Nextdoor
Questions & Answers

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.