Screecap of rottenneighbor.com in Toronto.

Sometimes truly ill-conceived ideas meet easily-accessed technology and make it to the web. Rotten Neighbors (pardon the American spelling) is one such not-so-bright idea that somehow made it through development and has gone live online.

The idea is simple. Using the Google Maps interface, you point to a house or building and tell the world how crazy/sleazy/ugly/horny/etc the occupants are. People visiting the site can then engage in discussions about said outed neighbours via comments. I really can't see this amounting to much good, especially when people are added to the database with their full names listed (a violation of the terms of use, but observed on the site nonetheless).

The Toronto area hasn't really caught on much (if you zoom way out you'll find more action in Kitchener/Waterloo), but a handful of listings have been posted. Listings for Toronto proper point to a couple of slum landlords, a chronic gambler, and a woman who (*insert religious entity* forbidding) feeds stray cats.

A quick scan of southwestern Ontario reveals that surrounding cities are reporting rotten neighbours too. Watch out for the gay lovers in Burlington who are into wacky loud sex stuff that's not good for children to overhear, the overweight slob in Cambridge, and the annoying dogs in Mississauga. A few positive endorsements for good neighbours are also peppered throughout.

While the site claims that it "is the first real estate search engine of its kind allowing you to rate and review good and bad neighbors before and after you move so you can make a smart real estate decision." my sense is that this may hold little water since there are good people and bad people pretty much everywhere. If anything, I see this as a virtual can of worms.

That said, if you choose to use the site, be sure to go over their legal/user agreement first.

Seen on boingboing.net.