Next Door is like the Facebook of neighborhood networks for those who are not part of it or don't know of it. I am signed up and get their emails. On the one hand, I find it helpful to know about potentially dangerous stuff in my area, but I find that it possibly skews toward the negative more often than not. It can sort of be like the first 10-15 minutes of TV news everyday - it's all crime or horrible stuff happening in your city. You know what I mean!
There are positive posts every now and then. Behind crime and suspicious activity posts, I think the second most frequent posts are those of home service recommendations (e.g., pest control, roofing, plumbing, etc.) - both seeking and referring. That part is useful somewhat. Do you find these trustworthy?

I live in very safe neighborhood, so often the Next Door posts will be from the neighborhoods right "next" to ours when it comes to the bad stuff. But, even still, I do notice a lot of troubling posts even for my own neigborhood. Lots of posts of suspicious people or suspiciously parked cars. . . .Almost to the point of making me feel paranoid?

Is this normal? Are there really that many suspicious people lurking every single day in people's neighborhoods or surrounding neighborhoods? More of the poster's imagination or overly suspicious paranoia? Or, maybe this is normal and we just didn't know until companies like Next Door came around? How trustworthy do you feel the posts are?

I do not subscribe. I would not trust the posts. Lights, shadows, people newly home are unaware of what has been their neighborhood's normal until now... these are a few reasons people might not know what they are seeing or reporting.

It is on my 10 foot pole list.

I'm sorry to learn of such negative situations. I have been on Next Door for a couple years, and in my small community it has been quite helpful. Pets have been returned to their families, necessities have been provided to a farm hand's family when he was seriously injured in an accident, high school kids have gotten gigs when neighbors needed someone for a few tasks around the house, info has been passed around about a sketchy person who was parking on rural roads, etc.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2020 09:21PM by Sandy Shopper.

For the early job, we are 90% on rural roads. Undoubtedly, some people could say that we look "sketchy" (as do our colleagues. Our supplies can soil our clothes and hands. We dress like bums and wear something else later!). We could be targeted in the due course of performing the job that provides the major revenue stream for our little household.

No thank you!!!!!

I'm signed up but rarely use it.

I find it pretty useful. I found a seamstress who works out of her house a couple of blocks away to alter some dresses for my wife. There are a couple of real idiots in my area who post on there, although other people probably say the same thing about me.

It needs to be monitored. Too often someone will say something political and then the vitriol free for all begins. It basically hijacks and ruins the app. "Neighbors" name calling each other ad nauseam extends for days. The overwhelming sentiment from my perspective is that there is nothing neighborly about Nextdoor App. Also, I find that everyone in the world is a suspect on Nextdoor. Additionally, I get kind of tired of what I call "What Happened" stories. For example, someone might say, "I saw a car accident on the corner of 1st and Main. Anyone know what happened?" I think it is a silly question. You just said there was a car accident. Why are you asking? I do find some information useful, but that is a rare occurrence.

I just joined a couple of months ago. People are mostly nice there but I don't check it too often. Most of the posts are around lost pets, raccoons, pests and rodents. Some are bird watchers who would post a pic of some new rare bird they saw.

Shop-et-al, I'm laughing, but not AT you. I think most rural folks don't think twice about a person in well-worn clothes and grubby hands. It's the strangers who show up in unexpected places. The 'sketchy' people I was referring to are those who drive onto a very rural private road with a couple of dogs in the back of the car. When they drive out---voila!---no doggies. Sketchy. Or the four people in a flatbed truck who were where they didn't belong. Just coincidentally I'm sure, but they were parked right next to several large tractor attachments. Sketchy.

Not because of the gestapo app but because of proximity, we were stopped this morning and asked what we were doing because there was a nearby fire alarm. We did not hear an alarm or see any other "sketchy" types about the place.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

Not because of the gestapo app but because of proximity, we were stopped this morning and asked what we were doing because there was a nearby fire alarm. We did not hear an alarm or see any other "sketchy" types about the place.

I do not recall moving to Russia or China and it is none of your business.