NextDoor

Do you know about this?  nextdoor.com?  It's an invitation-only (they send invitations through the snailmails with activation codes on them) website for neighborhoods.  I have friends who are very skeptical of it - thinking it's another way for criminals to break into their homes! - but the wife & I signed up mostly out of curiosity.  Since we've only been in our new home for a little over a week, we don't have much to contribute.  But both of us have been pretty voyeuristic with its contents.

One thing that's handy: people talk about stray dogs & cats in the neighborhood, & so far two dogs & one cat who've gone missing have been found, possibly thanks to the service.  (It must work better than flyers posted on telephone poles in places where no one walks!)  That's very good for me - & when it got cold here - below zero cold - people were shaming folks who leave their animals outside all the time.

Another handy thing seems to be recommendations for services.  People are asking their neighbors - albeit online - if there's a good plumber or dentist or whatever.  That feels sort of old-fashioned, even (again) if it's through some website.

But.  The wife & I were chuckling about this today.  When it comes to interacting with strangers, there are definitely two distinct camps.  For example:

There's an environmental group that comes through, asks folks to sign a petition & accepts donations.  One person wrote on nextdoor that the person who came to their house seemed suspicious.  There were two swift, completely opposite, reactions: one, people defending the group, supporting them, & explaining their purpose; & another, saying, basically, call the police!  "Code blue," one of the neighbors succinctly put it.

During the Christmas season, one neighbor's child apparently has the lovely idea to put candles on porches around their neighborhood.  The child nor his parents didn't quite explain what they were doing, & folklore immediately arose: one nextdoor neighbor said something like, I have heard that criminals are putting candles on your porches & if you don't remove them, they'll know you're not home & rob your house!  The other reaction was, naturally, How nice! How thoughtful! A candle for the season!

Amazing that this was as far from the truth as possible - & yet to a certain fraction of folks who live in this neighborhood, it wasn't far-fetched but probable.  Granted, most people, once it was explained, thought it was sweet & in the holiday spirit, but others grumbled - even with its innocent motives laid out, they couldn't help but see bad everywhere.

& there is bad, of course.  There was, according to a headline on the site, a "gun battle" (!) just a few blocks west of us the other night.  That shouldn't be as thrilling to me as it is - I'm sure if it were down the street, I'd be thinking of purchasing a gun to do battle myself.  But the thread was so much fun to read!

Have you used this website?  Is it available where you are?  If I end up posting stuff, I'll let you know how it's received.  We've already starting walking the dogs in the neighborhood, so I'm sure people are already talking about "the beagle family."  I hope the people who noticed our comings & goings in Lexington don't think we've died.