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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

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

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