Nebby post alert: Are community flyers in Pittsburgh legit or parody?

Despite the proliferation of social media, there are still plenty of old-fashioned ways to communicate with the community. One that is tried and true is posting community flyers. They help to find lost pets, connect neighbors to services, or help you find someone to teach you to play a musical instrument.

But, according to some recent posts on Nextdoor, it's becoming a bit more difficult to rely on these flyers for legitimate reasons. Even so, the results are hilarious.

This week, a neighbor in Squirrel Hill posted a photo of flyer that asked people to help look for a lost Roomba named Higgins, which is not a pet, but a robot vacuum cleaner.

“His name is Higgins. 35 cm / 9 cm high / 2.8kg,” read the parody flyer the person obviously took from elsewhere online and posted to Nextdoor. “DOES NOT BITE !!!!”

Higgins’ battery life was listed, a dangerous 3%, as was his dustbin capacity of 190%, a very full robo-boi.
The next information that makes it even more abundantly clear that this flyer was not actually photographed in Pittsburgh is by offering words that nobody would use to describe Pittsburgh, like bungalow and beach.

“My husband left our bungalow door open and our Roomba escaped !!! We followed his cleaning track for 4km down to the beach where we lost his trail. HIGGINS CAN NOT SWIM !!! Please help us to bring Higgins back!”

Everyone on Nextdoor was good natured about the post, many sharing laughing emojis in reply to the post. One user even shared another parody community flyer that pokes fun at those musically inclined entrepreneurs, usually looking to sell music lessons.

The user said they saw a flyer in Regent Square a while ago that read “Wanna Learn To Play The Banjo?” with all the attached cut-off slips offering no contact information and instead reading the words “No Thanks.”
This phony flyer trend didn't start out of thin air. Years ago, our editor got sick of hearing a car alarm constantly going off in her neighborhood "at all hours of the day and night" and made a sign of her own.

Pittsburgh City Paper is setting out to collect the best, craziest, and non-offensive nebby posts from across the region. CP is going to keep sharing the best nebby posts when we find them, as often as we can, but we also would love our readers to help. If you come across a funny, interesting, or particularly nebby post, please send it our way to [email protected].