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Comment by legitster | Hacker News Reader

I know in practice, Nextdoor is kind of a hangout for the worst types of HOA/worry-wort/NIMBY type. But, I kinda get this. The whole point of Nextdoor is privacy. Like, there's a type of socialization that only works based on geography (i.e. - my neighbors get to know my address, my comings and goings, my possessions - stuff that should not be shared widely). If the privacy thing is blown up, then there goes the last actual "social" network.

Also, what kind of journalist is going through Nextdoor looking for stories? That's like the laziest, most pedantic muckraking possible. Can you find no one to get a quote from?

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I kinda get it too, but at the end of the day there's no way for Nextdoor to effectively enforce the rule, and there's no reason for a journalist (not party to any agreement) to ignore what is sent to them. The rule may as well not exist. And if the rule is absolutely necessary, then Nextdoor should not exist.

> Like, there's a type of socialization that only works based on geography

There are also local newspapers. I do understand Nextdoor's motivation here, but it does seem a little odd. Journalists typically get stories by talking to people, and local journalists by talking to local people. Nextdoor is a specific avenue to do exactly that. And half the complaints on Nextdoor are things the author would probably love to have featured in the news (though hopefully they won't be, no-one needs to encourage the NIMBYs), and might be ones that would benefit from a reporter investigating them.

Except the same people that fret about privacy post sensitive information about their neighbors at the drop of a hat. These people have no clue about the ramifications of their actions.

Or they don't care about anyone but themselves in this regard.

Private for them but everyone else can get rekt.

Yep, hypocrisy across the board in a policy like this.

Yeah, on the one hand anything you write, say, or do in public (or even a semi-public forum or a broad company mailing list) is subject to posting on news sites, YouTube, blogs, etc. No privacy. Get over it.

On the other hand, I'm not sure that it's actually a good thing to just throw up our hands and say that there's simply no such thing as expectation of privacy and, if it's that important to you, just keep your mouth shut.

If you want privacy, I guess you have to do it the old-fashioned personal meeting way. No recording devices. Deniability if that's necessary. Snapchat has the silly "this message will self-destruct", but someone can still point a camera at their phone to record it.

I don't see how doing it in person would change the logic. Aren't we saying that anything you do in public has no expectation of privacy? So some neighbor might be pointing a laser mic at your garden fence conversation from a window 80 meters away but hey, it's a public conversation!

That's how I feel when people say "oh there's no expectation of privacy cause you can just sign up with a fake name on a gift card."

That's even more insecure, as your neighbor might draw a gun then.

> Nextdoor is kind of a hangout for the worst types of HOA/worry-wort/NIMBY type

That might have something to do with where you live. In our neighborhood, it's more of a status report on various happenings like crime, city projects, etc. Here's an example from today: someone posted they were putting a 9' x 6' Persian Rug on the curb, free for the taking.

I've seen a few ND communities. They've been both what you're describing and also what GP described. They're not mutually exclusive.

>The whole point of Nextdoor is privacy. Like, there's a type of socialization that only works based on geography (i.e. - my neighbors get to know my address, my comings and goings, my possessions - stuff that should not be shared widely).

What makes Nextdoor special over something like Facebook? Especially when you consider the origins of Facebook (school networks, etc).

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