I do however want to segue into an idea I had for a new doorbell. Basically when you press the button, instead of immediately ringing inside the house, a pre recorded voice asks a series of questions. Then, AI analyzes the answers against your set of rules and determines if the person is allowed to be interrupting you. Imagine a sales person ringing your doorbell and getting you asking "hey what’s this about? Is she expecting you?’ And then declining to ring the doorbell and asking them to leave. My cats would be thrilled.
I love this idea. It could be used and programmed to individual preferences. I would train it that if they said they were police it would ask if they have a warrant and if they didn’t it wouldn’t ring the bell.
It’s an annoying amount. Jehovah’s Witnesses (they are relentless), Verizon (trying to get people to switch ISP services from Comcast), shady home security services that ask way too many probing questions, local activists seeking donations for their cause, and political campaign volunteers.
Generally if there’s a knock on my door, I ignore it.
there are ways to get into the jehovas witness shitlist so they never bother you again like telling them youre disfellowshipped, as its forbidden for them to interact with disfellowshipped members.
Answer the door naked once, and the JWs will blacklist you. If you aren’t willing to get naked, order the biggest lifelike dildo you can get for under $20 bucks and hand it to them the next time they call.
While it varies a lot and I probably miss many for not being home, I see at least every month when the weather is good
When there were younger families in the neighborhood, there were always kids looking to fundraiser in various ways to help fund kid activities. Selling Girl Scout cookies is a ver well known example but many kids activities do this
now I mostly see home improvement solicitations, “we’re in your neighborhood doing x and we’ll give you a special deal if you do it now”. I don’t know if those are ever legit but it’s a well known scam
election stuff. Way too much election stuff. New candidates need many signatures of support to get on a ballot. Local politicians want to become a familiar face. Activists want signatures for ballot initiatives or referendums
Currently a video doorbell can pop up a picture on your phone so you can make the same decision. Most can also act as an intercom.
My first reaction was to like the idea as a nice extension to existing functionality, I don’t see it working.
Someone you don’t want to see has no reason to be honest: solicitors are already in a gray area trying to trick you out of your money and there’s no reason it would stop here
Someone you do want to see may be annoyed and discouraged at jumping through too many hoops. You’re not that important to deal with that
easier screening process, make them ring the doorbell three times to actually ring it, and then make the first two shock them just a little bit. should screen out most people who are ringing your doorbell for trivial reasons, and if you know the trick you could just push it with the sleeve of your shirt, or a stick, or something.
you could also just get a no soliciting sign, though.
This is insane.
I do however want to segue into an idea I had for a new doorbell. Basically when you press the button, instead of immediately ringing inside the house, a pre recorded voice asks a series of questions. Then, AI analyzes the answers against your set of rules and determines if the person is allowed to be interrupting you. Imagine a sales person ringing your doorbell and getting you asking "hey what’s this about? Is she expecting you?’ And then declining to ring the doorbell and asking them to leave. My cats would be thrilled.
AI doorbell: Please state why ‘your house is on fire’ is a valid reason to interrupting the individual inside.
AI doorbell: Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Please state your reason again. Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Please state your reason again.
Salespeople would very quickly switch to knocking loudly.
I love this idea. It could be used and programmed to individual preferences. I would train it that if they said they were police it would ask if they have a warrant and if they didn’t it wouldn’t ring the bell.
Personally I would like people to do a minimum of 5 Captchas to send me a text message.
Not being from the US: how many unsolicited visits do you get that this is even a problem? And who is it?
Living in a rural area, it’s relatively rare.
It’s an annoying amount. Jehovah’s Witnesses (they are relentless), Verizon (trying to get people to switch ISP services from Comcast), shady home security services that ask way too many probing questions, local activists seeking donations for their cause, and political campaign volunteers.
Generally if there’s a knock on my door, I ignore it.
“Nah, I’m not soliciting. I’m trying to give you a free quote on new windows for your house”
“No, I didn’t see that NO SOLICITING sign posted two inches above the doorbell”
SCREAMING BABY IN THE BACKGROUND BECAUSE THE DOORBELL WOKE HER UP FROM HER NAP “Do you have a minute to talk about your cable provider?”
there are ways to get into the jehovas witness shitlist so they never bother you again like telling them youre disfellowshipped, as its forbidden for them to interact with disfellowshipped members.
Answer the door naked once, and the JWs will blacklist you. If you aren’t willing to get naked, order the biggest lifelike dildo you can get for under $20 bucks and hand it to them the next time they call.
I’d say less than one per month where I live. (Not downtown city but also not rural)
While it varies a lot and I probably miss many for not being home, I see at least every month when the weather is good
Currently a video doorbell can pop up a picture on your phone so you can make the same decision. Most can also act as an intercom.
My first reaction was to like the idea as a nice extension to existing functionality, I don’t see it working.
easier screening process, make them ring the doorbell three times to actually ring it, and then make the first two shock them just a little bit. should screen out most people who are ringing your doorbell for trivial reasons, and if you know the trick you could just push it with the sleeve of your shirt, or a stick, or something.
you could also just get a no soliciting sign, though.
My Ring does this already
A salesperson would just keep ringing or knock because they would want to make the sale, they’re persistently annoying