City-Data.comReviews 286

The forum is like many such forums, full of idiots & social rejects patting one another on the back & trying to feel more special than they are. There is a lot of bullying of newer members & blatant stupidity/ignorance by the older members - even if the question and/or commentary of new members is clear - that makes you wonder what the combined intelligence level of the old members is (rather low most like). There was, as an example, one new member who commented that she wasn't interested in sex prior to marriage due to cultural reasons & the idiots kept disrespecting her choice by trying to bully her into sex is ok, etc.

It's not even useful for city information. I've lived in a lot of cities & some of the information, well most that I've seen actually, is just copied & pasted from google. This was best exemplified with a post questioning about my home city & the responses; most of the responses were either from just passing through (maybe spending a day in the city) or so obviously retrieved from google they were all around little more than pathetic jokes. I wouldn't trust anything posted city related on this forum & most certainly not to make a moving decision.

As an ex-New Yorker, living in Virginia for 32 years and now looking to move to another state I have found City Data to be extremely helpful in weeding out places I would not want to live. The forums are very helpful because they put you in touch with people who actually live in those places and the pages on City Data are overwhelmingly helpful when it comes to things like population and crime statistics. Real estate agents are by law not allowed to discuss things I feel I have a right to know before I move someplace. I check City Data for every city I consider. There are other sites I check also, and the truth is when I do actually visit those cities, while house hunting, I find that the majority of what is written, whether it is good or bad turns out to be true. City Data isn't just helpful, it's a necessity.

Long Story Short: The members post extreme right-wing view points that are considered to be racist and bigoted. If you attempt to point out their flaws with evidence, you will either be censored by the mods (with them editing the post saying that you are wrong) or they will banned you outright with the reason as "troll."

The Politics Forum is a toilet. Just mostly conservatives hating on liberals non-stop to the point it is quite sad that people will spend hours on City-Data just arguing over people they will never know personally. Some members will even post crap like blacks hate the Jews and we must fight the Democrats since they will attack the white people. Enough said.

Before you use City Data do your background research on the owner. It's easy enough to google his name and read up on him and his previous "businesses." He clearly has ulterior motives for gathering data on users and discussions. Be careful about what you share about yourself on this site.

Second everything said below about the site's leanings towards extreme right wing propaganda is true. City Data is not what it appears to be on the surface. Again, do your research on the site's owner and if you feel you absolutely *must* join, do so with extreme caution, even if it seems like a place full of people "just like me."

While the state forums are ok at best (mostly realtors trying to get your business or people who are right-wing trying to tell you everything negative about cities due to being a Democrat city), the real terrible part or the site is the politics forum. After a recent poll of member's ages, it is mostly people who are 50+. A lot of them post really extreme right wing views, including saying that slavery was ok in the South, black people are lazy, and all Democrats must be killed. Members do post a lot of misinformation from sites that were confirmed to post incorrect news. If you attempt to point out their flaws with their argument with evidence, the mods (who are also very right-wing) will ban you outright with the comment "troll."

Some of the comments included that the fall of america is due to many homosexuals can adopt children. I wish I was making this stuff up, but I'm not. The state forums once again aren't that bad, you just need to be careful from the ones who are pushing their agenda on you. Members like Rachel976, TheGoodTheBadTheUgly, Oldglory are some of the posters that post extreme Alt-Right talking points. Some of the posts from Rachel976 are offensive to someone like me who have Jewish heritage (including posting stuff like would be blacks be happy if they get a money check from the government due to slavery, and also saying that the Jews must fight/kill Arabs and vote for Republicans if they know what's good for them). Then again, the site is trash except for those who love to spread lies.

I agree that realtors are probably on this site as well as those writing books or other articles on the best places to live in a particular state or country.

But what happened to freedom of speech and freedom of the press? You people bashing posters for saying what they want to say have a nerve and are promoting what many Americans and others in non-socialist countries are fighting against. You don't have to agree with the content of those racist or partisan posts you mention. We should be free to say what we want whether it's offensive to some people or not! Period.

This is really just a racist site pretending to be a legit forum. Moderators will censor and shut down any views that don't fall in line with their racist views. Very far right fascist tendencies. I was banned because I called out a member who was posting multiple stories about black on white crime. I asked him why he was so obsessed with stories about black on white crime and was called a communist who supports white genocide. The moderator banned me hours later for "trolling". The member remains active and continues to rant about anti white racism and white genocide.

Overzealous moderation, unless you live in southern Oregon, where the California transplant moderator lives.
The moderator has "moderated" this forum into the ground.
It is now useless.

Most of the regular Oregon posters don't even live in Oregon., and they all seem like older preppers or redneck survivalists.

Maybe TWO of the Six Portland posters do live in Portland, but they are geriatrics with a very limited knowledge of modern Portland.

Don't wast your time here.
Useless and outdated information.

Asked for advice and was shocked at the blatant bigotry and promotion of racist ideas. This site is truly the worst the internet has to offer. What makes them even more dangerous is that they hide their true intentions and pretend to be a fair and balanced forum. At least other far right forums admit their intentions. At this moment members are arguing that Islam was the cause of slavery in Southern Confederate states. Not kidding.

City-Data is essentially a propaganda/disinformation site for realtors, frequented by a paid content generators and thuggish paid moderators. It tends to be fairly racist, they are looking to steer white buyers to their preferred realtors. Seriously think it should be investigated for discriminatory practices. If you're looking for input on locations, best to use friends and family and actual real people. Most of the frequent posters there are either realtors lying about who they are and what they do for a living, or paid content generators. This is not the place to go to if you're seriously looking to relocate.

I first started using City Data to get information an upcoming move. Whenever a new person talks about moving to WA state or any state, the same people come on and talk up the good stuff. Aside from WA rain, no one mentions anything bad. The site is full of realtors who will say anything to make a sale. There is too much dishonesty and beware of hiring a realtor from here.

If you want to go to the Alt med health forums, the mods are all pro medicine and will frequently shut down threads that don't agree with their views. They are fine with a certain group of pro med people making fun of those on Alt medicine. If you defend yourself, it's a good way to get banned for awhile. The pro med trolls never get banned.

The political forum is crazy, I don't go there anymore.

City Data is full of dishonest people and trolls. On the plus side, I've also met some nice people and it has good dog and animal information. It's a public site, so be aware and don't give out personal information.

I visited City Data forums in order to obtain information on a possible relocation to the California desert. All I got were former residents of the state - who still troll the CA threads - telling me why that was a bad idea, and proclaiming why they've left (high taxes, homeless people, Governor Newsome, liberals, yadda yadda yadda). If they're so happy in the southern states they fled to, why visit the California forums to whine about what's going on in a state they no longer live in? The political forums were particularly virulent, with those threads on the media filled with complaints from Trump supporters about CNN, and others, hating on Trump. SMH. City Data is no better than Reddit and is, in my opinion, even worse in many ways. Definitely a site for old, pissed off White Republicans who hate the poor, women, and immigrants legal or not.

The title says it all. I joined the forum to discuss national and local politics, but the moderators are determined to make sure that it is nothing more than a haven for incels and other trolls. Ibginnie is the worst offender by far, and CaseyB takes the silver medal.

Just one example of what the more "neutral" brand of moderation looks like:

A poster started a thread asking where to find predominantly white neighborhoods. Several people responded by saying that the post was blatantly racist and offensive. CaseyB defended the original poster's question as a perfectly reasonable request, and gave him some helpful tips on where to go to avoid minorities. CaseyB also deleted posts and gave out infractions for "name-calling" to anyone who accused the original poster of racism.

Far too many people are allowed to post racist content and go unchecked. When you respond to these people and try to have discourse you're made a villain and your thread is deleted. This happened numerous times in just a couple weeks. Racism runs rampant in the political section and is allowed to breathe freely without consequence. People cheering the death of 15/16 yo boys who were shot to death while committing a crime. Many posters saying blacks, mexicans, and asians should all be shipped into one state to keep their neighborhoods safe. This forum breeds hate and should be viewed as such.

My account of many years was summarily banned by the Denver moderator for posting an honest question about the transgender population in the Denver area.

I sent a PM to one of the site administrators, and never received a response. This is the problem when you make various moderators into little dictators with unlimited power. Too bad. However, bit does explain why their site tends to have very little participation despite having been around for decades.