5 ms·

The button has no downside, with a possible benefit, so always push it. Also refers to discredited Bystander effect nonsense regarding Kitty Genocese murder: "t

The button has no downside, with a possible benefit, so always push it. Also refers to discredited Bystander effect nonsense regarding Kitty Genocese murder: "there is no evidence for the presence of 38 witnesses, or that witnesses observed the murder, or that witnesses remained inactive." https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0003-066X.62.6.555 https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0003-066X.6...

purplecats 3y ago
> The button has no downside downsides: - inconvenience (like if my hands are in my pocket) - exposure to illness transmission via increased contact with unknown but certainly dirty surface area (assuming touch is required) - energy expenditure (if its not immediately next to you, or you have a disability)
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- SlickNixon 3y ago
  >an angst that could otherwise be channeled more appropriately Sincerely, you might be on to something here.
- WheatMillington 3y ago
  This post is a reach and a half.
- jstarfish 3y ago
  You had to turn a doorknob to leave the house, but you're too disabled to push a fucking button designed for handicapped UX? You're going to touch traces of a million other people's gender fluids on every single other thing you touch during your errand. Germophobia is very selective.
- NiloCK 3y ago
  Amazing you managed to write this post or read any of the comments. Are your fingers OK? :)
  - spiderice 3y ago
    Don’t make me laugh I’m trying to optimize my life for 0 energy expenditure.
- Vecr 3y ago
  Touch it with your elbow. And don't walk around with your hands in your pockets near traffic, it's bad risk management.
  - gnicholas 3y ago
    Makes sense for the big buttons, but some of them have tiny ones with a little rain hat, inexplicably. Why don't they all have big buttons, which are much easier to push?
    - erhaetherth 3y ago
      We just have these stupid unpressable buttons near me. They're big with an embossed arrow on them, but if try to press it it might budge a quarter of a millimeter. I still don't understand how they work, if they're supposed to be capacitive or just have really tiny press windows. But they give zero satisfying feedback that you've successfully pressed the button. I hate them so much. And if you hit them hard they will murder your hand.
      - gnicholas 3y ago
        We have some that don't move much, but the make a beeping noise when you hit them, and an LED lights up.
    - Qwertious 3y ago
      >Why don't they all have big buttons, which are much easier to push? In Australia, they all do have big buttons.
- spiderice 3y ago
  If these are the top 3 “downsides” you can come up with, then I’m fine referring to it as “no downsides”
lll-o-lll 3y ago
There is one downside. Here in Australia, the walk signal does not happen unless you press the button. The unwritten convention is that if you are the first to the button, you will press it. Others arriving later will not press, for fear of looking like untrusting fools. This works fine 99% of the time. However, sometimes my wife will be there. She never presses the button (because she’s ADHD and always forgets), but stands nice and close. A pile of pedestrians will mill around, the lights will change, and the walk signal will stay red! Someone will then annoyedly step in and press the button approximately 20 times while everyone waits for another light cycle to complete. Her other trick is to enter an elevator and press no buttons. Eventually the lift will go somewhere, but she is often surprised at the destination!
- erhaetherth 3y ago
  Floor 3. It goes to floor 3. At least in my building, which I think has 5 floors. So I guess it wants to wait in the middle to be equidistant to all floors, but I suspect there is a flaw in that math because ground floor probably gets more traffic. Also, my wife is the same.
- kaoD 3y ago
  Don't you have indicators? In Spain the buttons (which BTW are increasingly uncommon, cars lost the battle) have two large indicators, lit depending on the state: - Please press - Wait for green
  - lll-o-lll 3y ago
    No, no indicators. Just a great big shiny button to press (or not press if you are my wife).
    - pixelesque 3y ago
      No indicators on the unit itself, but the opposite side normally only has the red man light illuminated if you've pressed it doesn't it, and no light at all if it needs to be pressed and hasn't? At least that's the way it is here in NZ, and when I've been in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane I haven't obviously noticed a general difference to here in NZ (there are particular crossings that are sometimes a bit different, i.e. you never need to press, but)...
andrewflnr 3y ago
One downside I've encountered: some crosswalk buttons in Arlington VA make very loud robo-voice announcements about their status only after you've pressed them. Very good for the visually impaired, I assume, but irritating for me. And the signals are on a timer, so it doesn't help to press them. Yeah, it's not much. In any other circumstance I press the dang button.

purplecats 3y ago

> The button has no downside downsides: - inconvenience (like if my hands are in my pocket) - exposure to illness transmission via increased contact with unknown but certainly dirty surface area (assuming touch is required) - energy expenditure (if its not immediately next to you, or you have a disability)

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
SlickNixon 3y ago
>an angst that could otherwise be channeled more appropriately Sincerely, you might be on to something here.
WheatMillington 3y ago
This post is a reach and a half.
jstarfish 3y ago
You had to turn a doorknob to leave the house, but you're too disabled to push a fucking button designed for handicapped UX? You're going to touch traces of a million other people's gender fluids on every single other thing you touch during your errand. Germophobia is very selective.
NiloCK 3y ago
Amazing you managed to write this post or read any of the comments. Are your fingers OK? :)
- spiderice 3y ago
  Don’t make me laugh I’m trying to optimize my life for 0 energy expenditure.
Vecr 3y ago
Touch it with your elbow. And don't walk around with your hands in your pockets near traffic, it's bad risk management.
- gnicholas 3y ago
  Makes sense for the big buttons, but some of them have tiny ones with a little rain hat, inexplicably. Why don't they all have big buttons, which are much easier to push?
  - erhaetherth 3y ago
    We just have these stupid unpressable buttons near me. They're big with an embossed arrow on them, but if try to press it it might budge a quarter of a millimeter. I still don't understand how they work, if they're supposed to be capacitive or just have really tiny press windows. But they give zero satisfying feedback that you've successfully pressed the button. I hate them so much. And if you hit them hard they will murder your hand.
    - gnicholas 3y ago
      We have some that don't move much, but the make a beeping noise when you hit them, and an LED lights up.
  - Qwertious 3y ago
    >Why don't they all have big buttons, which are much easier to push? In Australia, they all do have big buttons.
spiderice 3y ago
If these are the top 3 “downsides” you can come up with, then I’m fine referring to it as “no downsides”

lll-o-lll 3y ago

There is one downside. Here in Australia, the walk signal does not happen unless you press the button. The unwritten convention is that if you are the first to the button, you will press it. Others arriving later will not press, for fear of looking like untrusting fools. This works fine 99% of the time. However, sometimes my wife will be there. She never presses the button (because she’s ADHD and always forgets), but stands nice and close. A pile of pedestrians will mill around, the lights will change, and the walk signal will stay red! Someone will then annoyedly step in and press the button approximately 20 times while everyone waits for another light cycle to complete. Her other trick is to enter an elevator and press no buttons. Eventually the lift will go somewhere, but she is often surprised at the destination!

erhaetherth 3y ago
Floor 3. It goes to floor 3. At least in my building, which I think has 5 floors. So I guess it wants to wait in the middle to be equidistant to all floors, but I suspect there is a flaw in that math because ground floor probably gets more traffic. Also, my wife is the same.
kaoD 3y ago
Don't you have indicators? In Spain the buttons (which BTW are increasingly uncommon, cars lost the battle) have two large indicators, lit depending on the state: - Please press - Wait for green
- lll-o-lll 3y ago
  No, no indicators. Just a great big shiny button to press (or not press if you are my wife).
  - pixelesque 3y ago
    No indicators on the unit itself, but the opposite side normally only has the red man light illuminated if you've pressed it doesn't it, and no light at all if it needs to be pressed and hasn't? At least that's the way it is here in NZ, and when I've been in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane I haven't obviously noticed a general difference to here in NZ (there are particular crossings that are sometimes a bit different, i.e. you never need to press, but)...

andrewflnr 3y ago

One downside I've encountered: some crosswalk buttons in Arlington VA make very loud robo-voice announcements about their status only after you've pressed them. Very good for the visually impaired, I assume, but irritating for me. And the signals are on a timer, so it doesn't help to press them. Yeah, it's not much. In any other circumstance I press the dang button.