6 ms·

I really like alternative solutions like this to bad behaviour. My favourite instance of this is story of hooded teenagers outside stores intimidating passers b

I really like alternative solutions like this to bad behaviour. My favourite instance of this is story of hooded teenagers outside stores intimidating passers by and general unwanted loitering in car parks etc. The solution was to loudly play music that the miscreants would really hate, like Engelbert Humperdinck, Neil Diamond, Dolly Parton etc. They moved on pretty quickly because they couldnt stand listening to it.

pserwylo 12y ago
This has also happened at train stations in Melbourne. The music of choice is usually classical. Anecdotally I haven't noticed any specific change in behaviour around the music, but it did and still continues to sound like a good idea to me.
visakanv 12y ago
Ha! That is amazing. I would love to read a book or blog just full of examples like these. Another couple I can think of: (more common examples)- * reducing baggage waiting time by increasing the walking time to the baggage carousels. * Reducing "the phone rings too many times before customer support answers" complaints by lengthening the time per ring. * Using mirrors next to elevators so people distract themselves and feel less bothered by the wait.
- jschwartzi 12y ago
  > * Using mirrors next to elevators so people distract themselves and feel less bothered by the wait. Pretty much exactly like a pet bird.
- agumonkey 12y ago
  I can't find it again but I've read an article listing these things. One other (obvious) instance is the shelve full of tiny cheap products (gum, batteries, ...) put just before the checkout, also to distract people waiting in line.
  - visakanv 12y ago
    Oh! I've always thought about those things as "impulse buys", but I never quite realized that they were also functional distractions! I look at magazines when I'm waiting in line at my local supermarket. Sneaky sneaky.
- baddox 12y ago
  Animating progress bars to decrease perceived wait times. http://www.chrisharrison.net/projects/progressbars2/ProgressBarsHarrison.pdf http://www.chrisharrison.net/projects/progressbars2/Progress...
  - kuschku 12y ago
    Oh yes! the next android progress bars [1] are a perfect example of this. I actually kinda like watching them. — [1] http://www.google.com/design/spec/components/progress-activity.html#progress-activity-types-of-indicators http://www.google.com/design/spec/components/progress-activi...
- frazerb 12y ago
  StreetPong - play a game of pong with the person across the street, while waiting for the Green Man. I think this floated by on HN a few years ago. From Urban-Invention (came out of a german university I think). http://vimeo.com/113918378 http://vimeo.com/113918378 http://urban-invention.com/ http://urban-invention.com/
- adamsi 12y ago
  Nat Geo has a series, crowd control: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/crowd-control/ http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/crowd-control/
- simonbyrne 12y ago
  > * reducing baggage waiting time by increasing the walking time to the baggage carousels. That seems to be the approach that Heathrow uses.
girvo 12y ago
The annoying version of that is in Roma St train station in Brisbane, Australia, they play a super high-pitched noise -- the theory is only young people can hear it, and after a while it starts to really annoy. The issue with it, is if you have good hearing and aren't a young "hoodlum" it'll drive you crazy if you're hanging around having a smoke, or meeting friends. I'm unsure if it's still there, it was a couple years ago now.
- dorian-graph 12y ago
  I'm youngish and can't remember having heard it recently at Roma St. I know of one shopping centre in Logan that plays classical music at the entrances as the previous poster mentioned.
- tacticus 12y ago
  Gotta love queensland. The state that made it illegal to go have coffee with two friends without a police permit.
  - vince_refiti 12y ago
    Only if you and your friends are known members of criminal gangs.
    - girvo 12y ago
      I've got no sympathy for the bikie gangs, they made their beds and they should lie in them. But, we Queenslanders should not forgot our history of police power overreach and corruption. Governments give up powers so rarely, they only expand them. I worry about these laws a lot...
- Margh 12y ago
  Are you sure that's not a bird repellant? Several bars (eg. Pig and Whistle on Eagle St.) around the city have these, very effective at driving away attractive young people with good hearing; birds not so much.
dorian-graph 12y ago
They did this at a shopping centre in a suburb outside of Brisbane, Australia* in a low-medium income level area suburb ant it worked quite well. Browns Plains, Logan city
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
pinot 12y ago
A few liquor stores in Oakland play country music pretty loud. Around the 12th St BART entrances.
heyheyhey 12y ago
Lots of benches downtown (at least in PDX) have a bar in the middle to discourage bums from comfortably sleeping on them. The bar doesn't affect citizens other than being forced to share the bench.
- fijal 12y ago
  Bar does only shuffle the problem around to make it "someones else" problem. Maybe having a bench not be a cool option is an answer to those problems?
  - jff 12y ago
    > Maybe having a bench not be a cool option is an answer to those problems? Ah, yes, exploit the well-known fact that homeless people are slaves to fashion. "Attention homeless people, sleeping on benches is so over"
RobertKerans 12y ago
In Newcastle (UK) they went through a period of playing classical music in the Metro stations for the same reason. They stopped doing it after about 6 months; I assume inconclusive results (which is a shame, given that it had the added benefit of being very pleasant).
mootothemax 12y ago
They moved on pretty quickly because they couldnt stand listening to it. Which makes me kinda dislike this solution, as it does nothing to address the core issue, and only shifts the problem on elsewhere.
- zo1 12y ago
  What exactly would you like them to do? Detain the miscreants? Speak to their parents? Arrest them? Call the police? Confront them? Hire armed guards? Put up a fence? No-loitering signs? You know, it's not their job to fix problems. They pay taxes for that, and it should be fixed and addressed by the local municipality, and until that happens, I think it's brilliant that free individuals find peaceful methods at resolving their own problems. If that happens to move the problem elsewhere, then that's also fine. Either that elsewhere is a concentrated spot where it can be targeted more easily, or another convenience store that can do the same (or expect the police/municipality to fix).
  - lclarkmichalek 12y ago
    Provide something for young people to do, I guess?
    - Kalium 12y ago
      Generally, there is something for them to do. It's just not the same something that they want to do. And, well, there's not always a good solution within those constraints.

pserwylo 12y ago

This has also happened at train stations in Melbourne. The music of choice is usually classical. Anecdotally I haven't noticed any specific change in behaviour around the music, but it did and still continues to sound like a good idea to me.

visakanv 12y ago

Ha! That is amazing. I would love to read a book or blog just full of examples like these. Another couple I can think of: (more common examples)- * reducing baggage waiting time by increasing the walking time to the baggage carousels. * Reducing "the phone rings too many times before customer support answers" complaints by lengthening the time per ring. * Using mirrors next to elevators so people distract themselves and feel less bothered by the wait.

jschwartzi 12y ago
> * Using mirrors next to elevators so people distract themselves and feel less bothered by the wait. Pretty much exactly like a pet bird.
agumonkey 12y ago
I can't find it again but I've read an article listing these things. One other (obvious) instance is the shelve full of tiny cheap products (gum, batteries, ...) put just before the checkout, also to distract people waiting in line.
- visakanv 12y ago
  Oh! I've always thought about those things as "impulse buys", but I never quite realized that they were also functional distractions! I look at magazines when I'm waiting in line at my local supermarket. Sneaky sneaky.
baddox 12y ago
Animating progress bars to decrease perceived wait times. http://www.chrisharrison.net/projects/progressbars2/ProgressBarsHarrison.pdf http://www.chrisharrison.net/projects/progressbars2/Progress...
- kuschku 12y ago
  Oh yes! the next android progress bars [1] are a perfect example of this. I actually kinda like watching them. — [1] http://www.google.com/design/spec/components/progress-activity.html#progress-activity-types-of-indicators http://www.google.com/design/spec/components/progress-activi...
frazerb 12y ago
StreetPong - play a game of pong with the person across the street, while waiting for the Green Man. I think this floated by on HN a few years ago. From Urban-Invention (came out of a german university I think). http://vimeo.com/113918378 http://vimeo.com/113918378 http://urban-invention.com/ http://urban-invention.com/
adamsi 12y ago
Nat Geo has a series, crowd control: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/crowd-control/ http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/crowd-control/
simonbyrne 12y ago
> * reducing baggage waiting time by increasing the walking time to the baggage carousels. That seems to be the approach that Heathrow uses.

girvo 12y ago

The annoying version of that is in Roma St train station in Brisbane, Australia, they play a super high-pitched noise -- the theory is only young people can hear it, and after a while it starts to really annoy. The issue with it, is if you have good hearing and aren't a young "hoodlum" it'll drive you crazy if you're hanging around having a smoke, or meeting friends. I'm unsure if it's still there, it was a couple years ago now.

dorian-graph 12y ago
I'm youngish and can't remember having heard it recently at Roma St. I know of one shopping centre in Logan that plays classical music at the entrances as the previous poster mentioned.
tacticus 12y ago
Gotta love queensland. The state that made it illegal to go have coffee with two friends without a police permit.
- vince_refiti 12y ago
  Only if you and your friends are known members of criminal gangs.
  - girvo 12y ago
    I've got no sympathy for the bikie gangs, they made their beds and they should lie in them. But, we Queenslanders should not forgot our history of police power overreach and corruption. Governments give up powers so rarely, they only expand them. I worry about these laws a lot...
Margh 12y ago
Are you sure that's not a bird repellant? Several bars (eg. Pig and Whistle on Eagle St.) around the city have these, very effective at driving away attractive young people with good hearing; birds not so much.

dorian-graph 12y ago

They did this at a shopping centre in a suburb outside of Brisbane, Australia* in a low-medium income level area suburb ant it worked quite well. Browns Plains, Logan city

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

pinot 12y ago

A few liquor stores in Oakland play country music pretty loud. Around the 12th St BART entrances.

heyheyhey 12y ago

Lots of benches downtown (at least in PDX) have a bar in the middle to discourage bums from comfortably sleeping on them. The bar doesn't affect citizens other than being forced to share the bench.

fijal 12y ago
Bar does only shuffle the problem around to make it "someones else" problem. Maybe having a bench not be a cool option is an answer to those problems?
- jff 12y ago
  > Maybe having a bench not be a cool option is an answer to those problems? Ah, yes, exploit the well-known fact that homeless people are slaves to fashion. "Attention homeless people, sleeping on benches is so over"

RobertKerans 12y ago

In Newcastle (UK) they went through a period of playing classical music in the Metro stations for the same reason. They stopped doing it after about 6 months; I assume inconclusive results (which is a shame, given that it had the added benefit of being very pleasant).

mootothemax 12y ago

They moved on pretty quickly because they couldnt stand listening to it. Which makes me kinda dislike this solution, as it does nothing to address the core issue, and only shifts the problem on elsewhere.

zo1 12y ago
What exactly would you like them to do? Detain the miscreants? Speak to their parents? Arrest them? Call the police? Confront them? Hire armed guards? Put up a fence? No-loitering signs? You know, it's not their job to fix problems. They pay taxes for that, and it should be fixed and addressed by the local municipality, and until that happens, I think it's brilliant that free individuals find peaceful methods at resolving their own problems. If that happens to move the problem elsewhere, then that's also fine. Either that elsewhere is a concentrated spot where it can be targeted more easily, or another convenience store that can do the same (or expect the police/municipality to fix).
- lclarkmichalek 12y ago
  Provide something for young people to do, I guess?
  - Kalium 12y ago
    Generally, there is something for them to do. It's just not the same something that they want to do. And, well, there's not always a good solution within those constraints.