For information:

Thank you to the neighbours who have been in touch with concerns about the letter encouraging you as a ‘Caerlaverock Neighbour’ to join a ‘Nextdoor Caerlaverock’ App. 

Please be aware that this Nextdoor App has nothing to do with our ‘Caerlaverock Neighbours’ Group on Facebook, nor the Caerlaverock Community Association. We are still fielding calls and enquiries about it. 

What is the Nextdoor App?

To help avoid confusion, we did a wee bit of digging:

  • The Nextdoor App is run as a business (much like Facebook) and is based in the US. Privacy controls that govern UK/EU Apps seem to be missing.
  • The Nextdoor App will also contain advertising, business partnerships and sponsored posts (which funds the Nextdoor business). 
  • There are not already over 800 posts on ‘Nextdoor Caerlaverock’ as the letter suggests (there is one ‘welcome’ post at the time of writing). 
  • The app covers a much larger area than Caerlaverock, incorporating everywhere on the map between Caerlaverock and Moffat, so any details you put on it will not be kept local.
  • There are no local people in control of the app, if there are any issues re privacy, disputes, scams that arise on the NextdoorApp.
  • The letter is sent as part of an aggressive marketing strategy, similar to a chain letter, it is not from anyone we know (please do get in touch and we can update this post with your information).
  • The Nextdoor App itself is not a scam as such, but their practices in using your contact details on your phone to physically post invites on your behalf to others without your explicit consent are extremely questionable. If you sign up, and don’t disable this option in your privacy settings you may find that you will have inadvertently sent physical letters or emails to people in your contacts on your phone with your name on it too, without your permission. Your contacts will then get letters in the post from you, without your knowledge of ever having sent them.

Please note: ‘your neighbour David’, as the letter is signed off, is not David Gilbert, Chairperson of the Caerlaverock Community Association [CCA]!

We have also discovered this information from D&G Police, from others using the Nextdoor app who are unhappy about the way the app is using their contacts:

So please be aware that this is Nextdoor App is entirely separate to our Caerlaverock Community Association website, Facebook page and the locally maintained Caerlaverock Neighbours Facebook Group. We have no affiliation with the Nextdoor App, nor can do anything about any problems that may arise from you joining the Nextdoor App. If there are e.g. scams or personal comments on the Nextdoor App, we have no control over it – you will need to try and contact the App creators yourselves. 

Similar to eBay, Craigslist, Gumtree and Facebook, you have to be careful of scammers using these services. Especially so in this case as there is a perception that a neighbours group would be more trusted: read more:

Whilst we know that some folk’s invite went straight in the (blue) bin, the Nextdoor App could be a welcome resource (we have joined to keep up with any developments).

We’re not here to tell you not to use it, this is your choice whether you do or not. However, we feel it does dilute the extensive efforts we have already put in place through our existing Community groups. We also find the underhanded way it goes about getting signups and the similar name to local efforts are upsetting and confusing people who have contacted us about it.

Here’s the REAL Caerlaverock Neighbours:

For information, the existing Caerlaverock Community Neighbours Support Group  began life through some local people who created the Caerlaverock Community Covid Support Group at the start of the Covid19 pandemic.

The aim was to offer local help (from a trusted core group which invited known and vetted local people) to the community – shopping, prescription collection etc. It has a webpage, a Facebook group, and offers local trusted help to those not online through a Freephone phone number 0800 048 7499. We posted information about this group through everybody’s door in the community via printed newsletters, and have a link to this information on the front page of this website.

It changed names/ purpose as time went on, as there was less need for specific isolation support; the Facebook group is still administered and run by a small team of Caerlaverock residents (not all CCA members).

As a private ‘Facebook group’ (not a ‘page’), you can make posts directly, and knowing the group is set to private, it means that only people that have been approved to join can see your posts. 

It has been a great resource for e.g. reuniting lost pets, offering things for free, sales and wants, finding lost keys/ chickens etc, informing folk of local road/flooding conditions, safety concerns, gathering support for local causes.

It’s also the place to share info and find out what is going on locally etc.

Caerlaverock Community Association (CCA)

If you need the attention of the CCA so we can help you with any issues locally – please contact us directly. You can also come to our meetings which are open to all, details of which are posted up on local noticeboards and on this website to have a direct say in matters affecting the community. 

Comment below, use the phone numbers here on our website, or through messaging our Facebook Page. You can also email the CCA at: caerlaverockcommunity@gmail.com

Thank you for your support.