
Nextdoor’s ‘Karen Problem’ - deegles
https://www.theverge.com/21283993/nextdoor-app-racism-community-moderation-guidance-protests
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awillen
I just do not get the appeal of being on Nextdoor - I guess there's some value
in actual important announcements (I found a lost dog once and my roommate
who's on there found a post about it and got in touch with the owner, which
was cool), but from what I've seen on my very brief time on there, those are
drowned out by ridiculous nonsense. It seems like the people who are on there
self-select to the ones in a given neighborhood who are the least informed but
have the most time on their hands.

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hckr_news
Is it anonymous ? I really don’t see a point either. It’s a snitch app and
people of color are usually the ones facing the brunt of the abuse due to
profiling, or other hate.

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Tiktaalik
Yet another example of how companies that try to shy away from the
responsibility of providing any sort of moderation will ultimately create a
fertile ground for racists and worse.

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mindslight
In this case it's the moderation that's causing the problem. Get rid of the
moderators. Get rid of the "real name" policy. Then people will be free to
take the piss out of uptight idiots broadcasting nosiness/panic/hate. Having a
small power structure creates a low stakes political game which allows these
busybodies to dominate, similar to homeowners associations. Note how the
examples mostly threaten to call the police and similar impotent crabbing,
rather than actually doing anything themselves.

FWIW has anyone tried using NextDoor _before_ moving to an area, to gauge how
problematic the neighbors would be?

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ashtonkem
Making people anonymous will solve the problem is one of the most confusingly
backwards takes I’ve seen in a long, long time.

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treeman79
I’ve found the opposite is true. and yes this is a personal anecdote.

Protestors are using nextdoor to organize.

Concerns about safety are automatically being blocked.

Anyone worried that the looters and red necks are going to get into it is
attacked.

Police have had to shutdown the highway to our area several times due to many
threatening statements online.

Somehow it’s now not possible to be opposed to police brutality and looters.

Already had multiple buildings I used to work/eat/shop in burned.

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tanseydavid
Thank you for that.

I really appreciate the care you seem to have given to your choice-of-words
while trying to convey your own experience.

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JPKab
If you've ever spoken to a real estate agent or apartment manager, you realize
that people who often come across as educated and progressive have a strong
current of fear-based racism and bigotry. "Good schools" is usually, in my
opinion, coded racism. Inevitably, the "good schools" are just white and Asian
kids.

The classism component is pretty big too. My Nextdoor and Ring apps are filled
with (sorry about this, but it's true) white moms complaining about
"suspicious" men. Where I live these days, most of the working class and
working poor are white, but you know, the "wrong kind of white people" as the
joke goes. A lot of construction happens here, and usually it's just
contractors knocking on the wrong door or something like that. Complaints
about a neighbor down the street who has his rock climbing buddies show up and
sleep in their vans in front of his house are super common from these folks as
well. And man, if you commit the cardinal sin of having a work truck with
signage on the side, well, watch out. We wouldn't want people who work with
their hands living here, would we?

I'd really hate to see it where I used to live, which is in the South and is
dramatically more diverse. My brother's now ex-wife, who despite voting for
and advocating for left wing politicians CONSTANTLY, is deathly afraid of
black men. She wouldn't ride the bus in affluent neighborhoods in the DC area,
because they were "ghetto" (again a coded term for black people being
present). In fact, I always noticed that buses in DC were absent white women
in general.

If you are white and consider yourself progressive on racial issues, ask
yourself if you've ever lived in a neighborhood where you were a racial
minority. I'd strongly suggest trying it out if you are committed to becoming
a better person. I spent my childhood in predominantly black neighborhoods,
but I still benefited hugely as a human by living in a mostly Salvadoran
neighborhood when I first moved to the DC area. It was affordable, the
neighbors were wonderful to me and my kids, and I was constantly invited to
parties. I even met former MS13 gang members who were now reformed, model
citizens. That was an illuminating lesson on the human condition for me.

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ashtonkem
Is ghetto even coded language for black people anymore? I’ve always viewed
that as an explicit reference.

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newen
I kind of want to see the baby name stats for Karen in a few years lol.
Guessing it'll drop to almost nothing.

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bryanlarsen
Karen as a name dropped out of common use in the mid 70's. It's a boomer name
attached to a boomer stereotype.

[https://www.everything-birthday.com/name/f/karen](https://www.everything-
birthday.com/name/f/karen)

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ashtonkem
That’s not unique to the Boomers, lots of names spike in popularity for
relatively short periods of time.

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floatingatoll
Stereotypes are generally not responsive to logical arguments that they're
stereotyping. I dislike this particular stereotype as much as you seem to, but
it regardless appears to fit the circumstances and criteria necessary for
memetic propagation in US culture.

