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Comment by JustSomeNobody | Hacker News Reader

On the one hand I can kinda feel the pain of the homeowners. When my neighbor recently had a yard sale, I basically had to sit in my driveway telling people to not block it in case I had to get out. Some would actually try and argue with me. So, I know how selfish and stupid people can be sometimes.

But, selfish and stupid works both ways. The homeowners near there can't deny people right of way on public streets. They can't put up fake signs/paint. This isn't right either. The best you can do is just try and keep the idiots off your own property.

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There is a far better solution:

Instead of saying "no, you can’t", say "go there instead". Provide an alternative.

In this case, an alternative would be creating a parking space and the start of the trail.

A better solution would have been to just block your own driveway.

You couldn't just ask them to move if/when you did actually have to get out?

People don't spend usually more than a few minutes at yard sales and it sounds to me like you were just being unreasonable.

If you were so worried you might need to leave at an absolute moments notice (doctor on call or something?) why not just park in the street yourself?

Seriously? Look, it is plain rude to park directly in front of someone's drive. There's no two ways about that. I should not have to be go and park my car somewhere else because people can't be bothered to not be rude.

I have plenty of property in front of my house that they could have parked (it's 25 extra feet they would have had to walk). That's what plenty of other people were doing. There's plenty of open space on the other side of the street as well.

Rude? Yes. An actual inconvenience to you? Unlikely.

Rudeness is an inconvenience.

Isn't it outright illegal? Can't you get them towed?

Yes, but no one stays at a yard sale for more than 2 or 3 minutes. By the time the tow truck would arrive they would be long gone. This is at its heart the reason why this is an overzealous non-problem.

> Yes, but no one stays at a yard sale for more than 2 or 3 minutes

That would be an exceptionally short visit to a yard sale. No way do you actually manage to buy something in less than 180 seconds.

More likely, they'll be there for 10-15 minutes. That's still too short for a tow truck to come, but it's not too short to be an inconvenience.

Of course, most people don't buy. At least for me, I probably only buy something at ever 4th or 5th yard sale I go to. It's easy to walk in, scan the tables, realize there's nothing of interest to me, and leave.

Yep, that's 90% of people.

You are being unreasonable. The grandparent is correct. Any parker would've left in less than 5 minutes. You would not have even known they were there. If they did not leave and you needed out, you could have simply asked them to leave.

Property rights in this strange absolutist never-to-be-violated interpretation would make a hell of a world. Dropped your wallet? WELL, I CAN'T PICK IT UP FOR YOU BECAUSE THAT'S THEFT OF YOUR PROPERTY.

> Property rights in this strange absolutist never-to-be-violated interpretation

I'm glad I'm not the only one to notice that. It may be a cultural thing, I don't see such strong opinions in my country very often.

Actually, not picking up the wallet would be considered rude.

This isn't about property. It's about manners. I'm sorry the sequence of events that has led up to your life at this moment prevent you from differentiating.

So you sit there waiting for someone to be rude so you can pounce on them? I'm sorry but that's petty. Don't you have anything better to do?

And that's not going to make for good neighbors. Now they know you're that guy that acts like a unreasonable person.

Entitlement, on display.

So you're willing to put the onus on the blockee instead of, I dunno, not blocking their driveway and walking an extra 30 meters? There are words for that, none of them nice.

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