This is an interesting article because it ends with a quote from the chief product officer about prioritizing quality comments over engagement, and admits that recent changes have increased quality at the expense of engagement.
🔖 Nextdoor will remind users to keep conversations 'constructive' and 'empathetic' | Engadget https://www.engadget.com/nextdoor-constructive-conversations-103055779.html 🗒 annotated https://via.hypothes.is/https://www.engadget.com/nextdoor-constructive-conversations-103055779.html
@tdotrob I don’t know if it is working…it is too early for me to have noticed any change in my feed. In the annotations, though, I talk about how this is an interesting, nuanced approach to improving community engagement. Nextdoor may never tell us if it is effective, but I find the concepts useful to consider more broadly. See https://code4lib.social/@dltj/108279817853366069
@dltj Although I won't argue with "interesting, nuanced approach to improving community engagement" I'm taking a wait and see approach, where the waiting is mostly away from the site. I live in a "purple" geo and my neighborhood can be pretty toxic. Maybe it's better in more homogenous neighborhoods, or where they put Xanax in the water instead of fluoride, I dunno.
Prior to COVID I was always on the road and didn't have a chance to meet many of my neighbors IRL. NextDoor showed me that I mostly don't want to. More civil online engagement might improve IRL engagement, but I expect that'll take a long time.
@dltj
"recent changes have increased quality at the expense of engagement"
So it's less of a dumpster fire now? Because I'm skeptical of any claims it is not safe to go back. The main thing NextDoor did for the world is largely confirm pre-existing beliefs - at Internet scale - that we really don't want to know our neighbors. IRL they are still unmoderated.