While it might be useful for parting with the occasional used appliance, getting a recommendation for a local tree removal service, or posting lost dog notices, the vast majority of the content on the site is an annoying morass of Gladys Kravitzes with too much time on their hands airing their beefs and paranoid fantasies.
"Just a heads up. There was a group of Black youths with backpacks walking down Elm Street at 8AM this morning and they were looking around at the houses.""Lady, you're a block away from Elm Street Elementary. I think I can crack this case."
As an example of how useless the site is as a neighborhood news service, witness the following.
My out-of-town friends and I were having lunch at the new location of The Gallery Pastry Shop, down at 46th & College Avenue a couple Thursdays ago, when we noticed that the air outside was thick with smoke. So thick, as a matter of fact, that the air inside the restaurant was pungent with the smell of it in short order.
Pretty soon various IFD vehicles came streaming by. Obviously there was a pretty good size fire a block or two to our west.
When we left the restaurant, we went to go see if we could do some rubbernecking, and boy howdy...
Yup, that's a bleepin' fire alright. A big one, tying up a good percentage of the IFD's gear on the near north side. We counted at least six big-ass fire engines, to say nothing of all the smaller vehicles.
Searching NextDoor over the next several days? Crickets.
Well, not crickets, exactly, just the usual chatter about missing pets and suspiciously parked cars. Not bupkis on the ginormous house fire, though.
Thanks, Karens.
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