A note to Randy. Free speech is guaranteed to all Americans - except on websites. Nextdoor is one of the worst! My wife and I are 'banned for life' for
Speaking the truth about issues such as our HOA. The president of our HOA stated that my wife is a liar and I should stop trying to be relevant - on Nextdoor. This president is also a convicted felon. The main lead, Ben, is conflicted in his identity and demands acceptance. If he doesn't get it, he bans people. His co-lead, Kira, racially profiled some teenagers in the neighborhood, saying they were looking for a car to steal. She said one of them said he had a gun, then, in another post, showed her nephew a gun. In a third post, she stated the teenager "pulled a gun". Shortly after I called her on this, I was remove from Nextdoor. Another co-lead, Brian, called my
Wife the "meanest person he has ever met". I'm told that Brian's religion teaches him that women are less than men. She was removed from Nextdoor shortly thereafter. I complained to Nextdoor through their website.
After the second try to receive fair treatment, I was then ignored by Theresa
At Nextdoor. My heart is not broken. I will still insist on free speech. And, I no longer have to deal with the nasty people on Nextdoor.com. Nextdoor should have a closer look at the kind of people they let represent themselves as leads. Suppression of free speech is a basic tenet of fascism!

The reason, I think next-door can suck becuase of the absolute authority of trolls to censor. The leads can be. Drunk with power to control community conversations by banning certain speech. It my neighborhood it has been taken over by loser politicians that are trying to regain power. The arbitrary authority plays into the worst impulses of human nature to control. Others. Next-door could address this with a like and dislike buttons instead of anonmyous flags which is used by angry people who object to certain speech. It can be very uncivil.

It is a site that allows name calling and bullying to an extreme. It is not just neighborhood issues that's the problem, anything goes. In some cases the lead is the most ill informed person in the neighborhood. Sometimes the worst neighbor, who rents the house everyone complains about because it's an eyesore. They have no investment in the neighborhood just to much time on their hands.

In My experience as a Neighborhood founder and Lead, the largest portion of the Negative posts come from those who expect Nextdoor to be something is is not. It is NOT a platform for those who want Open Free Speech on what ever they want. It IS about Inside Neighborhood issues and limited Nearby Neighborhood issues. It IS about posting neighborhood classified ads, crime and safety information and issues one might speak about when talking with a neighbor across a side yard fence.

Outside Neighborhood conversation is very limited, as it should be, and Local City/Town/National issues are either not allowed or allowed inside neighborhood Specially designated Groups only.

Many Members who join and have Leads ask them to watch their language or to not post certain topics, as something BAD or overbearing. They are NOT, they are just enforcing the Nextdoor Rules and Terms and Conditions, WHICH Every Member should READ before they join. It will save them a lot of aggravation.

Lastly, Nextdoor is NOT a type of Facebook, it is limited to individual neighborhoods only and does not allow commercial advertising, even by Members who Own businesses.

The honest answer is, people are generally shortsighted and selfish, coupled with the fact they don't understand how Nextdoor is supposed to work. A neighborhood is only as good and beneficial as the people that make it up. A strong lead for the site helps to create an inclusive community that all neighbors are looking for. Likewise, a weak or self serving lead, can destroy a neighborhood. It's all about the people and how willing they are to work together to get along.

Dan, I think it's a stand-off between real folks spreading the warning about nextdoor, and nextdoor interns posting fake posts about how utopian they are.

Randy, so you state and presume many don't follow "guidelines" and make "Nextdoor to be something it is not." Only problem Randy is what you think are the guidelines don't necessarily match many others concepts of any guidelines. Nextdoor.com is mostly a "free for all" regardless and guidelines are worthless. Nextdoor.com is not structured and it's a hopeless effort to make it so.

Negative reviews are coming from those who didn't understand the guidelines. Like a forum for HOA issues. That's what their meetings and other communications are for. Or like bullies who have some axe to grind. Our group, and 7 other neighboring groups are excellent forums for sharing info about events, looking for items, services, lost pets... Not personal agendas. It is the lead's job to be sure guidelines are followed. Sound like some have totally misused the site, even abused it. And members too. Too bad for those neighborhoods.

I joined and found it very helpful for the few months I participated. Then I discontinued by membership in it. It turned into a few kings & queens pretty dominating many of the threads and often targeting others to the admin. To have opposing posts removed. Example: There were 2 women who took control of stray-dog threads, telling the posters what they should do or not do, that they're wrong in thinking the stray pit bull is dangerous, and generally being critical of other posters, although very helpful at the same time. It also got tiresome seeing posters use the site as venting for petty things. If there is anything anyone can complain about in a neighborhood, I saw it, repeatedly. Examples: Dogs in the yard, cats in the yard, trash pickup, people not picking up dog poop, people picking up dog poop but putting the bags in other people's garbage cans, suspicious guy walking down the street, solicitors, suspicious guy knocking on the door, running stop signs, cars going too fast, loud parties, loud music, dogs barking, people who don't mow often enough, road repair, non-repair of roads. Most of those things are legitimate complaints, but it gets tiresome seeing the same old complaints, which is what some of the neighbors use the site mainly for. I'm not much of a complainer and accept that, for example, dogs will bark, squirrels will dig in your yard, there will be someone walking in the neighborhood at some time who you don't know but who is not a serial killer, and the like. OTOH, the site was helpful in keeping up with important things about the neighborhood, like a new city ordinance, a change of trash pickup day, a crime that happened, or a neighbor's bad event like a house burning down. It also is a good source of neighbors selling odds and ends locally, and excellent source of recommendations of contractors and repairmen (although that's easily obtained thru Yelp or Angie's List).

Quite right Kevin. But it does go much deeper than that. I have sent a criminal history of a lead to Nextdoor and they just said "he doesn't present a physical threat".

He does present a financial threat as he advertises computer repair. This guy has been convicted or identity theft, arson, fugitive false information provided to LEO, grand larceny, and on and on.

Yet he is a lead and ND doesn't think that is a threat.

He has been removed by our HOA as head of Neighborhood Watch, and continues to scam people with false SOW's (statement of work where you can lend against).

We are taking action by first filing a criminal action and then filing a civil action against ND as they were advised and refused to take action.

The negative reviews are honest reactions to being duped into sharing too much personal information (that Nextdoor now owns and will NEVER delete and will continue to sell to advertisers until your dying day) to join a site that seems friendly on the surface, but which does NOTHING to protect users.

I was bullied by a convicted murderer, who is a Lead in my neighborhood--and I was banned from the site for complaining.

Leads are nothing more than early adopters of the site who have been assigned power over other users so that Nextdoor does not have to police it's own site.

In short: No. The negative reviews are not wrong. Heed them! I wish I had known before it was too late!

No, the negative reviews are not all wrong, rather right on point. Stay off of this site as it is the most pathetically amateurish and egotistical corp. run site on the web partaking in bullying, game playing, applying rules with NO consistency, lacking communications and this is by Corp. especially by "Bonnie" and "Gordon" who will gang up on those for personal egotistical reasons. Their rules are a joke as they apply them selectively based on their personal agendas. This is a sick sick site and needs to be shut down ASAP. They are straining for income as they have none to little and cutting everything possible to accommodate this. Site glitches everywhere, amateur engineering and development. The entire Co. Is run like they were all children.

Please be aware that every single thing that is posted on their site is recorded including anything that you delete to use against you at their leisure, especially when Bonnie gets a bug up her bum. The point being they are "data mining" This is likely the only way that they may generate income. STAY OFF of IT! If you have an account, close it immediately and you never had one, don't open one.

Mostly it's the operators of the site, not the leads. Their agenda is to silence anyone with conservative views. It's ripe with bullies and when you defend yourself against someone who insults you, they suspend your account for "making a public duspute". It's rediculous! I'm not sure how this site makes money, but I assume it's advertisers. Once I figure outvwho they are, it's high time we all let them know what their really supporting. The creator of the site has a felony hit and run on his record. Just how is that neighborly?

This site is not only a data mining venture masked as a "meet your neighbor" front, but it is also an adventure in how not to run a website. The company itself could care less about the users. They are in it for data mining of information, and boy do they get a lot of it, and corporate advertising. It acts like many social platforms or forums since it has local moderators. It also include the usual gangs of ravenous social justice warriors with an agenda. They send out the word to their comrades and work to ban individuals from the site. I was sent IM's by people telling not to post on certain user's threads because if you don't agree with them, they will work to ban you... and they did. That was it for me, I was done. There is also the daily "Who is in my neighborhood" (usually accompanied by a picture of a black or Hispanic person.) I live in richy rich's town, so there is an intense fear of Innocent people on the streets doing normal human things that might turn into marauders. Avoid this "social media" platform at all cost. It is not healthy.

Those who are happy with Nextdoor's services only want to use the site for a very narrow scope of services. Number one on the list is to tattle on one another. Items such as who's speeding, not picking up after their dog, posting about a stranger they saw walking on the sidewalk. Second is gaining the aid from the community to help in locating a lost pet. Third is for honest recommendations for services/repairs. And fourth to use as an alternative to craigslist.

These are all very good reasons to head to Nextdoor to read the postings. However, if you are looking for something more stimulating information regarding your community, you have come to the wrong place. People who want to use Nextdoor as a platform to reach their community to possibly discuss proposed ordinance changes are told to take a hike. The cited objection is that the discussion is too political. This objection is absurd as the site exists to share information that pertains to the community.

My neighborhood got into a debate about the use of fireworks. And even that turned contentious. Some veterans chimed in and admitted that they had a difficult time around the holiday firecrackers. This thread disappeared from the site, within 3 days of it's conception. I've read plenty of unpleasant comments about dog poop, do's and don'ts yet, these posts/threads remain. There is no such thing as a benign conversation when opinions are shared. What is important is that the community comes to an aha moment and comes to an understanding of why the opposition is so passionate about their stance.

And IMO this back and forth is OK, even healthy... problem is that my neighborhood wants to pretend we live in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood so, all of these contentious posts disappear. Not just individual posts, but entire threads are erased if some LEAD 'feels' offended.

Make no mistake, LEADS are unpaid, untrained VOLUNTEERS who often times have a personal agenda on how they want to interpret and exercise their power to remove entire conversations from the board. It's these small minded individuals that do a disservice to the community as well as to Nextdoor. Not only is the community stunted from growing and gaining a greater tolerance of others who have differing opinions but they also prevent Nextdoor from becoming the useful tool it could become. Something far greater than a site where people share stories about dog poop.

Leads are chosen based upon two criteria: who initially signed the neighborhood up for Nextdoor, and who has signed up the most other neighbors for Nextdoir. This is the very definition for how to make a clique.

All of you saying that the people that were wrongfully banned from ND deserved it because they misused it are totally incorrect. I got banned for trying to mediate an argument between my other neighbors about bears! I said that both sides had a point but can we please stop with the fearmongering and name calling and come together on a solution that's good for us and the bears. I was then attacked by the neighbors I was trying to protect and reported and now I'm banned for life. I also never received ANY communication from ND about it. I just couldn't sign in one day and they never responded to my request for an explanation. Oh and just so you all know, I'm a liberal and liberals don't ban people for life just for trying talk about bears.

Nextdoor Sux.

At Frito: I'm sorry you are inconvenienced by a neighbor's criminal history but I think I see you trying to be the prosecutor, judge, and jury on this. It may not be a popular view point but no one is perfect and if the man has turned over a new leaf it is you that needs to be admonished to stop. If he harming other at the current time and you have evidence then if is your job to report it. That is it! You have no more say in that. I got my lousy chaplain neighbor to take orders to another location and now have a good neighbor but it took about seven years of war to accomplish it. Good luck.

Nextdoor is not a free speech zone. The guidelines require a measure of civility and circumspection. Many of the negative reviews appear to come from people who have an extreme or nasty or wackadoodle agenda & who don't refrain from pushing it and abusing other users. Nextdoor is a better place without this type.

Also, it is true that the Leads who moderate are not trained. Many don't pay attention, and don't sanction the posts that are abusive, or kill all discussions that might be remotely political in nature and that might conceivably collect some abusive posts. It's the abusive posts that should be killed, not all discussion. I have no doubt that some of the Leads are nasty people who hate 'Liberals' (I know this first hand) or some other group and will kill all speech that doesn't agree with their biases. If you live in a neighborhood that has such leads, your experience will be sub-par.

I experienced log-in problems with my account. Nextdoor was unable or unwilling to solve. I'd done nothing wrong. What I had to do to solve was abandon my old account and make a new one. Use a different email address if necessary. Some people who say they were 'banned' may actually have suffered a login problem like I did.

If you're in a well-moderated neighborhood (apparently, not as frequent an occurrence as it should be, unfortunately), then, the Nextdoor experience can be very good, as some of the posts attest.

Obviously this is offering a misleading service the website fails to advise upfront about. Perhaps you should change the site's name to whine & cheese for passivr aggressives.

First of all thank you all for your post. Second what are and aren't things a lead should or shouldn't do or say on Nextdoor.com. How does or doesn't a lead help keep "the across the fence, inside the neighborhood" conversations civil? Third is there any help/training given to leads? Is there a resource for leads? Surely, not all leads become leads because they are bullies and seek out positions of power. Fourth what advice does anyone have on how to become a responsible lead and advocate for ones neighbors?

Next door is a giant data mining company who read your email, hijack your contacts, and this answer will probably never make it onto the site. There's a scintilla of realness to it, but if you've given them an entrance, my advice is to extricate yourself ASAP.

Nextdoor is extremely selective about who they allow and who they remove. The leads have no clue what is going on and I discovered the lead from our neighborhood was taking direction from someone running for a board position on the hoa that wanted certain posts deleted, like the ones posted about him attacking a student where he was teaching, getting arrested and losing his job! I also had a post removed and received a written lecture on how religious posts are controversial and offensive, but other posters have mile long threads in which people are ripping each other apart but somehow those posts are allowed.

Then I saw it, Nextdoor's address, San Francisco, CA, a state that's bankrupt and homeless. Go figure.

I have found the Lead for River Oaks Catherine Williams to violate community guidelines all the time. If you take the time to read some of her post she is rather rude condescending and judgmental. She has a habit of deleting your post and than post her comments about you. This is nothing but an adult behaving badly due to little power they are given. Leads need to go because they fuel bad reviews by their conduct. Nextdoor can be a great place but they give out too much information about those that are members not one person should be able to map exactly where you live especially if you have Leads that are threatening toward folks on Nextdoor. Lawsuit waiting to happen

I can only offer my experience from the neighborhood I live in and that Nextdoor app. It's safe to presume that some, maybe many people have good experiences in their neighborhoods with and/or without the app. And it's also safe to have the idea that not every neighborhood is good. Some may even thrive without the app.

That being typed, I got threatened to be banned on a first, albeit dumb offense of misusing the alert system. I also got backlash on it for a few days after my public apology and the rectification between me and the admin. For using the alert system to let whoever left their keys dangling out of their mailbox, where their keys were.

Was it a dumb way to use the alert system? In hindsight, probably. But I didn't know all of the rules. I expressed it. I thought I owned up to my mistake. Apparently it wasn't good enough. So I uninstalled it and I'm glad I don't know if I am being lambasted still for my actions.

If you have an established system of friends in your neighborhood, this is a decent app. But if you are new to the area, just be careful is all I can say in my opinion. Which at the end of the day, it's only opinion.

Nextdoor has become ground for bullying, personal vendetta, and be prepared to with your personal information potentially posted online without your knowledge. Nextdoor operates on the principle "the wheel makes the louder noise gets the grease". Hence, bullying prevails on Nextdoor.

I think that the quality of the Nextdoor experience depends greatly on the quality of the lead and the civility of the neighbors. A lead who is either too lenient or too heavy handed can adversely affect the Nextdoor experience. There are unfortunately a few in most neighborhoods who are inclined to use Nextdoor as a soapbox for inflicting their strongly held views on others. You soon get to know who those people are, and a solid lead person can diplomatically state what is and isn't appropriate for inclusion in the forum. Sometimes it's just a matter of choosing the correct heading (crime & safety, for sale items, services, etc.) Civility is the key to a positive Nextdoor neighborhood site. If someone is repeatedly uncivil, the lead should act to remove that person's access. I am fortunate to live in a neighborhood that has a positive Nextdoor membership and a good lead person. Nextdoor has been a valuable resource for me on several occasions, most recently when my regular cat sitter was unavailable. I received several good recommendations for alternate sitters from my neighbors via Nextdoor. And no, I don't work for Nextdoor or know anyone who does. I think the negative reviews are from people who have an axe to grind, or who aren't fortunate enough to have the kind of positive Nextdoor neighborhood group that we do.

I am not an Intern. Nextdoor has been helpful to my neighborhood, especially with Crime and Safety. It is not Facebook, where anything goes and you can say whatever vile bigoted thing you want to say. This site is not supposed to be used to shame neighbors. It's about building a positive community with useful and pertinent information. It is not about spamming your neighbors or Nearby Neighbors.