Hello all, this is your neighbor Phil "Red" Williams.
This post is to let friends know that my account was temporarily shut down on NextDoor.
This likely won't be the last time unfortunately. Myself and the WATCH Camas volunteers have now heard from numerous people who have been temporarily denied access to their accounts on NextDoor - this is seemingly a common practice there. Of those we've heard from, none were ever given clear, specific reasons why they were temporarily removed. They are just logged out of their accounts one day without warning and the amount of time they're denied access seems to be arbitrary - One day, two weeks, up to an entire month for some.
It's unfortunate to be denied access to your neighbors on a social network, especially without any conversation about why, but that's the true danger of a place like NextDoor I guess. A place that wasn't built for Camas and doesn't actually know, or care to know, what's happening in our city at a given time from their corporate offices in California. Functioning as a corporation, NextDoor wouldn't generate a profit from trying to understand the nuance of the local political conversation in a tiny SW Washington town. So, they just install one size fits all rules and basically, if it gets too "loud" at a given point there's a basic way to quiet things back to the status quo. Regardless of false reporting or misunderstood messages without context.
NextDoor has "community guidelines", their rules, and "leads", who are just everyday people like you and me. Just like with any other set of vague rules and casual volunteers as enforcement, these things can be taken advantage of and weaponized against others if left unattended. It's seems in Camas this becomes especially true when people with far too much time on their hands spend hours on end researching which exact buttons to push to abuse a system built for good, but not adequately regulated with enough real humans and common sense.
I imagine many of my neighbors have noticed that a pronounced few in this community don't like the objective truth that's printed in a place like WATCHCamas.com. With no real response to that truth, they get desperate and resort to "creative workarounds" as alternatives to an honest discussion. I understand it's frustrating to see so few, with questionable motivations, be able to so simply game a system that we use to communicate about vital issues with one another in Camas.
In a moment like this though, I'm thankful that there are a lot of other people in town happy to #WATCHCamas even when one of us can't. I'm thankful that many of you will be there to respond regularly to those that would seek to confuse and bully your neighbors in the absence of a friend that sticks up for the truth.
For the following few weeks, I'll ask all who can read this that have access to NextDoor to please pay special attention to new users that seem to pop up randomly in moments like this - Are you seeing brand new names right now in NextDoor conversations? People that seem to barrel in with a whole head of steam as if they've been watching, and waiting, but not posting until just now? Maybe you see a few of the "average Joes" that you haven't seen since the home stretch of the pool bond discussions? When those same people start getting bold again in moments like this, I hope you'll be there to #WATCHCamas for your neighbors. Take screenshots before they delete purposefully provocative posts, reply to their logical fallacies with sourced fact and if you see something that you think is important being discussed here that your neighbors aren't seeing on NextDoor, I hope you make a post with that link and bring them in to watchcamas.com.
The informed Camasonian on watchcamas.com doesn't have to worry about crazy elections and the energy it takes to defeat a pool bond by 90%, because the small things they do in moments like this assure them that the city, and its "citizen helpers" among us, will never again feel strong enough to try something like that again. They will never have another large project voted through in this city without the few simple things we've always deserved - a sound plan, a budget to the scale of Camas and a clarity that it all includes the people in a meaningful way at every step of the process.
As mentioned, NextDoor doesn't give specifics on these restrictions. It's a bigger problem we should all look into, but I'm trying to track this specific one through email with them to figure it out. Moments like this are the reason that WATCH Camas was created, to keep the conversation going, even during the unexpected. The good news is that the truth will come out regardless, at a regular pace and always sourced to hard facts on watchcamas.com.
I'll see everyone in NextDoor again in two weeks or whenever I can get an email reply from the company - whichever comes first. In the meantime, happy that we've all got this shiny new toy to play with :)
Your neighbor,
-Phil "Red" Williams
Did you all see this? https://www.cityofcamas.us/97-public-works/publicworksnews/1561-construction-of-lake-everett-roundabout-on-hold
I finally got a response from Nextdoor:
Hi Charity, Thanks for reaching out to us with your concerns. Member accounts can be restricted or removed for a variety of reasons, but the most common is a violation of the Community Guidelines. That said, I'd like to check into this further for you, just to ensure there isn't a bug or other issue going on. Do you have any specific names of members who were affected by this? If so, just reply back with those names and I'll check their accounts for any complications. Otherwise, if members are attempting to log in and are receiving a message that their account has been restricted, it would be best to encourage them to contact Nextdoor directly. That way we can provide them details on any violations that may have led to an account restriction. Please let me know if I can help with anything else. Best, Kelli Nextdoor
Take a look at this. Here’s my comment that was flagged. I am beyond speechless and I think ND is literally the worst app ever.
Here we go again! I didn’t even make any negative comments!!!
Yes, you are correct in that Leads do not have any information about suspended accounts, nor are we involved in that process. Technically Leads cannot delete comments. We only vote to remove or not to remove. If we vote to remove, the comments gets deleted only in our neighborhood. If the post came from our neighborhood and we vote to remove, it gets removed in all neighborhoods. So keep that in mind when you compare notes with another person in a different neighborhood.
I honestly don't believe there are any back room deals between Swati and her "ND Supervisor". Remember, Swati is very careful about using words and constructing comments that never cross the Community Guidelines rules. She knows how to write to keep her comments from being removed. You can be very aware of the CG also. When you report, use something that holds water - Soapbox? I am a Lead and cannot takes sides. I have to look at each report without bias and apply it using the CG in how I decide to vote.
Also, keep in mind, you are the 90% who voted against the pool. There are a lot more of you than her. Her "group" is a small handful and she's really the only consistent verbal one. Therefore, there will be a lot more of you who get suspended. I know that doesn't answer the question of "Why" you are being suspended. And that's when I go back to my original suspicions - ND looks at the most contentious threads and the most reported comments. It's a numbers game, I think.
I plan to go to the National Forum and get more info on all this. Camas is definitely "different" than most communities. We have more passion.
Well looks like i’ve joined the “kicked out of Nextdoor“ club too. I didn’t get any notice or warning or email. I was also involved in a thread having debate with the person that you all were at one time or another. She spoke of a ”group” that she’s in and it truly makes me wonder if these are the folks had a hand in deleting our accounts, using key words like “threatened“ “felt unsafe” or ”harassed.” Which I did none of. And I find it very ironic, because this said person I’ve seen on different social media sites doing just that, especially regarding the Mayor. I’m new to all this and have no idea where I went wrong!
I reported it but it’s still up. Funny how certain posts are deleted and members suspended but posts that are clearly against CG remain
I was banned today on NextDoor too. For 4 days. I have received no warning prior to my ban, no explanation for my ban, and the only discussion I have ever participated in in NextDoor was a thread Swati Wilson felt "threatened" by. Nothing in my posts could be even remotely viewed as threatening.
Interestingly as a test , I reported this post as spam because it clearly violates Community Standards - selling something for another company in the general news feed. It came on my email. If everyone was allowed to promote their MLM then we would be inundated with these posts. It hasn’t been deleted whereas it should’ve been. so there is definitely bias going on with a certain someone. https://nextdoor.com/post/142515273
Do we have any grounds to fight ND?
www.aclu.org › other › your-right-free-expression
The First Amendment guarantees our right to free expression and free ... as much a violationof your First Amendment rights for the government to make you say ... The freedom to read is the freedom to think - and that's totally worth fighting for!
I've been locked out 3 times, last time 30 days for posting the saying about, "Stick & Stones will Break My Bones, But Words Can Kill ya". I posted this because a few people were beating up on someone pretty bad. People have committed suicide in Social Media because of being attacked by bullies. I don't feel I broke any rules, I don't attack or bully people.
It’s censorship and it’s flat out wrong! Why are some suspended and not others? And not given a reason for suspension either. In fact there is one person in particular that continues to violate the hijacking and ranting posts and never gets suspended 🤔
We all need to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau regarding Nextdoor and the censorship happening here. https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/san-francisco/profile/internet-service/nextdoorcom-inc-1116-447229/complaints
I too have been suspended with no reason!
To update my earlier comment, 30 minutes after I posted here questioning why I had been suspended while my post was still visible in ND, my post was immediately removed from ND. There is CLEAR coordination designed to silence any and all opinions that do not support their carefully scribed version of The Truth.
WATCH Camas is working on a reporting tool so that we can track just how large this issue is in Camas. We'll keep a running tally of the total hours your neighbors have been silenced on NextDoor. With only a few instances reported so far, the number is already nearly 2,000 hours and growing with new contacts from neighbors after this posting. Our hope is that from this point forward, if you want to post on NextDoor, we encourage you to first originate your post on watchcamas.com and then link back here in your NextDoor post. This way you can have conversions wherever you'd like, but always know that your words are safe from invisible and unexplained censors here. More to come.
You’ll be back before me Phil. I got a 31 day ban. The message “explaining” why is bogus and nothing I’ve recently posted violated their feel good parameters. I likely committed the sin of linking to all the PDC campaign finance violations that people may not have been aware of and now have time to peruse during pandemic isolation. I also reiterated that Camas is full of intelligent people able to think for themselves. People are no longer willing to have their opinions assigned to them are the actual threat, so whomever the NextDoor censors are the kk y view informed free thinkers as a threat. We need to know who they are. We have arrogant, controlling “neighbors” on NextDoor who abhor the free exchange of idea and will do what they can to silence those with whom they don’t agree. Make no mistake, this is about opinions. There are many posters on NextDoor that violate the terms of service with gaslighting, personal attacks, thread hijacking etc and they have free reign on NextDoor. We may not know today who you NextDoor censors are, but you can rest assured that you’ll be exposed as soon as we do. I won’t sit down. I won’t shut up. I will not comply with the thought police.
Please don't make me have to look at the Nextdoor, haha. I hate that app so much. Seems to bring out the absolute worst in people.
Thanks, Phil. I too, have been suspended from Next Door for 30 days, without explanation, or any clear communication as to how I might inquire further. Because I cannot access my account, I am unable to message NextDoor, utilize their help functions, or even respond to the amplified gaslighting mentioning me directly by name.
Ironically, none of my posts (which are usually links to external news stories) or comments have been deleted, signifying to me that the content in which I share does not violate the ND TOS. Yet in an instant, just about the time I reengage ND because there is something I feel I should share with my neighbors- my access is immediately restricted.
Something nefarious is happening to a few of our neighbors in NextDoor. Bad actors have figured out how to game the system and suppress the speech of those they disagree with. We're going to find out how.
I too, am happy to have a new place to speak my peace- without the fear of censorship, strategic manipulation, or corrupt neighbors who attempt to disrupt honest discussion by silencing the voices who engage it.
Thanks WATCHCamas!
#imwatching