Nextdoor makes me tired

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
101

One thing that’s clear is that many, MANY of the ND posters are not experienced users. The number of posts with titles like “I was wondering” or “Does anybody know” or just “Hi” (when it’s not even an introduction post!) is amazing.

From talking to friends in other places, I’ve concluded that the quality of your ND varies wildly, depending on both the posters and the local mods. And yes, there are local mods–I know one. So some NDs are cesspools because the mods let them, and others are pretty clean, if low S:N.

A friend and I trade ND posts as a source of humor; yesterday’s was someone ranting about how some woman is constantly stealing packages from in front of their front door, and included a video. Poster complained that “the leasing company won’t do anything” and then wondered “Should I call the police?”

I consider it education/reminder of how poorly most people understand the basics of how the world works. Yes, I can get that from the news, but this is a less stressful and more often humorous version.

I’d say 99%++ of the value I get from ND (besides the humor) is about stores/restaurants opening/closing.

102

The catch is that when someone asks something like “What’s a good Chinese restaurant in the area?” the signal to noise ratio is often very low.

Someone asked that very question the other day- I posted the name of a local Taiwanese dumpling place that is very good and pretty authentic according to a Taiwanese former co-worker of my wife. I was drowned out by probably 3:1 with generic takeout places that are the Chinese equivalent of generic Italian red sauce places. And some jackass “fertilizing” the thread by nitpicking individual restaurants via poor grammar.

103

My electric bill was at least $10 higher than usual last month.

Because I have a weather strip along the basement door and couldn’t see that I had accidentally left the last incandescent light in this house in the basement stairwell on for about a week. Sigh

They should think back over the previous month and consider if they did anything dumb too.

104

I’ve also noticed that people don’t understand that the utility’s billing periods don’t align with the actual calendar month. “My December gas bill was way higher than my November bill. It wasn’t that much colder in December than it was in November! Something seems fishy!” Except the bill we received in November was for mid-October to mid-November, when the temperature was still relatively mild. Then the weather turned cold around mid-November, so the next billing period was indeed significantly colder than the previous one. But they just compare the weather at the end of November to the weather at the beginning of December, and think their bill this month should be about the same as last month.

On a different note, recently someone posted to complain that the “recycle police” had left flyer for them listing what items can and cannot go in the recycling. Apparently this person believed they had been singled out for not recycling correctly, and the flyer was targeted at them specifically. Everybody else: “Everyone got that flyer. It has nothing to do with you.”

Around here we get a lot transplants from the Bay Area since real estate is relatively cheaper in this area (albeit still expensive compared to the rest of the country). So some new transplant posts looking for a good Chinese / Vietnamese / Mexican / or other ethnic restaurant. People post recommendations. Some time later the person reports back. “All those places suck compared to what we had in San Francisco.” Then other transplants chime in. “Yeah, the food scene here is terrible compared to the Bay Area.”

105

I’m not even talking about comparing regional foods, I’m talking about someone comparing real sit-down Chinese/Taiwanese places with cheap takeout joints. Nothing against cheap takeout places- I’ve eaten more than my share of their food and enjoyed it all.

But I don’t know that I’d call them good enough to recommend in a “What’s a good Chinese place?” thread. It’s like recommending McDonald’s or Whataburger in a “Where can I find a good burger?” thread. They’re more than likely not looking for Five Guys either- they’re looking for local places, not interstate/international chains. So why recommend them? Either you have cruddy taste, or you’re kind of ignorant of the food scene.

106

In my area it’s

  • Suspicious person in the neighborhood!
  • Lost dog!
  • Why all the police sirens?
  • Anyone hear gunshots?

It seems as if once a week someone is casing the neighborhood, stealing a dog, and then being cornered by the police and engaging in a shoot-out.

mmm

107

I saw a ND post from a neighbor complaining about an awful smell that is only noticeable at night. They got several posts opining about sewage treatment in the town next door 6 miles away.

I knew the source of the smell. It’s your ND neighbor burning his trash! I am upwind so I’m not complaining.

I see the usual posts about escaped or unsupervised pets getting loose and lots of notifications about yard cleanup with supporting recommendations. I called a few of these folks who are looking for work but no one ever calls back.

Lots of posts about township meetings we should be attending.

Lots of posts wondering about what’s happening on that corner where they bulldozed all the trees. Many think they know it’s going be self storage, a dispensary or a dollar general. In reality no one knows.

108

The last three empty lots I’ve seen I’ve predicted were going to be Dollar Generals and I’m 3 for 3.

109

We aren’t members of Next Door, but we do have a Facebook page dedicated to our neighbourhood, with good, sensible moderation. One thing that the mod does is shoo people who want to talk politics or about how terrible things are/crime/scary people in the neighbourhood over to NextDoor (yer welcome, NextDoorians!). Keeps the Facebook page reasonably friendly and helpful, talking about gardening, home repairs, recommendations for good handymen, etc.

Except on Christmas Day, when there was a stream of posts by one couple. They live in a big house on a big corner lot, with a mini-moat and a gazebo, and lots of elm trees, along the public sidewalk on two sides of their lot, and also more trees in their yard; probably a dozen in all, full-growth. A show home that stands out.

Every year he gets really enthusiastic about Christmas decorations and wraps multiple strands of lights on the trunk of each tree, on their fence, on their eavestroughs, on the gazebo. I like it, really brightens the neighbourhood in the dark days of December (dark going to work, dark coming home from work…) But it does stand out; bit of cheer for the neighbourhood.

Except they came home on Christmas Eve and discovered one of their trees had been denuded! The three strands of lights wrapped around its mighty trunk were gone!

Snarky post from the lady of the house, “Merry Fn Christmas!” Outraged posts from the guy, explaining that he carefully wraps the strands together and doubles them back on hooks, so it’s not easy to remove them. It must have taken at least 10 minutes for the @#*! thief to plunder his lights. Why didn’t anyone in the neighbourhood notice this outrage and call the cops?!? (Narrator: because they were doing Christmas Eve stuff in their own homes, maybe listening to carols about shepherds keeping watch over their flocks, not staring out the windows keeping watch over your house.)

Then he started going on about his tax dollars and the lack of police protection, and how he was going to call the cops to complain, and his city councillor, and the mayor’s office. He pays his taxes to ensure no-one will steal 3 strands of christmas lights! (Narrator: And will probably be told, in more or less direct tones, that the theft of 3 strands of Christmas lights, while yes, a crime, is pretty low on the priorities of the police, who have to deal with murders, assaults, major crimes…)

And then he started posting about police cars in the neighbourhood, i.e. the lack of them. Asking people how often they see the police patrolling through the neighbourhood, to serve and protect Christmas lights. Didn’t get much take-up (Narrator: because if you don’t have many police cars driving in your neighbourhood, it’s an indication that you live in a generally low-crime neighbourhood.)

My immediate reaction was that these people had not appreciated the moral of the Grinch:

110

I check the local one from time to time. It consists of posts about lost animals, and recommendations for businesses, repair people, and restaurants. Also some ads for services. Pretty routine stuff.

111

Yep, same here.

112

Friend just pretty well nailed it, after I shared one of the loonier posts, which started with “Neighbors! GOD knows I need your advice !”:

I sure don’t understand people thinking ND is combination group therapy and Judge Judy, plus universal complaint/suggestion box.

113

Best one I’ve seen in a while: a guy posted to complain about a disrespectful neighbor who did not comply with his request to stop walking their dog near his house, and turn around because his own dog was outside, and was barking.

I don’t think he got the response he was hoping for in the comments.

114

I note that there’s a sizeable number of posters whereby they can type nary a sentence without using the word/term “SMH”, God/Jesus/religion in general, and of course “fur baby”.

115

Honestly, every time I see that SMH acronym used, I think “Sydney Morning Herald.” And I’ve never been to Australia.

116

I never understood what it meant and became more and more annoyed at its constant use, and so endured the mild indignity of having to research a common slang term online.

117

Save me from the indignity, please! What does it mean?

118

Shaking My Head

119

I always assumed that was by design. A way to get more eyes to their website.

120

I did a double take reading this. You have to pay for storm water? Like, a rain tax?

Where in the country do they do this? How do they measure it?