Have any of you heard of a sited called Nextdoor. www.nextdoor.com.  Its suppose to be networking tool to help neighbors in a neighborhood know what is happening. eg: block parties, things for sale, service provided, crime and safety concerns. My parents just got one for a neighborhood in Homewood. Would any of you be interested in starting one for bluff park? My parents got a post card invitation in the mail. I don't think one has been started yet for bluff park when I put my friends address online, but I would feel more comfortable if one of the home owners that has a strong connection the community could start it.

Quote from pekaboo on 05/24/13 at 7:52am:

 
The premise of nextdoor.com is to focus on a smaller area than what BluffParkAL.org focuses on.  We cover all of the Bluff Park area of Hoover (our motto "For, About, and By Bluff Park, Alabama").  They cover specific and small areas.  Bluff Park is too large and spread out to be put into one of their "neighborhoods".  
 
Looking at it from their demo (and not having done any research on it), it would be great for a Neighborhood Watch block to use to supplement their current system, as it provides a pretty good way for just neighbors in a specific area to communicate, as it requires address verification.  
 
We wouldn't look at them as "competition" or "replacement" of our site, more of a supplement, just like al.com and the Hoover Sun are not competition.  Each one of us plays a specific role in getting information out.  Jon Anderson does a superb job of relaying the major news for all of Hoover. The Hoover Sun does a great job of relaying important stories for all of Hoover, as well as community events for the entire city, but not on a daily basis.  Our role is to provide information just for Bluff Park, but since we don't have a paid staff (and generate no revenue - everything you see on our site is paid for by a private company who gets no income from the site), we rely on our stories by Heather, our Forum and Facebook and Twitter sites that are authored by our residents.  Nextdoor.com would be something that would focus on a specific area of Bluff Park (for example, Summer Ridge - all of the Summer Ridge residents could form a nextdoor.com site).  
 
Obviously before jumping in and creating a nextdoor.com site for your neighborhood, we'd suggest doing a little more research on what nextdoor.com's intent is.  They offer a nice product that costs money to produce and maintain.  Why?  What's in it for them?  Advertising?  Collect data?  We do not advertise.  Our "sponsors" are local businesses (we don't allow businesses that are not based in Bluff Park) that get their information posted for free.  The only thing we ask in return is whenever we have a community event organized by BluffParkAL.org that they contribute in the form of helping pay for it, or provide door prizes, etc.  Otherwise the sponsors do not pay for having their information posted.  
 
Those of you who are members of the BluffParkAL.org Forum also don't have to worry about your information, like e-mail addresses, being given out.  We have never, nor will ever, give out or sell our member's information.  Will nextdoor.com?  Here's their Member Agreement:  https://nextdoor.com/member_agreement/  (according to their site, they will not sell your information, but do own any content published by you, including pictures).  
 
So that's our opinion of nextdoor.com.  Probably not a bad idea, but not a substiture for BluffParkAl.org "THE Neighborhood web site".  Since 2006.

I agree with everything the admin has said.
I would be skeptical of sites like this from a safety standpoint.
 
as the admin said:
 
"Those of you who are members of the BluffParkAL.org Forum also don't have to worry about your information, like e-mail addresses, being given out.  We have never, nor will ever, give out or sell our member's information.  Will nextdoor.com?  Here's their Member Agreement:  https://nextdoor.com/member_agreement/  (according to their site, they will not sell your information, but do own any content published by you, including pictures)."  
 
I can see where a site like nextdoor would be good in a small setting for neighborhood watch but I would talk to Officer Foreman first.    
 
"Looking at it from their demo (and not having done any research on it), it would be great for a Neighborhood Watch block to use to supplement their current system, as it provides a pretty good way for just neighbors in a specific area to communicate, as it requires address verification."  
 
I saw the demo as well and it really looks to be to be more of a "social network" and not a replacement for a site like ours and others in the area.