Vnt - crazy FB neighbour

[Bluegoat]

I am just so fed up with my neighbour across the way.

 

He is the manager for the FB page for my neighbourhood, and activly posts on the one for my area of the city.  Both of which are useful and I don't want to just not look, as I'll miss out of information I want.

 

But man - he is seriously paranoid.  He was upset today because a real estate agent knocked on his door and asked if he might be interested in selling.  He was, he said being "PRESSURED" and also he doesn't like to open his door to people who aren't expected.

He is constantly worked up about crime, which is actually not much of an issue here - I really want to point out that unfriendly neighbourhoods where people aren't around in the day tend to be less safe.  He wanted the bench taken out of the pocket park because teenagers were sitting on it late in the summer.

 

Now he is posting all of these articles about issues with refugees.  Mostly from poor news sources, and with little connection directly to the neighbourhood.  Of all these, one was not entirely offensive (mostly about services in schools being stretched) and others have been more or less offensive.

 

He managed to get his knickers in a twist at another neighbor who said he was worried that crows being fed was making them more aggressive, he even ended up (sarcastically) quoting the Bible at him.

 

I almost feel like it would be great to set up a separate group, but that would probably bring on some kind of unfriendly neighbourhood situation.  I think he may be told to tone it down in the larger group, but since he manages the smaller one, it seems difficult to complain.

 

He is just an annoying and paranoid little man.

[Valley Girl]

How annoying! Even though he manages it, is he in any way responsible to a committee or HOA-type group who might be able to reign him in? Sounds like the stuff he's posting should be on a personal page, not one that is supposed to reflect an entire neighborhood.

 

Neighbor problems stink.

[hornblower]

can you block him? Or is he admin? (in groups there are probs w/ blocking admin but I think on a page, you can.) 

I'd tell him to knock it off though. "Bill, these are political issues which are not relevant to our local neighbourhood issues & you seem to be assuming we all agree with you on these topics. I don't and I find many of your posts offensive. Please can we stick to local information and announcements on this page."   Sometimes it takes one person to say what everyone is thinking, kwim? 

[zoobie]

Ugh. Nutbuckets with "power."

[Ravin]

My first reaction was, "People do neighborhood groups on FB now?"  :lol:

[Guest]

Well come on, we cant have teens sitting on benches! Next thing you know, theyll be picnicing on lawnd for crying out loud!

[Bluegoat]

The idea of another platform is interesting.  I wonder how many would join - the FB page has grown quite slowly, I think because there is a high proportion of seniors in the area.  It's only really had more people in the last 6 months or so.

 

Someone on the larger page has now told him to knock it off, so maybe he will also become more discrete on the one he manages - he is the admin so I don't think he can be blocked.  I don't have him as a personal friend.

 

It is funny to have a neighbourhood group on FB, but it works quite well.  There aren't many ways to get messages out through the area without actually going door to door. So things like candidates meetings, discussions about changing zoning, church sales, and such are announced.  It's also how we discovered that the rat problem seemed to be throughout the whole area.

 

 

[Bluegoat]

Well come on, we cant have teens sitting on benches! Next thing you know, theyll be picnicing on lawnd for crying out loud!

I know - there was also controversy because the trash can next to it was getting filled up!

 

Now the teens stand next to my house on the corner and chat.  It isn't really scintilaing stuff at 11 at night, so I am sympathetic to that aspect, but really, if people want total scilence they should not live in a city, even in a suburb.

[Bluegoat]

That same situation happened to our neighborhood group. Someone did split off and made their own page and they manage it much better. There was some tension at first. I think that has gone away with time. Most people stayed with the original group, but don't pay nearly as much attention to it.

 

Has he set up page rules? Is he breaking them?

 

It seems whenever people start paying attention to crime in the neighborhood, they start seeing it everywhere. We are in a safe neighborhood compared to other places in the city, yet people post constantly about stolen packages, crime waves, car thefts, helicopters and gunshots. Since we border the open desert, we get a lot of fireworks (legal) and target practice (illegal). Not because we live in a dangerous place, but because we are on the outskirts of the city. Next thing I know, everyone in the neighborhood is installing security doors and complaining about kids walking down the street.  :willy_nilly:

 

People can't seem to stay rational about crime things.  THe most common ones in our neighbourhood are, ironically, ones that would be prevented if there were more people around (teens on a bench, maybe?) so opportunistic car break ins and such.

 

Very rarely in suburban areas in teh city someone will be beat up in their home, or a home will be burgled by an serious burgler.  I know it is scary when it happens, but it is really unlikely.

 

There are page rules.  I should re-read them.  I normally don't mind things that some might think are political, but not when they are actually irrelevant.

[UCF612]

My old neighborhood page ended up splitting in 2. I was on both since I didn't much care about the debate that caused the rift. People are so strange. Can you block just his posts?

[trulycrabby]

Well come on, we cant have teens sitting on benches! Next thing you know, theyll be picnicing on lawnd for crying out loud!

They should be inside paying video games! :zombie:

[sassenach]

Our NextDoor website has made me love my neighborhood less than I used to. We have the crazy paranoid guy, also a depressing amount of racial profiling, and a batsht crazy amount of complaining. So much complaining. I stay on because it keeps me up to date on crime issues and it's the neighborhood free stuff page. But ya, I've thought about leaving.

[Murphy101]

Our NextDoor website has made me love my neighborhood less than I used to. We have the crazy paranoid guy, also a depressing amount of racial profiling, and a batsht crazy amount of complaining. So much complaining. I stay on because it keeps me up to date on crime issues and it's the neighborhood free stuff page. But ya, I've thought about leaving.

I left Nextdoor after being on it less than a month. Half the stuff wasn't even my neighborhood, but actually surrounding neighborhoods even tho my settings were to see my neighborhood only. And yeah. A ton of stupid crap. Not worth it. I can find out crime into on my city website and I don't really need more stuff. I prefer craigslist for selling. Besides, the stuff I might have been interested in would likely be buried amid all the stupid crap anyways.

[Murphy101]

The idea of another platform is interesting. I wonder how many would join - the FB page has grown quite slowly, I think because there is a high proportion of seniors in the area. It's only really had more people in the last 6 months or so.

 

Someone on the larger page has now told him to knock it off, so maybe he will also become more discrete on the one he manages - he is the admin so I don't think he can be blocked. I don't have him as a personal friend.

 

It is funny to have a neighbourhood group on FB, but it works quite well. There aren't many ways to get messages out through the area without actually going door to door. So things like candidates meetings, discussions about changing zoning, church sales, and such are announced. It's also how we discovered that the rat problem seemed to be throughout the whole area.

See now in my city they are required by law to give zoning and by laws and elections publicly (usually a sign at entrance to neighborhoods, in the local papers too) and door to door in the area it applies to. So doing it on FB wouldn't be enough anyways.

[elegantlion]

I was checking out a facebook neighborhood group for a nearby town - totally public page. The person who runs the group had put up a banner picture of themselves that included a lovely confederate flag in the background - that's not something you see in this area in public. Those that protested had been removed from the group or left. The person's comments were along the lines of "it's my page, if you don't like it, leave."  :confused1:  Um, it's a neighborhood page, not your personal page. 

 

I don't think some people have the capacity to see that their running a service page, not an opinion page. 

[Farrar]

I don't think the platform change would do much. Our neighborhood listserv is on Yahoo. Someone still has to own and mod. There are still wackos. Neighborhood groups are a particular breeding ground for a certain sort of internet crazy - paranoid, controlling, ranting about the most minor things... there's one in every 'hood.

[ThisIsTheDay]

 

 

Has he set up page rules? Is he breaking them?

 

 

 

It has been my personal experience that these types of neighborhood leaders are the only ones permitted to break those rules.  :/

[Tsuga]

Because what sort of person runs a neighborhood Facebook information page. The sort of person who freaks out about solicitors and bench-sitters, that's who.

 

Ugh. 

[Janeway]

Go with something different from FB like NextDoorNeighbor or bigtent, whatever it is called.

[Joules]

I chose a different solution.  I had dh subscribe to the neighborhood FB page, and he forwards me anything important.  I can't deal with the drama, and it doesn't bother him a bit.  Can you find someone else to filter and share the good stuff with you?

[TravelingChris]

I am on Nextdoor and don't get racial posts or paranoid posts.  I do like to know about car break ins and crime.  I also used the service to get a recommended chimney cleaner that did a good job and was reasonable in price.

[Bluegoat]

See now in my city they are required by law to give zoning and by laws and elections publicly (usually a sign at entrance to neighborhoods, in the local papers too) and door to door in the area it applies to. So doing it on FB wouldn't be enough anyways.

 

Oh yes, this is done elsewhere, and the city takes care of it.  But if you don't go looking for the announcements they can be easy to miss.

[Bluegoat]

I chose a different solution.  I had dh subscribe to the neighborhood FB page, and he forwards me anything important.  I can't deal with the drama, and it doesn't bother him a bit.  Can you find someone else to filter and share the good stuff with you?

 

Ha, my dh has already left FB, I am supposed to filter out the worthwhile stuff for him.

[Bluegoat]

Crazy guy responded to the complaints about his post today.  He said he thought it was relevent because we are having a lot ofof immigration, and it was about a man who married a women just to get citizenship, and he thought this was a common problem.

 

This seems to be emblematic of the issue with this thinking - there is a kind of relationship but not a very applicable one (refugees really don't need to marry to get into the country after all) and the sense of what is common is way off. (It reminded me that he thought a particular spot was bad for a playground because it would be too easy for kidnappers to get to the highway, better for kids to have play structures in their fenced yards.)

 

It's interesting how much a really poor appreciation of risk is behind these kinds of things.

[Murphy101]

Crazy guy responded to the complaints about his post today. He said he thought it was relevent because we are having a lot ofof immigration, and it was about a man who married a women just to get citizenship, and he thought this was a common problem.

 

This seems to be emblematic of the issue with this thinking - there is a kind of relationship but not a very applicable one (refugees really don't need to marry to get into the country after all) and the sense of what is common is way off. (It reminded me that he thought a particular spot was bad for a playground because it would be too easy for kidnappers to get to the highway, better for kids to have play structures in their fenced yards.)

 

It's interesting how much a really poor appreciation of risk is behind these kinds of things.

Uhhh. What the heck does any of that have to do with anything neighborhood business related? Have refugees converged on your neighborhood? Is he questioning the validity of a neighbor's citizenship?

 

I'd point out that, no, these are not related to NEIGHBORHOOD business at all.

 

Unless the answer to those questions are yes and then I guess there needs to a meeting about how to handle the displaced refugees and advise him to call I.C.E. if he is concerned about illegal citizenship.

[TechWife]

Every spring and summer, our neighborhood page is rife with complaints.

"There are three teenagers walking down the street." Okay...

"I can hear noise from the pool." I'm sure you can. Your house is across the street from it.

"People keep running by my house early in the morning." followed by "Well, they're wearing exercise clothing." Have you ever heard of jogging?

 

It's crazy. People seem to complain that we live in an active neighborhood, more than anything. I guess the swimming pool, tennis, volleyball and basketball courts, the playgroun, stocked fishing pond and greenway access weren't a tip off when they were house hunting.

[Bluegoat]

Uhhh. What the heck does any of that have to do with anything neighborhood business related? Have refugees converged on your neighborhood? Is he questioning the validity of a neighbor's citizenship?

 

I'd point out that, no, these are not related to NEIGHBORHOOD business at all.

 

Unless the answer to those questions are yes and then I guess there needs to a meeting about how to handle the displaced refugees and advise him to call I.C.E. if he is concerned about illegal citizenship.

 

This is just what he's been told, I am hopeful it will help him make choices about what to post.  We'll still get complaints about people coming to the door, but at least not the insinuation that refugees are going to be looking to try and pick up suburban Candians in large numbers.

[Bluegoat]

Every spring and summer, our neighborhood page is rife with complaints.

"There are three teenagers walking down the street." Okay...

"I can hear noise from the pool." I'm sure you can. Your house is across the street from it.

"People keep running by my house early in the morning." followed by "Well, they're wearing exercise clothing." Have you ever heard of jogging?

 

It's crazy. People seem to complain that we live in an active neighborhood, more than anything. I guess the swimming pool, tennis, volleyball and basketball courts, the playgroun, stocked fishing pond and greenway access weren't a tip off when they were house hunting.

 

Yes, this is what I find too, it is like they are people who should really be on 10 acres in the woods.  And I even see it in the downtown - it's becoming more and more popular for people to live there, but then they complain about the noise from music venues or people out at all hours.  Well - if you move downtown where there are all these amenities, what do they expect?

 

My husband really minds people - he would like 10 acres in the woods or probably to live in the middle of nowhere like a mountain man - so I understand that sometimes it can be not quite what someone wants.  I don't really enjoy listening to the teens talking outside my bedroom when I want to do to bed, either.

 

But - that is what happens with living with people around you.

[athomeontheprairie]

Every spring and summer, our neighborhood page is rife with complaints.

"There are three teenagers walking down the street." Okay...

"I can hear noise from the pool." I'm sure you can. Your house is across the street from it.

"People keep running by my house early in the morning." followed by "Well, they're wearing exercise clothing." Have you ever heard of jogging?

 

It's crazy. People seem to complain that we live in an active neighborhood, more than anything. I guess the swimming pool, tennis, volleyball and basketball courts, the playgroun, stocked fishing pond and greenway access weren't a tip off when they were house hunting.

This is absolutely hilarious to me. Sorry you hear the complaints.

[Bluegoat]

Teenagers really seem to get no breaks.

[TechWife]

Teenagers really seem to get no breaks.

 

I agree.

[Rebel Yell]

I know - there was also controversy because the trash can next to it was getting filled up!

 

Now the teens stand next to my house on the corner and chat.  It isn't really scintilaing stuff at 11 at night, so I am sympathetic to that aspect, but really, if people want total scilence they should not live in a city, even in a suburb.

 

So, if a full trash can is truly a problem, perhaps those teens could just throw their garbage on the ground?

 

Like seriously- what the heck are trashcans for?  If you don't want litter, have more trashcans than you think you need. If you'd rather pick up litter than empty trash cans, remove the trash cans.

 

If he doesn't want trash at all, then he can go move to some zero-waste ultra-recycling commune or whatever. :cursing:

[basketcase]

Wow. That's so frustrating. Feeling pretty lucky right now that all our neighborhood FB page does is repost stuff from the city and advertise neighborhood meetings.

[Tanaqui]

I don't really enjoy listening to the teens talking outside my bedroom when I want to do to bed, either.

 

I'm mean, and I will just call 311 the second it turns 10pm. But I keep my mouth shut during the day - people have a right to be outside making a reasonable amount of noise during reasonable hours. (But from 10pm onwards I have a legal leg to stand on, and I do.)

 

[Anne in CA]

People in my old neighborhood in Oregon called the POLICE when my 17yo son didn't paint our house the way they wanted. OMG. All of them were over 70, had no grandkids and didn't want to live near teens. Excuse me, then why didn't you move to a gated community for seniors? Oh, that costs a lot of money so it's easier just to restrict my teens? Jerks. Now I live in the mountains in the middle of nowhere.

[December]

I believe you can block admins on Facebook, but they'll be able to tell that you did if you reply or post.  So if you just want to not see his posts and aren't worried about him knowing he's blocked then it still could be an option.

[Bluegoat]

I'm mean, and I will just call 311 the second it turns 10pm. But I keep my mouth shut during the day - people have a right to be outside making a reasonable amount of noise during reasonable hours. (But from 10pm onwards I have a legal leg to stand on, and I do.)

 

I probably would not do this anyway, but the thing is they are not actually being noisy - they are talking in normal voices, and are right on a street corner.  It is just very audible in that room for some reason. I don't feel like talking in a normal voice, even late at night, is something that should be restricted.

[Zinnia]

Our neighborhood FB page can get a little nutty, too. Luckily, it is large, and we have a few snark work from home guys that end up informally moderating. They are hilarious, so it's good entertainment, besides working 90% of the time. That said, threads get pulled frequently by the real mod if they get sticky. She is a realtor, and she's aware that the FB page sets many people's initial impression of the area.

[Tanaqui]

I probably would not do this anyway, but the thing is they are not actually being noisy - they are talking in normal voices, and are right on a street corner.  It is just very audible in that room for some reason. I don't feel like talking in a normal voice, even late at night, is something that should be restricted.

 

Context is all. The loudies in my neighborhood DO talk louder than normal, so I show no mercy. (After 10pm.)

 

[Tsuga]

Every spring and summer, our neighborhood page is rife with complaints.

"There are three teenagers walking down the street." Okay...

"I can hear noise from the pool." I'm sure you can. Your house is across the street from it.

"People keep running by my house early in the morning." followed by "Well, they're wearing exercise clothing." Have you ever heard of jogging?

 

It's crazy. People seem to complain that we live in an active neighborhood, more than anything. I guess the swimming pool, tennis, volleyball and basketball courts, the playgroun, stocked fishing pond and greenway access weren't a tip off when they were house hunting.

 

"But you didn't tell me there would be other people using my stuff!"

People make my head spin.