nextdoor.co.uk

I received a letter addressed to my house number, supposedly from a "Lawrence Singha, Victoria Road" — no other details given. (Such a paucity of information makes me immediately suspicious!) I expect it's part of a neighbourhood-wide mailshot, so most of you have received a similar letter, or will do shortly. It's pushing a website and mobile app for which you have to register (the registration code in the letter matches your house/flat number, so they know where you live), acting as a community hub for local contacts and information, and of course, it's "free".

I'm writing just to say that, whether the site is good or bad, it's a great way for a company to find out a household's interests so it can sell you as a commodity to advertisers—perhaps rather than being "free", they should be paying people to subscribe.
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Comments

  • I got one from Lawrence from Victoria Road as well. It came in a stamped envelope. You think he would just wonder around the corner and hand deliver
  • When we have Stroudgreen,org, why bother?
  • edited March 2019
    @Ali , are you suggesting that "Lawrence Singha, Victoria Road" is a fiction engineered to have us believe that this nextdoor.co.uk has a genuine local representative???

    Trusting soul that I am, I can't believe that any reputable company would operate such a flimsy and despicable sham!

    I agree with @krappyrubsnif ; why bother with this suspicious Johnny-come-lately?
  • The "quotes" on the home page are truly laughable...

    "I’m really excited about Nextdoor coming to the UK. I know it will be a great tool for bringing our neighbourhood together, whether that's to find other people who want to put on a street party—or to fundraise and volunteer with local charities. The possibilities are endless!"
  • "Coming to the UK"? Not only is it not local, but it's foreign to boot! I'll bet it's one of those American psychopathic corporations, wanting us to eat their poulet au chlore, washed down with hormone-laced milk, medieval Christianity, semi-automatic weapons, and a touch of rebellion. And every third child will be forced to wear a brace.
  • Nextdoor has been around for years. There are a couple of threads on the forum if you search for them
    It's shit.
  • Thanks, @Arkady . I would have looked more into their site if it didn't require signing up with them, which alone is enough to put me right off. I see it had been discussed here a couple of years ago before I joined this site. Seems people were just as wary of it then as I am now.
  • edited March 2019
    Hello,

    I am Lawrence Singha and i am real as you guys, and not only that i also one running Neighborhood Watch on Victoria Road and connecting road. Also running Street Watch since Jan 2019.

    If you didn't know too i also got pavement renewal program working on our road also report from Street lights, Gas/Water leaks to potholes, cable boxes (cabinet). I have number of contacts from SNT, Police and Haringey.

    Forgot i was a member here (been member since 2007)... when there wasn't much people online and load has change on the site...

    believe me there is no like me who look after roads and filed reported over 300+ (since 2012)

    even EV points are coming too in phase 2 rollout.
  • Well, @lawrence singha , when you send a letter in your own name it’s customary to include your full address. Helps establish credibility, you know?
  • Strangely the letter I received had the stamp printed onto the envelop ie not a stamp. Thought that was strange it looked like a mailshot company sent it. Is there some cash involved in signing folks up ?
  • (I still think there’s something fake or fishy about him. I’ve been back in Victoria Rd for nearly four years now, and I’ve never heard of a neighbourhood watch around here.)
  • always be suspicious of someone who's opening line is - "i'm definitely real"
  • This thread made me laugh:

    I'm imagining how much grief someone would get if they asked for that here.
  • Ha. That's hilarious.

    Although I think I'll be pretty hungover tomorrow, and I do have a 7 month old baby...

    And I do like a good lasagna...

    Anyone want to help?

  • Have a look at @bestofnextdoor on Twitter. People are ridiculous.
  • edited April 2019
    you can come meet me in person in front of Hutton Court, Victoria Road on Wednesday between 4-5pm, if you have any questions and to see that i am a real person... you can find me ....

    https://www.instagram.com/_l.a.w_/
    https://twitter.com/lawathome
    https://www.facebook.com/lawrence.singha.26
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrencesingha/

    i am part of Finsbury Park and Stroud Green Neighbourhood Plan http://finsburyparkstroudgreen.com/ (welcome to join)

    also known by Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT Stroud Green) Street Watch and NW (most to join NW part of Victoria Road NW)
  • Lawrence, Can I ask why you think NextDoor is so necessary? Stroudgreen.org has been doing a great job for, what, 10/15 years. It's pretty much always been busy, as far as I can remember.

    I think the answer is pretty obvious: it's not necessary in Stroud Green. The company has only one motive and that's profit. I'm amazed that the likes of the neighbourhood forum and the police are willing to back an organisation that is clearly out for profit over a local one run by people who clearly care about the neighbourhood.

    I'm genuinely interested to understand why, for example, you are choosing NextDoor over stroudgreen.org?
  • edited April 2019
    @AWealWongun , you might be too polite to suggest it, but the most obvious answer seems to me to be commission. Of course I'm happy to be corrected if commission isn't the motive…

    More to your point, accepting that this "Lawrence Singha, Victoria Road" is real (a lamentable lapse of scepticism on my part), his posts here have been only in support of his existence; they don't say anything to promote or defend nextdoor, despite some contributors' criticisms.
  • I can confirm that Lawrence is a real person.

    I do think that promoting an overseas-owned commercial platform over a long-established local one isn't very community-spirited.
  • Stroudgreen.org is on the whole exactly what a local forum should be - interesting people, good conversation, top quality debates, bit of local celeb gossip, excellent restaurant recommendations, a few boring but necessary cleaner/nanny/plumber requests. With one exception (never naming names, don't ask), every member of this forum that I have met in real life has been splendid.

    Stroudgreen.org has helped me make new local friends, supported my little market ventures, find fellow birdwatchers and enabled me to start up the local W.I.

    I would not be without it and am mystified why someone would be so rude as to try to foist an alternative on us.
  • I agree. Next door may not be a tech giant but it is clearly simply a commercial social media platform seeking to target advertising or otherwise monetise whatever information participants provide. I can't remember which commentator said 'if something is free, then you are the product'.
  • They are not short of cash if they can be delivering leaflets via second-class post; how my bit of ‘nextdoor’ blurb-ery arrived!
  • Nextdoor operates in my area and gets a fair amount of posts from lost cats to items for sale. I prefer this site myself but it does have a following
  • edited September 2019
    Just had another letter from that nice "Lawrence Singha" (again, he didn't have the balls to include a return address) inviting me to join "Next Door Stroud Green Road" (Obviously a unique site where no-one would dream of using you as a commodity for marketing purposes, because that's not its primary aim, right? I mean surely they wouldn't be intending to mine any discussions to find out what people might be buying, what their household demographic is, their interests, etc., so they could be marketed to or sold as data to other interested companies?)

    Just be aware that if you sign up with the code from the letter you receive, that they'll have your real address whether you want them to have it or not, as your code is unique to the address on your envelope. A bit of a scam, them not stating that.

    Ironically, the letter claims that the site is "100% free and private"—of course it is neither; it will cost you your privacy! There is the cod-reassurance printed on the back of the envelope that "No personal data about recipients has been used in the creation of this mailing."—That's just because they haven't collected any data on you yet, and that's why they want you to join!

    "P.S. There are already over 800 posts on Next-door Stroud Green Road..." —utterly pathetic compared to the over 7,000 on StroudGreen.org, where members are neither duped nor tracked.
  • He's a real person. I have his email address. Dealing with a family bereavement at the moment, but after that I intend to have a word.
  • Sorry to read of your bereavement, @Arkady

    I know he's real, I've seen him in my road. The inverted commas are just a tease as he likes to imply he has such a high profile locally and that he's such a pillar of the community (see previous postings). Still no full address, though.
  • How has Lawrence got everyone's names and addresses?

    I did sign up to nextdoor a couple of years ago.
    You have to receive a postcard to prove you live in the house you register. It's like a dull Mumsnet version of here, with adverts and tat for sale.
  • edited September 2019
    They send out invitations to each address without knowing the names (i.e., addressed to "Stroud Green Road Neighbour, 10 Blah Road"), but each invitation has a unique code that is associated with that address, so as soon as you sign up with that code they know where you live.
  • I like it that nobody here knows who I am, and equally that I don't know who they are either. No intrusive nextdoor nonsense for me!
  • Just received another letter in the post from Lawrence. Straight into the bin
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