Let’s remember when the “Seahawks cannon” thread began on NextDoor, ending with a brawl at the library, on this day in 2017 (November 2)
My love for the Twitter account @bestofnextdoor is sincere and well-documented. Towards the end of 2017, the Twitter account and it’s creator Jenn Takahashi, made all of our lives a little better by posting the “Seahawks Cannon” thread. It was incredible. Two years ago today, people on NextDoor West Seattle took a break from complaining about homeless people to engage in an argument on whether or not it was cool to set off a cannon whenever the Seahawks scored. Opinions were mixed but tempers were heated.
Steve Cohen of the PI wrote of this:
A dispute on a neighborhood website led to fisticuffs at a Seattle-area library.
Confused?
Then you obviously don’t know about Nextdoor, the site that connects neighbors and allows them to discuss local happenings, solicit and provide neighborhood recommendations, sell unwanted items and (mostly) complain about homeless people in their parks.
Interactions between Nextdoor neighbors frequently take a turn for the bizarre, which led to the creation of the Best of Not-Nextdoor Twitter account, providing “quality neighborhood drama” since October. On Thursday, the account introduced a doozy of a story San Francisco-based curator Jenn Takahashi dubbed “Seahawks Cannon, aka the legendary Nextdoor thread that caused one Seattle neighborhood to brawl at their local library.”
It started — as most things like this tend to — with a neighbor named Justus tweeting a photo of a dog in a bathtub on Nov. 2.
“This photo is of my dog during a Seahawks game,” Justus wrote. “Every Sunday, whenever the Hawks score or they win a game, someone in the neighborhood lights fireworks or a cannon, and my dog retreats to the ‘safety’ of the bathtub or under the bed.
OK.
The post struck a nerve. Dozens of neighbors replied in solidarity with their own Seahawks-noise-related complaints.
“I no longer go out and watch games anymore because my Charlie just quivers the whole time and buries his head in my lap,” wrote Karin.
Norman went a step further.
“I root for the Seahawks to lose!” he wrote. “Very satisfying when they lose.”
“I don’t think that’s the main sentiment around here Norman,” Sharon responded, “just do not like the extra LOUD noises.”
But wait, there’s more. Oh Steve, what are you doing????
Steve secured a meeting spot at the White Center Library on S.W. 107th Street on Tuesday night so neighbors could meet in person and discuss the issue face to face, which he apparently thought was a good idea despite hundreds of messages indicating the contrary. It didn’t go well.
“Well that was a mess,” Andrew posted.
Steve provided details.
“All my hopes and expectations for something positive to come out of last nights community meeting got dashed pretty quick by folks that just wanted a fight,” he wrote (sic). “They came in with fists clenched looking for a fight. … So it went bad. Yelling, scuffling, all in the Library. … In hindsight I should have turned off the lights and left but I didn’t. Police were called, threats were made, citations were handed out.”
Steve then apologized to the library staff and patrons before announcing he was “stepping away from Nextdoor.”
A King County Sheriff’s spokesperson confirmed to SeattlePI that deputies responded to the library around 7:45 p.m. to investigate an alleged assault. A user named Peggy filled in some of the details.
“It was as if a small group of noisemakers had decided to show up and prevent any discussion whatsoever from taking place,” she wrote. “It was disheartening, to say the least, to witness this display of immaturity and underlying violence. The goal of those who came to defend the noise appeared to intimidate everyone. A sad spectacle.”
A user named Jason said he car was keyed with a (misspelled) homophobic slur, which of course led to other neighbors trying unsuccessfully to track down the perpetrator.
Wendy summed the whole sorry episode up in the final tweet of the string.
“Very sad that this situation devolved to this ugly altercation,” she wrote. “Come on people get a grip.”
Amazing.
Sources:
The whole thread is here:
