My friend Reid Serozi wrote a blog post in support of Nextdoor.
Almost one year ago, I started questioning the value of using Google Groups and started to wonder if there was a better way to communicate with my neighbors. I discovered Nextdoor in early 2012 and immediately recognized the value and how it could address the pains I found with using Google Group for a neighborhood/community communication tool.
He makes some good points, but doesn’t address the issue of how poorly Nextdoor deals with neighborhood boundaries. Reid ran into this issue himself this week, as this post to the Oakwood mailing list shows:
I am trying to reach the Historic Oakwood Nextdoor lead.
It appears we have a boundary issue, since the Mordecai CAC overlaps your neighborhood boundary near East Franklin.
Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. All these boundaries. Virtual gated communities is what it is. Even with Nextdoor’s announcement that they’re reenabling their Nearby Neighborhoods feature doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling.
Maybe I’m a geezer (okay, maybe the question should be how much of a geezer I am), but I’m all about open, open, open. Let everyone participate, don’t put up barriers (i.e., membership). Let people own their own data.
Then again, I didn’t see the value of Facebook but now I visit it constantly. You kids get off my lawn!