Nextdoor review: Disabling of my account

This email was sent on 16/9/23 to support:

"My account has been disabled for the second time and I now suspect that moderators on Next Door are colluding with certain individuals who have been planted to create disruption and chaos to real residents in diverse neighbourhoods with their genuine lines of discussion and debate.

They paraphrase, take screenshots and 'like' each others' posts as a means to intimidate and agitate. I am a longstanding subscriber of Next Door and in 2018 I founded a bin campaign on Next Door which ultimately attracted a 12000 + following. Although not everyone was in favour of my ideas there was no acrimony and I continued to participate in other posts. However following a disabling issue for no apparent reason on an LTN post, I returned to the forum as a viewer rather than an active participant because I was nervous about saying anything that might cause a repeat even though I have no idea why I had been disabled in the first place.

JC H from London England ( although he is based in Highbury Islington) and Valentina P from Alexander Park have recently become visible in my neighbourhood even though they live in another part of North London. Valentina P uses paraphrasing and screenshots when responding to others. Her passive aggressive, interrogative style of constantly asking for evidence and dismissing replies goes against everything Next Door guidelines profess to endorse. There is an undercurrent of extreme unpleasantness in her comments and many I know, have now abandoned Next Door for fear of being humiliated.

Today it just felt that she had gone too far with her jibes and I posted a comment about how much I disliked the atmosphere on the post. She immediately tagged me saying I was talking about her and I pointed out that her conscience must've been acting. She clearly didn't like that and bgan a thread which perhaps I should've ignored but I didn't and now my account has been inexplicably disabled.

All of her posts are 'liked' by JC H who also happens to be a moderator for areas outside his own and is a keen car hater and eco warrior. It is unbelievable that someone with such a biased world view should be empowered to act as a neutral resident on the highly charged subject of Low Traffic neighbourhoods. If you don't want people discussing the state of their local roads on your forum then at least have the decency to publicly state that fact. Allowing someone the opportunity to use a forum like Next Door with its genuine followers, solely as a soapbox for their idealistic philosophy is perhaps a little disingenuous.

Ultimately it doesn't matter who is right and who is wrong. Provided it remains a debate. I used no foul language, I wasn't rude or blatantly disrespectful. I didn't humiliate or degrade. I merely questioned her questions. Valentina P is well known on Next Door for her derisory tactics so I couldn't possibly have done anything that was unfamiliar or upsetting.

Yet still I have been disabled. Clearly Valentina P's wingman JC H has made a decision.

Hence my email.

Please have the courtesy to respond. But don't ask JC H for advice.

Helen M."

This was followed by this response:

"Hi Helen,

Thanks for contacting us regarding your account.

Your access to Nextdoor has been disabled due to a violation of our Community Guideline: Be respectful to your neighbours.

A review of your account shows that your access was previously disabled for this or other policy violations on the following dates:

20/4/2023

1/2/2023

10/1/2023

Following each violation, we referred you to the guidelines before reinstating your account. The purpose of Nextdoor’s Community Guidelines is to ensure that our community is a welcoming and neighbourly environment for all neighbours.

Because you have a history of repeated guidelines violations, in the interest of the community, we are disabling your account indefinitely.

Although your account is not eligible for reinstatement in the near future, you may contact us in a year to request a reconsideration of this decision.

Best,

Nicholas

Nextdoor"

and I have replied:

Dear Sir/Madam

So let me be quite clear. You disabled my account due to three historic ’violations‘ which still have never been identified and my account had already been disabled until the end of 5/23. At that point I decided to reinstall the app as described in my email and rejoined Next Door.

Either you are confused or you have been ill advised. A friend of mine who was also targeted by the same moderator experienced exactly the same error caused by you. Please don’t patronise me and flatter yourself by suggesting I would be interested in reinstatement in a year. If you are unable to offer a clearer explanation of why my account has been disabled then I shall have to seek further advice elsewhere

Helen Mitchell