Tuesday, November 7, 2017

neighborly behavior, NextDoor

NextDoor, a private social network for neighborhoods, is a popular means of letting neighbors know if you have a washer and dryer to sell or if you want to buy a camper. NextDoor lets people ask for plumber recommendations and post information about crime in the area.

A handy app for the neighborly...unless your address is on the sex offender registry.

No one who lives at a registered address is allowed to join NextDoor. Not the registrant, not the spouse. No one at that address.

The NextDoor member agreement says,
Nextdoor is the private social network for neighborhoods; we hope that neighbors everywhere will use the Nextdoor platform to build stronger and safer neighborhoods around the world....
Stronger, safer neighborhoods are especially important to those whose address is on the registry. After all, registrants and their families are the ones at risk for vandalism (1, 2, 3) attacks (1, 2), and even murder (1, 23).
Convicted sex offenders, including registered sex offenders, and their households are not eligible for Nextdoor accounts; and we may also deny other account registrations we think would harm a Nextdoor neighborhood. [My emphasis.]
Others that would harm a neighborhood? As if the mere presence of people on the registry harm the neighborhood! Law abiding citizens do not harm the neighborhood.
 At Nextdoor, we believe that neighborly behavior is the foundation of healthy communities.
Neighborly behavior would mean recognizing the danger the registry presents to those whose address is on the registry and protecting the neighborhood from vandalism, from physical attacks, and from murder. 

The registry protects no one and it puts registrants and their families at risk. It is hypcritical--and downright unneighborly--for NextDoor to pretend that it is building healthy communities while setting the example of shunning some people in the neighborhood.

It isn't difficult to find the studies that show how little danger registrants pose. Almost as easy as finding names on the registry.

It also is not difficult to understand how wrong it is to exclude neighbors from your efforts to build stronger and safer neighborhoods, how cruel it is to label a home in a way that encourages neighbors to avoid the family in that home.

While NextDoor worries about people who live at a registered address, the next arrest in the community for a sex offense will most likely be of someone not on the registry.

2 comments:

Nicholas said...

I was living in the Santa Cruz moutains recently and a month or so into living there, my roommate was removed from NextDoor without warning. I asked her to contact tech and get in writing their response:

JUN 16, 2017 | 11:16AM PDT
David W. replied:

Hi ****,

I'm sorry to hear that you’re not receiving our responses.

Unfortunately, public records indicate that you share a home with a registered sex offender (offender profile attached) on the California Offender Registry and our policy, therefore, blocks everyone in your household from using Nextdoor:
https://nextdoor.com/member_agreement/

We understand there are many people on the sex offender registries who do not pose a threat to their neighbors. Unfortunately, we have no way to reliably distinguish between those who do and those who do not. In addition, Nextdoor has partnerships with more than 500 police departments, city governments, and other public agencies, and they have made clear to us that a no exceptions policy with regard to the households of registered sex offenders is a necessary precondition for these partnerships.

If the offender has since re-located, we’ll need to clear the hold on the address itself. The easiest way to resolve this is by speaking with your local Offender Registry agency, and explaining your current situation. They’ll be able to file the appropriate paperwork and start the process of clearing your address.

Alternatively, we can also clear your hold by providing us with applicable documentation. This could be a recent purchase agreement, lease agreement, rental agreement, land deed, or writ from the offender agency in your area.

Once your address is cleared, I can help you access to Nextdoor.
Thanks,

David
Nextdoor

Anonymous said...

Yep!
http://restoringintegritytovirginiaregistry.blogspot.com/2017/09/nextdoorcom-doesnt-just-block.html

Mary Davye Devoy