Why Nextdoor is a NIMBY Hellscape

In the past few years I’ve become increasingly thrifty, not just for financial purposes, but environmental ones as well. In order to find the things I needed, I’d utilize craigslist and Facebook marketplace, but every now and then I’d open NextDoor.  I listed my parents’ address on Nextdoor since they live in well-to-do Lamorinda to find better loot. However, every time I open the NextDoor app, I’m reminded that NIMBYs have made it a digital hellscape.

However, every time I open the NextDoor app, I’m reminded that NIMBYs have made it a digital hellscape.

NextDoor operates as your modern day classifieds– similar to craigslist, but it differs by listing every user’s name and neighborhood and limits findings to a certain radius from where you live. Think of craigslist meets Facebook. It also provides added security, as you must verify your address by entering a code they send to your home address. This way, you know who’s who by where they are located so it becomes less intimidating for a terribly uncoordinated 5’3” girl such as myself to drive to some Joe Schmoe’s house to pick up a lightly used aquarium from a neighborhood 15 minutes away from the nearest freeway entrance.

Even though I think their time would be better spent doing pool aerobics and trying out new low-sodium recipes to maintain their blood pressure; their opinions about everything, and their complaints about how a Safeway cashier accidentally overcharged them for cranberry juice pollute the NextDoor feed.

My biggest issue with ND, however, is that the site is overrun with disconnected boomers who share their concerns about how the times are a-changin’ and how uncomfortable they are with those changes. Even though I think their time would be better spent doing pool aerobics and trying out new low-sodium recipes to maintain their blood pressure; their opinions about everything, and their complaints about how a Safeway cashier accidentally overcharged them for cranberry juice pollute the NextDoor feed.

The shittiest thing about being a millennial (especially coming from successful parents) is the fact that you’re surrounded by these rich geriatric fucks who are far less educated than they pretend to be and absolutely clueless about the crumbling world around them, yet have the most resources to make the necessary changes. These boomers were brought up during a surging economy, voted in Satan (Reagan), and internalized archaic Judeo-Christian ideals that lead them to believe that God made earth just for them to exasperate all its resources and leave the deteriorating, overheating mess of a floating space ball for future generations to deal with. It sucks. If you want to know why the world is on fire, log into Nextdoor.

Here are some examples of the incredibly hot takes you’ll find on NextDoor, rated by how annoying I find them:

Refreshing but Angering: Lady just wrote about her educational post being removed a THIRD TIME about on which indigenous lands we live. This time she included a time stamp and a video of her now censored post which she tagged #IndigineousCensorship. I bet you my firstborn child that you have the cause of censorship in following posts.

Exactly What I Thought I’d See On Here: Man complaining about an organized shoplifting heist of a large retailer in a nearby city, advocating for “law and order” 

Exactly What I Thought I’d See On Here: Another man posting about the mass looting in the area, mentioned George Floyd protests causing this phenomenon. Fear Mongering boomers noted in the comment section.

WTF: Woman finds a second noose tied up in a public park in the East Berkeley Hills and pleads for the perpetrators to stop, telling them it isn’t funny and that she may ask police to patrol the area.

Average Post: Lady complaining about her water bill being too damn high. (To be fair, she right. All the bills are too damn high)

Average Post: Man complaining about rising gas prices being too damn high, insinuates Biden is to blame.

Average Post: Lady asking why the air quality has too damn shitty lately, wonders why

Average Post: NIMBY opposing Berkeley having a Ferry at the Marina, urging all Berkeley residents to attend a town hall meeting to oppose 

Average Post: Some guy suspects UPS driver possibly stealing (UPS employees are union workers, so that’s doubtful)

Ok, this one’s lit: Some guy asking why sideshows aren’t legal, and if they could be organized in unoccupied shipyards in Oakland. Would probably make them safer too, I’d assume?

Average post: Ring video of a mountain lion walking through someone’s yard at night in Fairview next to a CANYON, as if regional mountain lion habitats didn’t precede human development. Do these people know where they live? 

I’m with OP: Took a picture of some asshole who parked halfway in between a normal parking space and a handicap spot (they do not have a placard), didn’t even blur the license plate. Good for you for shaming them, OP. Good for you.

I don’t think I have to share more examples to get my point across. I’m not really picking and choosing either, I just scroll down and shared the often fear mongering boomers posting about how people ‘from the wrong side of town’ (or in this case, the Caldecott Tunnel) are causing mayhem and dragging their property values down, telling each other to “be careful” because things don’t feel as safe as they used to. These people need to get out more and spend more time in the surrounding areas to become conscious of the income inequality that is synonymous with the Bay Area. Hopefully they can get a view of the big picture instead of bitching to their neighbors on Nextdoor that people from “other cities” are scary. Maybe then they would see that they have to become more proactive about solving these issues in the long term instead of advocating for further segregation.