Wait... Isn't that exactly what an HOA is?

Did you ever hear of the channel S.V. Seeker? Honestly my favourite bit of niche internet drama, I can't even begin to list the crazy shit that went down but basically a madman with zero knowledge of sailing let alone boatbuilding welded together an ill-conceived hulk roughly according to the plans of someone who is himself a nutter; misadventures on the way include pouring a lead keel and poisoning the topsoil if not himself, faking an explosion and resulting traumatic brain injury to learn who his 'real fans' were, and creating possibly the scariest boat I've ever heard of which no doubt will end up on the news one day having becoming a hazard to navigation.

Anyway he's the first person I ever heard of using a poo knife. He was openly advocating the practice, as well as a 'poo nest' to prevent splashback.

The only way that my spouse and I remotely come close to buying everything we need at the store is by using AnyList and training ourselves to add items to it the very moment we realize we need it. I've pulled out my phone in the middle of a doctor consultation just to add "Cat Litter" to the list, because I know if I didn't do it then, I'd forget, and wouldn't remember again until it was too late and the cats were already in active revolt.

Good on you, bud, I've done the same. I understand the Internet is always in an uproar over HoAs but it's cooperative self governance. In our community we collectively own the land. A good HoA is essential. I have a background in fiscal analysis and budgeting and I can provide my neighbors these skills for a healthier neighborhood.

I'm sure there's some dickhead on the Internet claiming we fined him unjustly for his broken window. He probably won't tell you that it was broken for five years, caused a pipe burst that flooded his widow neighbor's unit and forced her to discard her deceased husband's possessions. Then waited until the following year's frost without acting.

It's a total pain in the ass of a gig and at least 30% of your residents are unpleasable. But the alternative is a working class neighborhood gets run by that one person who's happy to fine for out of season decorations. If motherfuckers stepped up and acted like the board members they want to see, maybe they wouldn't constantly whine about what are, to the majority of them, purely hypothetical tyrants.

There's also a big difference between a condo/townhouse HOA and a suburban neighborhood one. Condo HOAs are focused on maintaining shared facilities and that would otherwise be too expensive for the owners to care for. Suburban HOAs for single family homes are all about enforcing uniformity and control.