" criminal databases so that they are banned from joining. It's also a safety feature. Ugh. Those things increase recidivism and violate fundamental concepts of justice by not allowing people to ever 'serve their debt to society'. If I can pass someone by on the sidewalk or walk by their house, I don't see why they should be banned from talking to me on such a network.
      - 12y ago
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - ineedtosleep 12y ago
    Can you elaborate on how the postcard is a big privacy issue for you? Their concern is confirming your address, to confirm that you're in the neighbourhood you've chosen -- what forms of data would you be willing to give to prove you live at said location?
  - lotharbot 12y ago
    I didn't find it particularly onerous to register. The thing that bothered me is that I had no indication as to the value prior to signing up. I had no way to know whether my neighborhood had active, thriving, productive discussions or whether it was a ghost town. I had no way to know if it was healthy or full of gossip. This is the down side to it being private.
  - rotten 12y ago
    I set up our neighborhood's NextDoor site last year. I got to name it. As the site owner, I can change the name (I think), if people objected and wanted a better name, I'd do it. It was tough because our area is fairly low density and they require a minimum number of households to set up a neighborhood. I didn't want to include a couple of developments where they really weren't in the same demographic as the neighborhood I was setting up. I did some gerrymandering to make it work. Now Nextdoor is including comments and posts from all of the surrounding neighborhoods, which is really annoying because I don't really care about what is going on over there and would just as soon not have them tracking what is going on over here. Hmpf.
    - krawczstef 12y ago
      You can go to your settings and choose not to receive those notifications. You can also customize which nearby neighborhoods you'd like to receive updates from as well. [disclaimer: I work at Nextdoor]
- spinchange 12y ago
  I just submitted a help request before seeing this comment. I thought I was losing my mind as the log-in page just reloads but doesn't throw an error of any kind except prompting new account creation which then tells you that you already have an account.
- Shivetya 12y ago
  love the article is about the anti-facebook only to land at Nextdoor who, lets you sign up with your facebook account
amwelles 12y ago
I loved using Nextdoor in my last neighborhood. I found a dog walker, got some free yarn, and had a better sense of who my neighbors were. I don't have the time to dedicate to being a neighborhood leader, though, so I haven't set one up in my new neighborhood.
Zikes 12y ago
OT: I'd like to take a moment to appreciate The Verge for making the first mention of Nextdoor in the article a link, and for making that link actually go to the Nextdoor web site instead of a silly "here's what The Verge has to say about the company Nextdoor" page.
idlewords 12y ago
To really be an anti-Facebook, this service would need to be decentralized. And it's a perfect example of a service that should be decentralized by design. There's no earthly reason to have this live on one server somewhere, except if you want to track people and show them ads.
- einrealist 12y ago
  There is no relation between decentralisation and advertisment. Any node can serve you ads. Also, in a decentralised network, it may be even harder to keep control over data. Example: It is easier to hold Google accountable for data in their servers than users of BitTorrent for their data.
  - Mahn 12y ago
    > There is no relation between decentralisation and advertisment. Any node can serve you ads. But there's no point in showing ads in a decentralized network since the proceeds would belong to no one. Unless someone controls the client application/interface, but then it's not entirely decentralized.
    - philwelch 12y ago
      The proceeds would belong to the owner of the local node you connect to.
      - idlewords 12y ago
        Dammit Chad, stop serving ads or I swear I will slash your tires
    - einrealist 12y ago
      Of course there is. If you need to pay for a node, showing ads may be the only way to finance it. And I also can have a node just for showing ads to a network. Imagine Facebook as the network and the members as peers. There are many peers who just advertise something.
ajaymehta 12y ago
I'm glad to see Nextdoor getting this kind of recognition. I've moved around the Bay Area several times in the last few years, and every new Nextdoor community I've joined has been very active and helpful (I bought furniture, found out about a block party, and much more). Highly recommend joining.
- jmhain 12y ago
  I just moved to the bay area, but unfortunately there is no life in my NextDoor community. I actually found it by coming up with the concept and googling to see if anything like it actually existed. I was hoping to make some new friends, but oh well.
halcyondaze 12y ago
I had this idea a while back and I'm glad that Nextdoor is dominating it. Growing up on a double cul-de-sac, I'd say I was fortunate enough to have a close neighborhood just by virtue of the shape of the street, but for people that didn't have that this seems like a really awesome service.
- raldi 12y ago
  What's a double cul-de-sac?
  - personlurking 12y ago
    I would guess it's a 'street' whose only outlet is halfway point, while both ends are cul-de-sacs (more or less the shape of a letter T, with the ends of the top part being the cul-de-sacs and the lower part giving access to other streets, etc).
k-mcgrady 12y ago
Serious question: is this something that would be popular in the US? I could never see anyone in my neighbourhood using a private/local social network. Interested to hear from people who think this would be popular in their country.
- acomjean 12y ago
  It is. My Girlfriend started a Nextdoor group. They use it for neighborhood stuff. They send postcards to people in your region asking for signups. Someone starting a local CSA was using it to organize. Oddly recently she's been getting requests to expand the neighborhood area as people just outside the edges seem to want to join.
- res0nat0r 12y ago
  It is. My neighborhood has currently 64 members on the site, and 274 people from nearby neighborhoods.
- namenotrequired 12y ago
  I think so! I work for https://peerby.com https://peerby.com , which does something similar (but more narrow, only for borrowing things from neighbors), which started in the Netherlands but it's picking up rather quickly in the US now as well - I think we have many more members in the US now than in some countries where we tried much harder.
chaostheory 12y ago
This is a nice submarine ad. This would be great if people were more active on NextDoor. I haven't seen too many neighborhoods in the Bay Area where it works beyond 4-5 active people.
- endtime 12y ago
  That was exactly my first thought too. For anyone who doesn't know what chaostheory means, see: http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html
- malandrew 12y ago
  This is what I thought too. There is nothing described in the article that can't be accomplished with a closed group on Facebook, which we use for our apartment building in San Francisco. The main feature I wouldn't mind having, if NextDoor has it, is a way to share tools and other things that I have with my neighbors. For example, I have some power tools, excellent specialized cooking gear, commercial juice press, bike repair stand, etc. and plan on buy a commercial vacuum sealer. All of these things are capital goods that are extremely useful but might spend a lot of their time used infrequently. Since these are going to be available to use a lot of the time I'm happy to lend them to a neighbor so long as I know they are going to come back to me in the same condition as they were lent. I just want a system where I can write down my expectations insofar as how I expect my things to be cared for and cleaned before returned, and how I can remedy issues and leave feedback like "3-stars b/c my stock pot came back dirty" or "5 stars b/c my stock pot came back cleaner than it was when I leant it".
  - NickSharp 12y ago
    I believe that was the original concept behind Yerdle, although they seem to have pivoted from loaning out to giving away. https://yerdle.com/ https://yerdle.com/
  - chaostheory 12y ago
    To be fair Next door shows where people live in relation to you, which is a little better than just a disembodied bunch of facebook contacts.
debt 12y ago
Sorry but NextDoor sucks in terms of being an Anti-Facebook. EveryBlock was killing it so hard and NextDoor just kind of filled the void once EveryBlock was acquired by MSNBC. I know EveryBlock is coming back though which is awesome. Any Anti-Facebook service needs at least a good "News Feed" like Facebook does. EveryBlock had a really awesome and useful news feed. You'd see all the new permits(film locations, building, zoning, etc.) issued, crime reports, comments about community issues, events, etc. in your neighborhood. It was exactly what I thought of in terms of "hyperlocal" news. It was extremely useful even as a passive user. NextDoor just isn't any of that. They don't have the same News Feed quality that EveryBlock had. NextDoor posts are like "I have a new Ikea desk I'm trying to get rid of" or "What's happening at 20th and Mission"-style Twitter posts. Not very informative or useful.
- onedev 12y ago
  Have you used the service? Nextdoor absolutely has a configurable newsfeed built from scratch to be highly scalable...it seems like you're forming your opinion based on outdated information. There's also a feed of "Nearby Neighborhoods" and a City Platform that feeds in alerts and information from police and local government. It's literally everything you described and more.
  - debt 12y ago
    I still use NextDoor, but they somehow(even though EveryBlock is much older) don't have nearly as much data as EveryBlock seemed to have access too. Or maybe EveryBlock had a much better design that seemed to communicate the data they had more effectively than NextDoor. EveryBlock had solved a good-"News Feed"-for-the-neighborhood problem. NextDoor has yet do that as effectively.
    - secabeen 12y ago
      Everyblock tried to pull in public data about the neighborhood and post it automatically. I've never seen a NextDoor post that wasn't human generated. That's the main difference.
Vanayad 12y ago
"40,000 neighborhoods, or roughly one in four American communities, with 10 or more active users" Found it funny as hell.
Mahn 12y ago
Wasn't there a similar service that shut down because it couldn't get traction a few years ago? I remember seeing it here in HN.
NathanCH 12y ago
Can someone provide me an inside look at Nextdoor? I'm not an American but want to use the website as inspiration for a personal project, but as you know, I can't get passed the sign up process. I'm curious about features and UI implementation. Thanks
jfb 12y ago
¼ "American neighborhoods"? That seems like a bit of a reach.
TheMagicHorsey 12y ago
I don't know about other neighborhoods, but Nextdoor in SOMA is pretty piss poor in terms of content.
- krawczstef 12y ago
  you mean nothing that interests you? or there isn't much? or? [disclaimer: I work for Nextdoor]
  - TheMagicHorsey 12y ago
    Hardly any posts. Nothing that interests me.
eitally 12y ago
I am the "neighborhood lead" for Nextdoor in my neighborhood and I have found it incredibly useful, for a number of reasons: meeting neighbors, unloading free/cheap stuff I don't want to put on Craigslist or Freecycle, learning about neighborhood problems & news (vandalism, construction, permits, etc), finding and vetting service providers (plumbers, landscapers, electricians, etc), and generally staying in touch with people I live near. This is hugely more valuable than the crap I see on Facebook. Nobody posts ice bucket challenge videos on Nextdoor, or kid pics, or game invites. :)
- jchendy 12y ago
  > Nobody posts ice bucket challenge videos on Nextdoor, or kid pics, or game invites. :) I'm sure this is an exception, but I turned off email notifications when people started discussing how to insulate their apartments to protect themselves from wifi radiation.
  - joeframbach 12y ago
    I can get behind that. Not to protect myself from wifi radiation, but to cut down on the amount of wifi traffic interfering with my signal. There are only 13 usable channels in 2.4Ghz, and I don't feel like replacing my router for 5Ghz right away.
    - steve-howard 12y ago
      In the US, there are 11 channels, and either 3 or (with cooperation and planning between neighbors) 4 non-overlapping channels. Investing in 5ghz was the only way I could get a decent signal in my high-rise apartment.
shazow 12y ago
I am part of a Nextdoor neighbourhood in a Bay Area suburb with 302 neighbours (216 of 423 households). It's very handy. The thing that surprised me most is how publicly abrasive people can be when they're using their Real Names with real photos and real descriptions of their children and pets just a click away, talking to people who live just down the street. There's a big hubbub in my 'hood about some homeowners who want to rebuild our community pool, a multi-million dollar project. Vast majority of the neighbourhood doesn't care one way or the other, but they don't want their HOA fees to increase. Had it not been for Nextdoor, the loud minority would have quietly passed the bill and started construction because nobody attends the community meetings or bothered to vote. Except, Nextdoor started taking off in our area just at the right time and a bunch of people flipped out when they found out about this through various threads on Nextdoor. There was namecalling, sarcasm, pedantry, even classic trolling (people taking positions that they clearly don't care about just to upset the original poster). Almost Youtube-comment level stuff. Even weirder, most of our neighbours are middle-aged or older. They didn't grow up with this kind of online behaviour and had trouble recognizing it. Clearly the behaviour of these people is not Nextdoor's fault. I am grateful that Nextdoor is there partly for passively observing the drama in my community and partly for actually feeling like I'm getting to know the people I run into when I walk my dog. Coming away from working at Google during the peak of the Real Name controversy, it's weird to see the benefit premise explicitly shaken, if not refuted.
- Brakenshire 12y ago
  I suppose if there is no close community in an area, that still remains the case even if you give people the means of broadcasting to one another. If people had wide friendship links amongst the community, then youtube-level trolling would be out of the question, because it makes you look bad amongst your friends and acquaintances, but if you don't know anyone, there is no clear barrier to that kind of behaviour. You're still operating by the rules of an online forum, not a local community.
  - exodust 12y ago
    The other thing is that certain topics will enrage anyone in any forum, no matter the social connections. This includes neighborly chats, TV talk shows, dinner parties, classrooms, offices, pretty much anywhere you have humans talking about issues that are important to them and affect them personally, you'll get all kinds of behavior and language. Unless you have a dedicated moderator of a debate, one who everyone agrees is the moderator, the floodgates are open and the tone of the discussion can go in any direction. This is especially true when the consequences of the debate can mean a new pool is or isn't built at whatever cost down the road from where we live. "Friendship" among the participants won't stop someone speaking out against such things if they feel strongly about it.
johnchristopher 12y ago
Being in Europe I wished I could have a peek at what's inside. I wished I could set up an account and see what happens and if my neighbors would sign-up. I suppose it's not possible (yet) because of i18n, targeted/local ads and public announcements particularities ? Any open-source alternative I could set up ? A small diaspora/facebook clone ?
- namenotrequired 12y ago
  If you're interested, Peerby is something similar which is open in many parts of Europe right now. https://peerby.com/ https://peerby.com/
  - johnchristopher 12y ago
    Thank you. Don't know why you're being downvoted so I refilled your karma.
sytelus 12y ago
Slack is killing emails. Nextdoor is killing Facebook. Verge is killing journalism or what's left of it. In reality Slack had only 150K users. Nextdoor is barely known outside of few neighbourhoods (sure, they can claim 1 in every 4 neighbourhood has "adopted" Nextdoor). Lot of articles from Verge getting posted here recently smells a lot like just paid PR stuff for startups. They are almost like informatials on late night TV. Take everything from them with huge pinch of salt.
- govindkabra31 12y ago
  that is how it begins.. early signs of FB was killing MySpace was back when it was a thing that kids in a handful of colleges used. These early signs are important to recognize and highlight for incumbents as well as participants.
namenotrequired 12y ago
We're trying to do something similar but a bit more narrow at https://peerby.com/ https://peerby.com/ . It's specifically for items you want to borrow. We're based in Europe but the SF community is picking up pretty well right now.
thrownaway2424 12y ago
FFS. Their site says "Login with Facebook" so I try. Apparently all this does is give them access to your Facebook profile, it doesn't actually give you an account on Nextdoor. You still have to provide your email address and establish a password. In other words, even their signup page contains a scam, designed to steal your friends list. And I'm supposed to trust this site with anything? Fuck no.
- rx4g 12y ago
  It also gives you a chance, on subsequent logins, to just login using your FB account. Not that uncommon.
  - morgante 12y ago
    > It also gives you a chance, on subsequent logins, to just login using your FB account. Not that uncommon. Then why the heck does it ask for a password? If I use FB login, the primary benefit is not having to track another password.
- onedev 12y ago
  The FB access is just for authentication and easy login as well as profile picture. In no way does the website have access to your friends list.... I think your definition of scam is a bit off...because every app in the app store would be qualified as a "scam".
  - thrownaway2424 12y ago
    When a Facebook connected app or site has access to "your profile" that includes your friends list. Anyway as I can see that you failed to read for comprehension I must reiterate that allowing next-door to read your Facebook profile in no way authenticates you to the site, nor does it provide them with your profile picture.
    - mynewwork 12y ago
      Slight correction - it has access to your friends who have also used the facebook login for that site. If you're the first person to login, the site will get an empty list. Only the set of your friends who have previously used the service, will show up if the service queries fb for your friends.
leef 12y ago
Seems a bit difficult to be the anti-Facebook when the very first screen presents a login with Facebook button.
tekni5 12y ago
It would be cool if someone in the neighborhood could purchase a device that would setup a local nextdoor type of service. It would show up as a wireless connection, once connected when they try to visit a website it would give them an explanation what this service offers and allow them to setup a profile. Only people within a certain distance would be able to connect, the network could be expanded with multiple devices. It would allow, decentralized networking based on geographic location. Users would also be allowed to create a backup of their profile and interactions for record keeping if they wish. It could be very helpful for local discussion, community awareness, emergency communication (if the access points are kept off the main grid) and possibly even direct democratic voting for small local issues. Sort of like a PirateBox, but more sophisticated non-anonymous local private social network. Not entirely sure if the technology exists to allow this to scale affordably to at least a block or two.
- jrbaldwin 12y ago
  You're basically describing http://tidepools.co http://tidepools.co which was created as a localized discussion and mapping platform that runs on wireless mesh networks (or any server setup)
ggiaco 12y ago
Wonder if any thoughts on Spiral (sprlr.com) as an alternative based on location instead of proof of residence - so you could always connect to the community around you, even if you move around. Can work for work settings, colleges, events, etc. FD: I'm involved with Spiral.
morgante 12y ago
From the looks of it, Nextdoor is very similar to Front Porch Forum, except FPM has been around for almost a decade but exists only in Vermont. While occasionally useful, it inevitably reminds me that there's a reason the Internet took off in the first place: I have very little in common with my neighbors besides geographical proximity.
junto 12y ago
They talk at the end of the article about monetisation. This kind of network really has the possibility of disrupting Craig Craigslist. Proof of identity and local neighbours would hopefully reduce the kind of scams you see on craigslist.
rozza 12y ago
For folks in the UK theres http://streetlife.com http://streetlife.com which also is a local social network. You can verify your address to prove you are local and subscribe to local area conversations and news etc... Just like in life the communities are mixed - some more involved than others but I've found it a great resource so far.
spingsprong 12y ago
What happens if somebody wants to join, but the Leads refuse? If a small minority of Leads can prevent people they don't like from joining, it seems like it risks reinforcing bigotry and intolerance.
- krawczstef 12y ago
  Leads don't get that power. They can only flag members to our support team who will investigate; they can't stop someone from joining. [disclaimer: I work at Nextdoor]
Kiro 12y ago
How are neighbourhoods defined? What are the areas based on?
jokoon 12y ago
Finally, I was thinking about this too: only allowing to show neighbors who are in your area instead. Maybe you need some mechanism to forbid users to quickly change area, or make it hard to create multiple account to watch several areas. That would be quite a big bump for privacy.
lilsunnybee 12y ago
Oh wow could this be any more transparently a PR fluff piece? This doesn't reflect well on The Verge at all as far as any sort of journalistic integrity goes.
sdm 12y ago
I'm really confused why someone would want to know their neighbours. I don't know my neighbours but even if I did, I wouldn't want to be sharing with them on an online network. I like my anonymity and privacy.
ausjke 12y ago
I don't use Facebook, and I use Nextdoor all the time and it seems very useful to me.
govindkabra31 12y ago
My favorite nextdoor story is when it helped neighbors find chicken poop https://twitter.com/kabragovind/status/483721368710963200 https://twitter.com/kabragovind/status/483721368710963200

258 points by fourstar 12y ago

This is a cool and much needed social network however it appears signup is broken at the moment. I tried 2-3 times to make it through the signup page and couldn't do it with either Facebook or Email signup. Having your user registration broken when you get a positive article published about your service must really suck. EDIT: Seems to be a chrome issue. Submitted a request to their support time. Safari seems to work just fine.

arbitrage 12y ago
So, first of all, my neighbourhood name in their map is kinda offensive (a local colloquialism). Second, to complete the registration process, I have to either supply a debit/credit card, the will call a phone number and somehow compare that against phone records to verify my identity, or send me a postcard. This seems incredibly intrusive and a big privacy ingress. No thanks.
- spindritf 12y ago
  A postcard seems perfect for a neighbourhood-based social network.
- includeme 12y ago
  That also gives you confidence that all members in the neighborhood are verified.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- worklogin 12y ago
  I'm not sure how I feel about debit/credit cards, but the postcard idea is clever. What better way to validate identity on a neighborhood-based network than postage?
  - callahad 12y ago
    I believe CouchSurfing has been doing the postcard thing for years, as well.
- onedev 12y ago
  > Second, to complete the registration process, I have to either supply a debit/credit card, the will call a phone number and somehow compare that against phone records to verify my identity, or send me a postcard. This is actually a HUGE piece of what makes the social network special. This builds inherent trust into the network so you actually know that the people that you're talking to are actually who they say they are and actually live in your neighborhood. This means that, if you're selling your couch, or buying something from a neighbor, you can be sure that it's trusted neighbor that you're interacting with. This actually HELPS privacy rather than impeding it. Nextdoor also cross references with sex offender databases as well as "some" criminal databases so that they are banned from joining. It's also a safety feature.
  - adrianh 12y ago
    You should identify yourself as a Nextdoor employee! (Looks like you've promoted them several times in your comment history.)
  - hnha 12y ago
    I'd much rather have a simple web of trust between the people than this central authority.
    - wavefunction 12y ago
      That's called real life isn't it? Just choose an unmediated life if that's what you want.
  - comex 12y ago
    > Nextdoor also cross references with sex offender databases as well as "some" criminal databases so that they are banned from joining. It's also a safety feature. Ugh. Those things increase recidivism and violate fundamental concepts of justice by not allowing people to ever 'serve their debt to society'. If I can pass someone by on the sidewalk or walk by their house, I don't see why they should be banned from talking to me on such a network.
    - 12y ago
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- ineedtosleep 12y ago
  Can you elaborate on how the postcard is a big privacy issue for you? Their concern is confirming your address, to confirm that you're in the neighbourhood you've chosen -- what forms of data would you be willing to give to prove you live at said location?
- lotharbot 12y ago
  I didn't find it particularly onerous to register. The thing that bothered me is that I had no indication as to the value prior to signing up. I had no way to know whether my neighborhood had active, thriving, productive discussions or whether it was a ghost town. I had no way to know if it was healthy or full of gossip. This is the down side to it being private.
- rotten 12y ago
  I set up our neighborhood's NextDoor site last year. I got to name it. As the site owner, I can change the name (I think), if people objected and wanted a better name, I'd do it. It was tough because our area is fairly low density and they require a minimum number of households to set up a neighborhood. I didn't want to include a couple of developments where they really weren't in the same demographic as the neighborhood I was setting up. I did some gerrymandering to make it work. Now Nextdoor is including comments and posts from all of the surrounding neighborhoods, which is really annoying because I don't really care about what is going on over there and would just as soon not have them tracking what is going on over here. Hmpf.
  - krawczstef 12y ago
    You can go to your settings and choose not to receive those notifications. You can also customize which nearby neighborhoods you'd like to receive updates from as well. [disclaimer: I work at Nextdoor]
spinchange 12y ago
I just submitted a help request before seeing this comment. I thought I was losing my mind as the log-in page just reloads but doesn't throw an error of any kind except prompting new account creation which then tells you that you already have an account.
Shivetya 12y ago
love the article is about the anti-facebook only to land at Nextdoor who, lets you sign up with your facebook account

amwelles 12y ago

I loved using Nextdoor in my last neighborhood. I found a dog walker, got some free yarn, and had a better sense of who my neighbors were. I don't have the time to dedicate to being a neighborhood leader, though, so I haven't set one up in my new neighborhood.

Zikes 12y ago

OT: I'd like to take a moment to appreciate The Verge for making the first mention of Nextdoor in the article a link, and for making that link actually go to the Nextdoor web site instead of a silly "here's what The Verge has to say about the company Nextdoor" page.

idlewords 12y ago

To really be an anti-Facebook, this service would need to be decentralized. And it's a perfect example of a service that should be decentralized by design. There's no earthly reason to have this live on one server somewhere, except if you want to track people and show them ads.

einrealist 12y ago
There is no relation between decentralisation and advertisment. Any node can serve you ads. Also, in a decentralised network, it may be even harder to keep control over data. Example: It is easier to hold Google accountable for data in their servers than users of BitTorrent for their data.
- Mahn 12y ago
  > There is no relation between decentralisation and advertisment. Any node can serve you ads. But there's no point in showing ads in a decentralized network since the proceeds would belong to no one. Unless someone controls the client application/interface, but then it's not entirely decentralized.
  - philwelch 12y ago
    The proceeds would belong to the owner of the local node you connect to.
    - idlewords 12y ago
      Dammit Chad, stop serving ads or I swear I will slash your tires
  - einrealist 12y ago
    Of course there is. If you need to pay for a node, showing ads may be the only way to finance it. And I also can have a node just for showing ads to a network. Imagine Facebook as the network and the members as peers. There are many peers who just advertise something.

ajaymehta 12y ago

I'm glad to see Nextdoor getting this kind of recognition. I've moved around the Bay Area several times in the last few years, and every new Nextdoor community I've joined has been very active and helpful (I bought furniture, found out about a block party, and much more). Highly recommend joining.

jmhain 12y ago
I just moved to the bay area, but unfortunately there is no life in my NextDoor community. I actually found it by coming up with the concept and googling to see if anything like it actually existed. I was hoping to make some new friends, but oh well.

halcyondaze 12y ago

I had this idea a while back and I'm glad that Nextdoor is dominating it. Growing up on a double cul-de-sac, I'd say I was fortunate enough to have a close neighborhood just by virtue of the shape of the street, but for people that didn't have that this seems like a really awesome service.

raldi 12y ago
What's a double cul-de-sac?
- personlurking 12y ago
  I would guess it's a 'street' whose only outlet is halfway point, while both ends are cul-de-sacs (more or less the shape of a letter T, with the ends of the top part being the cul-de-sacs and the lower part giving access to other streets, etc).

k-mcgrady 12y ago

Serious question: is this something that would be popular in the US? I could never see anyone in my neighbourhood using a private/local social network. Interested to hear from people who think this would be popular in their country.

acomjean 12y ago
It is. My Girlfriend started a Nextdoor group. They use it for neighborhood stuff. They send postcards to people in your region asking for signups. Someone starting a local CSA was using it to organize. Oddly recently she's been getting requests to expand the neighborhood area as people just outside the edges seem to want to join.
res0nat0r 12y ago
It is. My neighborhood has currently 64 members on the site, and 274 people from nearby neighborhoods.
namenotrequired 12y ago
I think so! I work for https://peerby.com https://peerby.com , which does something similar (but more narrow, only for borrowing things from neighbors), which started in the Netherlands but it's picking up rather quickly in the US now as well - I think we have many more members in the US now than in some countries where we tried much harder.

chaostheory 12y ago

This is a nice submarine ad. This would be great if people were more active on NextDoor. I haven't seen too many neighborhoods in the Bay Area where it works beyond 4-5 active people.

endtime 12y ago
That was exactly my first thought too. For anyone who doesn't know what chaostheory means, see: http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html
malandrew 12y ago
This is what I thought too. There is nothing described in the article that can't be accomplished with a closed group on Facebook, which we use for our apartment building in San Francisco. The main feature I wouldn't mind having, if NextDoor has it, is a way to share tools and other things that I have with my neighbors. For example, I have some power tools, excellent specialized cooking gear, commercial juice press, bike repair stand, etc. and plan on buy a commercial vacuum sealer. All of these things are capital goods that are extremely useful but might spend a lot of their time used infrequently. Since these are going to be available to use a lot of the time I'm happy to lend them to a neighbor so long as I know they are going to come back to me in the same condition as they were lent. I just want a system where I can write down my expectations insofar as how I expect my things to be cared for and cleaned before returned, and how I can remedy issues and leave feedback like "3-stars b/c my stock pot came back dirty" or "5 stars b/c my stock pot came back cleaner than it was when I leant it".
- NickSharp 12y ago
  I believe that was the original concept behind Yerdle, although they seem to have pivoted from loaning out to giving away. https://yerdle.com/ https://yerdle.com/
- chaostheory 12y ago
  To be fair Next door shows where people live in relation to you, which is a little better than just a disembodied bunch of facebook contacts.

debt 12y ago

Sorry but NextDoor sucks in terms of being an Anti-Facebook. EveryBlock was killing it so hard and NextDoor just kind of filled the void once EveryBlock was acquired by MSNBC. I know EveryBlock is coming back though which is awesome. Any Anti-Facebook service needs at least a good "News Feed" like Facebook does. EveryBlock had a really awesome and useful news feed. You'd see all the new permits(film locations, building, zoning, etc.) issued, crime reports, comments about community issues, events, etc. in your neighborhood. It was exactly what I thought of in terms of "hyperlocal" news. It was extremely useful even as a passive user. NextDoor just isn't any of that. They don't have the same News Feed quality that EveryBlock had. NextDoor posts are like "I have a new Ikea desk I'm trying to get rid of" or "What's happening at 20th and Mission"-style Twitter posts. Not very informative or useful.

onedev 12y ago
Have you used the service? Nextdoor absolutely has a configurable newsfeed built from scratch to be highly scalable...it seems like you're forming your opinion based on outdated information. There's also a feed of "Nearby Neighborhoods" and a City Platform that feeds in alerts and information from police and local government. It's literally everything you described and more.
- debt 12y ago
  I still use NextDoor, but they somehow(even though EveryBlock is much older) don't have nearly as much data as EveryBlock seemed to have access too. Or maybe EveryBlock had a much better design that seemed to communicate the data they had more effectively than NextDoor. EveryBlock had solved a good-"News Feed"-for-the-neighborhood problem. NextDoor has yet do that as effectively.
  - secabeen 12y ago
    Everyblock tried to pull in public data about the neighborhood and post it automatically. I've never seen a NextDoor post that wasn't human generated. That's the main difference.

Vanayad 12y ago

"40,000 neighborhoods, or roughly one in four American communities, with 10 or more active users" Found it funny as hell.

Mahn 12y ago

Wasn't there a similar service that shut down because it couldn't get traction a few years ago? I remember seeing it here in HN.

NathanCH 12y ago

Can someone provide me an inside look at Nextdoor? I'm not an American but want to use the website as inspiration for a personal project, but as you know, I can't get passed the sign up process. I'm curious about features and UI implementation. Thanks

jfb 12y ago

¼ "American neighborhoods"? That seems like a bit of a reach.

TheMagicHorsey 12y ago

I don't know about other neighborhoods, but Nextdoor in SOMA is pretty piss poor in terms of content.

krawczstef 12y ago
you mean nothing that interests you? or there isn't much? or? [disclaimer: I work for Nextdoor]
- TheMagicHorsey 12y ago
  Hardly any posts. Nothing that interests me.

eitally 12y ago

I am the "neighborhood lead" for Nextdoor in my neighborhood and I have found it incredibly useful, for a number of reasons: meeting neighbors, unloading free/cheap stuff I don't want to put on Craigslist or Freecycle, learning about neighborhood problems & news (vandalism, construction, permits, etc), finding and vetting service providers (plumbers, landscapers, electricians, etc), and generally staying in touch with people I live near. This is hugely more valuable than the crap I see on Facebook. Nobody posts ice bucket challenge videos on Nextdoor, or kid pics, or game invites. :)

jchendy 12y ago
> Nobody posts ice bucket challenge videos on Nextdoor, or kid pics, or game invites. :) I'm sure this is an exception, but I turned off email notifications when people started discussing how to insulate their apartments to protect themselves from wifi radiation.
- joeframbach 12y ago
  I can get behind that. Not to protect myself from wifi radiation, but to cut down on the amount of wifi traffic interfering with my signal. There are only 13 usable channels in 2.4Ghz, and I don't feel like replacing my router for 5Ghz right away.
  - steve-howard 12y ago
    In the US, there are 11 channels, and either 3 or (with cooperation and planning between neighbors) 4 non-overlapping channels. Investing in 5ghz was the only way I could get a decent signal in my high-rise apartment.

shazow 12y ago

I am part of a Nextdoor neighbourhood in a Bay Area suburb with 302 neighbours (216 of 423 households). It's very handy. The thing that surprised me most is how publicly abrasive people can be when they're using their Real Names with real photos and real descriptions of their children and pets just a click away, talking to people who live just down the street. There's a big hubbub in my 'hood about some homeowners who want to rebuild our community pool, a multi-million dollar project. Vast majority of the neighbourhood doesn't care one way or the other, but they don't want their HOA fees to increase. Had it not been for Nextdoor, the loud minority would have quietly passed the bill and started construction because nobody attends the community meetings or bothered to vote. Except, Nextdoor started taking off in our area just at the right time and a bunch of people flipped out when they found out about this through various threads on Nextdoor. There was namecalling, sarcasm, pedantry, even classic trolling (people taking positions that they clearly don't care about just to upset the original poster). Almost Youtube-comment level stuff. Even weirder, most of our neighbours are middle-aged or older. They didn't grow up with this kind of online behaviour and had trouble recognizing it. Clearly the behaviour of these people is not Nextdoor's fault. I am grateful that Nextdoor is there partly for passively observing the drama in my community and partly for actually feeling like I'm getting to know the people I run into when I walk my dog. Coming away from working at Google during the peak of the Real Name controversy, it's weird to see the benefit premise explicitly shaken, if not refuted.

Brakenshire 12y ago
I suppose if there is no close community in an area, that still remains the case even if you give people the means of broadcasting to one another. If people had wide friendship links amongst the community, then youtube-level trolling would be out of the question, because it makes you look bad amongst your friends and acquaintances, but if you don't know anyone, there is no clear barrier to that kind of behaviour. You're still operating by the rules of an online forum, not a local community.
- exodust 12y ago
  The other thing is that certain topics will enrage anyone in any forum, no matter the social connections. This includes neighborly chats, TV talk shows, dinner parties, classrooms, offices, pretty much anywhere you have humans talking about issues that are important to them and affect them personally, you'll get all kinds of behavior and language. Unless you have a dedicated moderator of a debate, one who everyone agrees is the moderator, the floodgates are open and the tone of the discussion can go in any direction. This is especially true when the consequences of the debate can mean a new pool is or isn't built at whatever cost down the road from where we live. "Friendship" among the participants won't stop someone speaking out against such things if they feel strongly about it.

johnchristopher 12y ago

Being in Europe I wished I could have a peek at what's inside. I wished I could set up an account and see what happens and if my neighbors would sign-up. I suppose it's not possible (yet) because of i18n, targeted/local ads and public announcements particularities ? Any open-source alternative I could set up ? A small diaspora/facebook clone ?

namenotrequired 12y ago
If you're interested, Peerby is something similar which is open in many parts of Europe right now. https://peerby.com/ https://peerby.com/
- johnchristopher 12y ago
  Thank you. Don't know why you're being downvoted so I refilled your karma.

sytelus 12y ago

Slack is killing emails. Nextdoor is killing Facebook. Verge is killing journalism or what's left of it. In reality Slack had only 150K users. Nextdoor is barely known outside of few neighbourhoods (sure, they can claim 1 in every 4 neighbourhood has "adopted" Nextdoor). Lot of articles from Verge getting posted here recently smells a lot like just paid PR stuff for startups. They are almost like informatials on late night TV. Take everything from them with huge pinch of salt.

govindkabra31 12y ago
that is how it begins.. early signs of FB was killing MySpace was back when it was a thing that kids in a handful of colleges used. These early signs are important to recognize and highlight for incumbents as well as participants.

namenotrequired 12y ago

We're trying to do something similar but a bit more narrow at https://peerby.com/ https://peerby.com/ . It's specifically for items you want to borrow. We're based in Europe but the SF community is picking up pretty well right now.

thrownaway2424 12y ago

FFS. Their site says "Login with Facebook" so I try. Apparently all this does is give them access to your Facebook profile, it doesn't actually give you an account on Nextdoor. You still have to provide your email address and establish a password. In other words, even their signup page contains a scam, designed to steal your friends list. And I'm supposed to trust this site with anything? Fuck no.

rx4g 12y ago
It also gives you a chance, on subsequent logins, to just login using your FB account. Not that uncommon.
- morgante 12y ago
  > It also gives you a chance, on subsequent logins, to just login using your FB account. Not that uncommon. Then why the heck does it ask for a password? If I use FB login, the primary benefit is not having to track another password.
onedev 12y ago
The FB access is just for authentication and easy login as well as profile picture. In no way does the website have access to your friends list.... I think your definition of scam is a bit off...because every app in the app store would be qualified as a "scam".
- thrownaway2424 12y ago
  When a Facebook connected app or site has access to "your profile" that includes your friends list. Anyway as I can see that you failed to read for comprehension I must reiterate that allowing next-door to read your Facebook profile in no way authenticates you to the site, nor does it provide them with your profile picture.
  - mynewwork 12y ago
    Slight correction - it has access to your friends who have also used the facebook login for that site. If you're the first person to login, the site will get an empty list. Only the set of your friends who have previously used the service, will show up if the service queries fb for your friends.

leef 12y ago

Seems a bit difficult to be the anti-Facebook when the very first screen presents a login with Facebook button.

tekni5 12y ago

It would be cool if someone in the neighborhood could purchase a device that would setup a local nextdoor type of service. It would show up as a wireless connection, once connected when they try to visit a website it would give them an explanation what this service offers and allow them to setup a profile. Only people within a certain distance would be able to connect, the network could be expanded with multiple devices. It would allow, decentralized networking based on geographic location. Users would also be allowed to create a backup of their profile and interactions for record keeping if they wish. It could be very helpful for local discussion, community awareness, emergency communication (if the access points are kept off the main grid) and possibly even direct democratic voting for small local issues. Sort of like a PirateBox, but more sophisticated non-anonymous local private social network. Not entirely sure if the technology exists to allow this to scale affordably to at least a block or two.

jrbaldwin 12y ago
You're basically describing http://tidepools.co http://tidepools.co which was created as a localized discussion and mapping platform that runs on wireless mesh networks (or any server setup)

ggiaco 12y ago

Wonder if any thoughts on Spiral (sprlr.com) as an alternative based on location instead of proof of residence - so you could always connect to the community around you, even if you move around. Can work for work settings, colleges, events, etc. FD: I'm involved with Spiral.

morgante 12y ago

From the looks of it, Nextdoor is very similar to Front Porch Forum, except FPM has been around for almost a decade but exists only in Vermont. While occasionally useful, it inevitably reminds me that there's a reason the Internet took off in the first place: I have very little in common with my neighbors besides geographical proximity.

junto 12y ago

They talk at the end of the article about monetisation. This kind of network really has the possibility of disrupting Craig Craigslist. Proof of identity and local neighbours would hopefully reduce the kind of scams you see on craigslist.

rozza 12y ago

For folks in the UK theres http://streetlife.com http://streetlife.com which also is a local social network. You can verify your address to prove you are local and subscribe to local area conversations and news etc... Just like in life the communities are mixed - some more involved than others but I've found it a great resource so far.

spingsprong 12y ago

What happens if somebody wants to join, but the Leads refuse? If a small minority of Leads can prevent people they don't like from joining, it seems like it risks reinforcing bigotry and intolerance.

krawczstef 12y ago
Leads don't get that power. They can only flag members to our support team who will investigate; they can't stop someone from joining. [disclaimer: I work at Nextdoor]

Kiro 12y ago

How are neighbourhoods defined? What are the areas based on?

jokoon 12y ago

Finally, I was thinking about this too: only allowing to show neighbors who are in your area instead. Maybe you need some mechanism to forbid users to quickly change area, or make it hard to create multiple account to watch several areas. That would be quite a big bump for privacy.

lilsunnybee 12y ago

Oh wow could this be any more transparently a PR fluff piece? This doesn't reflect well on The Verge at all as far as any sort of journalistic integrity goes.

sdm 12y ago

I'm really confused why someone would want to know their neighbours. I don't know my neighbours but even if I did, I wouldn't want to be sharing with them on an online network. I like my anonymity and privacy.

ausjke 12y ago

I don't use Facebook, and I use Nextdoor all the time and it seems very useful to me.

govindkabra31 12y ago

My favorite nextdoor story is when it helped neighbors find chicken poop https://twitter.com/kabragovind/status/483721368710963200 https://twitter.com/kabragovind/status/483721368710963200