Nextdoor?

[redbird]

I just got a couple of invitations to something that claims to be a private social network "for your neighborhood," but without actually identifying the neighborhood. They are attributed to someone I never heard of.

Does anyone here know if this is active/relevant here in Somerville? Or do any of you know who Oleg Kobzar is?

Comments

[lauradi7dw]

I don't know about Somerville, but this is a nationwide company. In Lexington, it seems mostly stuff for sale and queries about handy people. I know the person who invited me. When my daughter was in California, the local one to her had the reputation of being more like a neighborhood watch.

[secretlyironic]

I haven't gotten the "referral" thing but it's as legit as anything else. Like a listserv but... you know, monetized.

[jadelennox]

Apparently in many places it ends up being racist as hell but I haven't noticed it being so around here. To be fair I signed up and have only checked it 2 or 3 times.

[secretlyironic]

My experience has largely been "hey, does anyone want free hostas" and "I put a table out on the curb" and "Anyone know a good plumber?"

Although there was an out-of-control thread about how bike lanes are taking all the parking spaces etc etc etc that went on waaaaay too long.

[pklemica]

When I still lived in Somerville I found the Nextdoor community lovely. I signed up for my new neighborhood when I moved to Dorchester, and oh man do these white gentrifiers not appreciate the black folk they are displacing, nor the local homeless. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the group has not managed to keep people of color as active participants for very long. Perhaps surprisingly, I still keep telling people to cut this crap out as if it's actually going to do a damned thing.

... also there was a ginormous rant the other day about: these people who keep releasing these stray cats back into the same place they were found after fixing them, why don't they put out liter boxes I am so sick of all this cat poop in my garden if they really cared about animals they'd be tending to all their needs. That was a real gem.

[rmd]

I get nextdoor posts for things around Gilman Square (I believe "Leathers Park" is their name for the area and I get those updates as well as Spring Hill and Winter Hill)

Lots of "missing pets", "found pets", "do you know a plumber" kinds of stuff. Occasional attempts at advertising and otherwise drumming up business for people's businesses. After hearing other people's experiences with NextDoor groups in other cities, I'm kind of shocked at the delightful lack of "oh god I saw a brown person oh noez" posts.

I haven't found it particularly useful, but I could totally see finding it useful if I wasn't on DSLJ DSDW and/or didn't know a bunch of people in the area including other long-term residents.

I don't know Oleg.

[ceelove]

Similar experience in the Winter Hill neighborhood.

[mem_winterhill]

Oh, thanks for letting me know there is a Winter Hill one. Every time I've tried to sign up it puts me in South Medford. I do not live in Medford. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just don't share schools, parking regulations, city events, or any of that with Medford.

I've asked again now to be put into Winter Hill.

[ron_newman]

NextDoor.com is useful. I'd accept the invitation.

[fefie]

My experience has been like others posted here; it has been useful a couple of times for recommendations.

But, similar to Mem_Winterhill's experience, NextDoor slotted me in another neighborhood. (I'm in Spring Hill, nowhere near PowderHouse it insisted on grouping me with.) In the end it didn't matter, as you get to see postings from all Somerville neighborhoods (or at least I do; maybe you can narrow what you see.) I look at it once a week or less.