Can someone explain the difference between NextDoor and MOL?

A co-worker of mine who lives in another town said she is getting neighborhood info via NextDoor.  Sounds like a newer version of MOL.  Am I missing something?  Is there a benefit of being connected via NextDoor that MOL doesn't offer?


I had joined NextDoor a while ago, and found their format less efficient for my reading style, and the discussions tended to be of less interest to me. It's probably personal preference. 


There’s anonymity here vs real life names on Nextdoor. 


NextDoor also requires an invitation and physical location to put you in the right neighborhood.  We have a few active members here on MOL who are from other communities.

I can't say whether that makes it better or worse. I just scrolled through my feed over there and I don't feel like there's any more news and information in their site. I can say I come here a lot more. More intrusive ads on NextDoor.


MOL is much more interesting bu also more maddening.  You get the extremes of good and bad internet discourse on MOL (more good than bad).   NextDoor is more mundane, "can anyone recommend a __" type stuff.  


bub said:

MOL is much more interesting bu also more maddening.  You get the extremes of good and bad internet discourse on MOL (more good than bad).   NextDoor is more mundane, "can anyone recommend a __" type stuff.  

Heh. Check out the current thread over there about leaf blowers. 


A big difference is that here I can’t just click on the Members button and find everyone’s name and address handily indexed.


mrincredible said:

bub said:

MOL is much more interesting bu also more maddening.  You get the extremes of good and bad internet discourse on MOL (more good than bad).   NextDoor is more mundane, "can anyone recommend a __" type stuff.  

Heh. Check out the current thread over there about leaf blowers. 

 The virus has brought out certain amount of panicked stupidity on NextDoor.  There has been rumor-mongering of the "a friend told me" [scary thing] "can anyone confirm?"


I am on nextdoor, Soma lounge, and here.  I find nextdoor to be the worst of the three.  Lots of old biases and complainers, and things come up as if they are new that have been hashed out in town years ago.  Mol I thinks skews older and tends to get dominated at times by two or three verbose posters. Lounge requires a thick skin, but is more informative and up to date than these other boards, although I'm really tired of the daily requests for plumbers.


mrincredible said:

Heh. Check out the current thread over there about leaf blowers. 

 The one asking if leaf blowers spread COVID - 19?  A bit strange even by MOL standards.


Nextdoor is for communities that don't have a MOL.  

Nextdoor (like Facebook) makes money by selling your information - we don't.

Nextdoor has invested hundred of millions of dollars - MOL was developed by me.  So it always is a challenge for us to compete with companies that have billions and unlimited resources - and are able to keep you hooked by tweaking their algorithms, but we're doing ok.

And if you have any request for tweaks, I can address them - not sure how responsive Nextdoor is.   smile


jamie said:

Nextdoor is for communities that don't have a MOL.  

Nextdoor (like Facebook) makes money by selling your information - we don't.

Nextdoor has invested hundred of millions of dollars - MOL was developed by me.  So it always is a challenge for us to compete with companies that have billions and unlimited resources - and are able to keep you hooked by tweaking their algorithms, but we're doing ok.

And if you have any request for tweaks, I can address them - not sure how responsive Nextdoor is.  
smile

Agree with everything Jamie said!

Quite some time ago we had a debate about real names versus screen names. I think Jamie may have even set up an experimental real names only section.

It surprised me how much resistance there was here to real names back then and conversely how little resistance there is on FB and ND now.


Nextdoor was a pain for me to navigate. MOL is a breeze.

MOL is a platform where participants can carry on conversations that flow freely in real, or almost real, time. Nextdoor, as I found it, is just another Post-It board. (Try to imagine author, for instance, on Nextdoor.)


When I lived in a big garden apartment complex in Verona, we used Next Door just among residents of the development and it was a very good way to update neighbors, ask questions and share news about snow plowing, garbage pickup and that sorta thing. It was great for that small and very localized population - maybe 100 users. For a larger group, I could see it getting way out of hand.


To me, MOL is based in our back yard, for real. I imagine Next Door is based in California. 


from Bob Roe:   I think all of us MOL posters know what a great job Jamie does.  MOL is once again doing a good public service in the threads about Corona. Of course we always need to be careful as to the accuracy of what someone may post.  I am happy to use my name and I think it leads to more responsible discussions.  

 I have gotten a few notes in the mail about joining a neighborhood Facebook group, but I am not interested.   MOL is a good way for me to keep up on a lot of local news.  Secondly, I simply do not want to spend too much time on the internet.   


Bob, I'm glad you're on MOL and I appreciate your posts, even though I'm from South Orange. I wish our health department had an online presence. 


I have a NextDoor account, but haven't really gone there much.  I am very active on Facebook, since that's where the majority of my friends are.  But there are times when I find it frustrating, especially when searching for something I saw not long before.  Even though MOL search is not always the greatest, it's a lot better than Facebook, and the message board structure just makes it easier to find recent posts and discussions.  

I do miss the "glory days" of MOL, before Facebook became a big deal.  We had some really amazing and appealing threads "back in the day" and haven't really seen that recently. LOL


Maybe we can post some "remember when" links to some old crazy threads (that hopefully are locked, or they would get worse by newbies who think they are current...).  


NextDoor has a discussion about leaf blowers?  Isn’t that cute.  Show me one where they argue about leaf blowers, clotheslines, and chickens at the same time THEN I’ll be impressed 


RobertRoe said:

from Bob Roe:   I think all of us MOL posters know what a great job Jamie does.  MOL is once again doing a good public service in the threads about Corona. Of course we always need to be careful as to the accuracy of what someone may post.  I am happy to use my name and I think it leads to more responsible discussions.  

 I have gotten a few notes in the mail about joining a neighborhood Facebook group, but I am not interested.   MOL is a good way for me to keep up on a lot of local news.  Secondly, I simply do not want to spend too much time on the internet.   

 We now have a Maplewood Seniors Advisory Committee Facebook group in case you are interested.


jamie said:

Nextdoor is for communities that don't have a MOL.  

Nextdoor (like Facebook) makes money by selling your information - we don't.

Nextdoor has invested hundred of millions of dollars - MOL was developed by me.  So it always is a challenge for us to compete with companies that have billions and unlimited resources - and are able to keep you hooked by tweaking their algorithms, but we're doing ok.

And if you have any request for tweaks, I can address them - not sure how responsive Nextdoor is.  
smile

 Jamie, I have no intention of abandoning MOL which got me and me family safely and sanely through Sandy.  Thanks for all that you do! 



In order to add a comment – you must Join this community – Click here to do so.