Community

Fostering Neighbourly Conversations on Nextdoor

Written by Josh Lepore

As a community-building platform, one of our key goals at Nextdoor is to bring neighbours together to have conversations. Conversations about local issues can be some of the most important and meaningful discussions on Nextdoor. When these discussions take place in a civil and productive manner, they help people better understand their neighbours and community. 

Since Nextdoor is meant for discussion of local issues, discussion of national and state issues is strictly confined to user-created groups. Creating a group takes only a few clicks, allowing a conversation to be moved to a topical, opt-in forum with members who have elected to participate in the group discussion. 

We rely on you, the neighbours who make up the Nextdoor community, to report content that violates our Community Guidelines. Violating the Community Guidelines has consequences, which may include the removal of content or suspension of posting privileges. Because of the diversity of people in any neighbourhood, please keep in mind that while something may be disagreeable to you, it may not violate our Community Guidelines

It’s important to allow space for civil discourse. Each of us has a role to play in helping to facilitate conversations that are respectful, helpful, and productive. Here are four qualities that help make conversations constructive:

  1. Listening. We all have different experiences to share. Value the opportunity to learn from others. Emphasize that the goal is not necessarily to agree but to listen.
  2. Respectfully challenge the idea, not the person. Help neighbours focus on the facts or ideas they want to communicate, without attacking the person.
  3. Citing sources. If neighbours are sharing data, encourage them to include their source for clarity and to help support the discussion with facts.
  4. Identifying actions. Encourage neighbours to identify actions your community can take to make it more welcoming, respectful, and inclusive.

Our Community Guidelines are intended to ensure that every neighbor feels welcome, safe, and respected when using Nextdoor. If you see posts or comments that violate these guidelines, please report these messages. 

As you review content, remember to keep in mind that disagreeing with a post is not a reason to report it. This slows down our ability to remove content that is truly abusive and to create a platform that can help build stronger communities.

We’ve also implemented measures to ensure that members are aware of what they are posting, before they post. If a member replies to a neighbour’s post with a potentially offensive or hurtful comment, our Kindness Reminder will be prompted before the comment goes live. Our Kindness Reminder aims to encourage positivity across the Nextdoor platform.

At Nextdoor, our purpose is to cultivate a kinder world where everyone has a neighbour to rely on, and we are grateful for your efforts to help us do so.

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