4 ms·

I'm not totally sure. Centralized services usually seem much lower friction than decentralized ones, and that can be important getting people to actually use a

I'm not totally sure. Centralized services usually seem much lower friction than decentralized ones, and that can be important getting people to actually use a service. However the sign up process for NextDoor seems hard, so friction might not be a good reason. It might be hard to keep sign up rigorous without a central vetting body though.

genericone 12y ago
Not difficult in the slightest. I was able to sign up to Nextdoor within a minute of visiting the site (just now). They offer the option of calling your phone which has your billing address in order to verify you live in the neighborhood.
idlewords 12y ago
You don't need a central vetting body if the node runs in your neighborhood. Physical proximity plus a neighbor vouching for you are plenty.
- sitkack 12y ago
  Step 2, go to 6131 48th and ask Kim for a logon code.
wutbrodo 12y ago
Sign-up is actually a LOT more low-friction than I expected. You verify your phone number (which takes about ten seconds), and if your billing address matches, you're signed up and address-verified immediately. It's a little more complicated if you're billing addr is not your home addr (and you don't want to put in your credit card), but my guess would be that phone-number verification works in the 95% general case. Given how quick and easy sign-up is, I'd imagine that the friction argument is still rather relevant.
- finnn 12y ago
  Any idea how they get your phone number's billing address? EDIT: Doesn't seem to work with my T-Mobile cellphone, so I'm guessing they have some arrangement with like some cell carriers?
  - prawn 12y ago
    Maybe they mean billing address for your credit card?
  - wutbrodo 12y ago
    I don't really know about the implementation details or anything, I just went through the sign-up flow and was really surprised at how simple it was.
prawn 12y ago
Would there be risks (to the online community) in putting control in the hands of whoever set up the web app? That is, unless it was significantly redesigned to remove that as an issue.

genericone 12y ago

Not difficult in the slightest. I was able to sign up to Nextdoor within a minute of visiting the site (just now). They offer the option of calling your phone which has your billing address in order to verify you live in the neighborhood.

idlewords 12y ago

You don't need a central vetting body if the node runs in your neighborhood. Physical proximity plus a neighbor vouching for you are plenty.

sitkack 12y ago
Step 2, go to 6131 48th and ask Kim for a logon code.

wutbrodo 12y ago

Sign-up is actually a LOT more low-friction than I expected. You verify your phone number (which takes about ten seconds), and if your billing address matches, you're signed up and address-verified immediately. It's a little more complicated if you're billing addr is not your home addr (and you don't want to put in your credit card), but my guess would be that phone-number verification works in the 95% general case. Given how quick and easy sign-up is, I'd imagine that the friction argument is still rather relevant.

finnn 12y ago
Any idea how they get your phone number's billing address? EDIT: Doesn't seem to work with my T-Mobile cellphone, so I'm guessing they have some arrangement with like some cell carriers?
- prawn 12y ago
  Maybe they mean billing address for your credit card?
- wutbrodo 12y ago
  I don't really know about the implementation details or anything, I just went through the sign-up flow and was really surprised at how simple it was.

prawn 12y ago

Would there be risks (to the online community) in putting control in the hands of whoever set up the web app? That is, unless it was significantly redesigned to remove that as an issue.