Communication, Connection, and the Silence in Between
I’ve been writing about my experience as a shareholder and user of Nextdoor, specifically my request to Jacob Chavis for the full insurance study published under his name and contact information.
I asked to understand the methodology, sample size, approach, and factors behind the research. Maybe I would learn something. Maybe there was a best practice to take away.
Today marks Day 25 without receiving the study or a response, despite several emails sent directly to Jacob, with some including Nirav Tolia and the press inbox.
Today, I had a flashback to how this entire journey started.
Before the shareholder questions, before the blogs, before the emails — it started with moderation.
I was suspended several times by local moderators. I appealed. The appeals were denied. Some suspensions appeared connected to being labeled “aggressive” toward a neighbor, questioning moderation decisions, or openly challenging how the platform was operating.
The final suspension came after posting too many for-sale items. I was told to combine items into one post. I followed those instructions — and was suspended again.
In my appeal, I asked a simple question: Where in the Usage Policy or Terms and Conditions does it state the frequency limit or exact number of items a user can post for sale?
That is when the conversation went silent.
I’ve said this many times: we tolerate what we allow.
As CEO, Nirav Tolia shapes the culture, processes, and customer experience on the platform. When I questioned these issues on his LinkedIn posts, I was blocked.
Soon after I began commenting on Nextdoor’s LinkedIn posts about my dissatisfaction with the lack of communication, comments were turned off on those posts. Timing is timing, but from my perspective, the silence continued.
Then came the request to Jacob Chavis for the full study.
Again — silence.
For a platform built around communication and connection, we've spent a lot of time not communicating or connecting.
My bigger question is this:
If this happens over a simple user inquiry and a shareholder asking questions, who else is experiencing the same thing?
Join the discussion:
