First, let me say that we love where we live. Most of the people we've met have been wonderful. (Actually, I can't think of any that aren't, just assuming that in four years, there must have been one or two that weren't.) So I was initially surprised by all the negativity on Next Door, which I'll discuss momentarily.
For those who may not know, Next Door is a social media platform that is designed to be used by people in a designated neighborhood. You can't join a neighborhood that you don't live in. On the surface it seemed a great way to learn about what was going on in our neighborhood. I'd actually tried to join in our old town in Texas, but the way that was structured our neighborhood only consisted of a few streets. And the whole town there was only a few thousand people more than where we live now, except that now our neighborhood consists of not only our immediate neighborhood, but the entire subdivision and apparently every subdivision in the county - many of which I've never heard of. Consequently, much of what is posted there isn't even relevant to me, but I don't know that until I actually go to the post and look. So I was getting email notifications about things going on in places I never heard of and don't care about.
The other problem with the email notifications on Next Door is that frequently the discussion was closed several hours or days before I got the notification. Not only is it closed to new comments, you cannot read the existing comments. I understand closing it to new comments, but not letting people see what the comments were is annoying.
And of course there is the issue of the post being removed by the administrator. I think some of this is because the original post may have violated a community standard and contained racist or other unacceptable remarks. But sometimes the reason the post is removed is not clear. In fact, there is considerable complaining about this on the platform.
But the negativity. Oh my! When we first moved here, I had a question about noise levels. When we were in Texas, we were out in a small town with lots of space around us and no HOA rules. I wondered if the HOA had a rule about decibel levels? Thinking this was the type of question my neighbors might have answers to, I posed the question to Next Door. Not only did I not get a definitive answer, I was told that if I expected "peace and quiet" I had come to the wrong place. I was told to move out. I was told to stop being a grumpy old woman. I was told to stop complaining. It's important to understand that I did not complain about my neighbors being too loud. I only asked about limits on decibel levels. For all any of those people encouraging me to "get out of town" knew, I might be the one making noise. And for the record, I rarely hear my neighbors on either side and if they hear us when we have parties, they've never complained.
The next time I was brave enough to make a post was when a car zoomed past us going so fast that we couldn't identify what kind of car it was - only that it was red. The speed limit is 25 mph on the main streets and only 20 mph on the side streets. In addition to the car going too fast, it passed us (we were in a golf cart) with another vehicle coming in the opposite direction. Again, it was suggested that I find another place to live - a place that was slower and quieter. I was admonished to stop complaining. I have to assume that the person with multiple posts on this one was probably the driver of the red car.
Many people complain about the service or the food in the restaurants here. I often agree with much of what they say. However, airing it on Next Door doesn't accomplish anything. The restaurant management does not see Next Door. Every now and again, someone will advise the poster to talk to management, but they're rarely told to move.
And then you have people who just grab hold of an issue - for instance replacing our cable service provider (paid by the HOA) with fiber optic service. Why didn't everyone get to vote on this? Can I keep the cable service? We should recall the HOA board. The fiber optic company will destroy my landscaping. The fiber optic company is not reliable. The fiber optic company has poor customer service ratings. The board should not make any decisions without getting the approval of every homeowner. Why didn't everyone get to vote on this? Who will pay for the replacement of my landscaping when they destroy it? I like the cable company. How will I get channel 84? We should sue the HOA board of directors. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. You know, there were a couple of people I just had to block because I only have so much tolerance for beating dead horses. The questions were all asked and answered MULTIPLE times, yet one individual persisted. She may still be going on about it, but since I blocked her, I'll never know. Thankfully.
And now the straw that broke this camel's back. We changed management companies this month. This was a developer decision, nothing to do with the HOA board. We were notified about two weeks before the change and told that our automated payments (if we had them) would need to be changed. Okay, they're waiving any late fees for August until they get it sorted out. But we have optional activities that require tickets. Right now, you can't use a credit card to buy tickets or print them off at home the way you could in the past. You can only reserve them until you can take a check to the office where they print them for you. Not convenient at all. I commented that I didn't think the transition was smooth and that they should have been better prepared. Comments from my neighbors? I was just looking for something to complain about. The transition hasn't inconvenienced anyone (posted by someone who has probably never purchased a ticket to anything - on the other hand, I purchased $280 worth of tickets and had to take a check to the office so they could print my tickets. It was inconvenient.) There is just too much negativity! Well, they got that part right.
As a post script - I have turned off all notifications from Next Door so even if someone sends me a private message, I won't know about it.
If you're on Next Door for my neighborhood, please let me know if there's something important. The only thing I'll miss is the occasional wildlife pictures.
