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Comment by dylan604 | Hacker News Reader

Choose better UX design from visitor's perspective

Knock on the door while ignoring anonymous QR code that could have been left by anyone

This is my nr 1 question, will visitors scan the QR or will they still prefer to knock/phone?

I hate it when people call/text me to say "I'm here". You know what else you could do to let me know that you're here? Knock or ring the bell. It's definitely a generational thing though. Having lived in a time with and without devices, I'm really thankful that I didn't grow up never not having a device. This is a good example of unable to think of how to operate without a device

One reason I and a number of people do that: to cover the possibility you might be at the wrong door/house or ringing the wrong doorbell.

I had both of those problems at my previous residence. It was an apartment complex with some N½ addresses. Visitors would often miss that bit and be at the wrong door. On top of that, the doorbells were counterintuitive: they were arranged vertically, but the bottom doorbell would ring the top apartment and vice versa, so I forever had visitors and deliveries ringing the wrong bell (and actually mostly for the other units ringing mine.)

Also if someones just dropping by (unscheduled delivery, sales) and I'm asleep, or watching a movie, or whatever I don't want to be disturbed, and if I have a question for my neighbors similarly I don't want to bother them if they're busy. Phones have snooze mode, most doorbells I've encountered don't.

I usually text/call when I visit people not so often like once a year or once in couple years because usually I don’t remember exactly which number it was.

If I go somewhere couple times a year I usually feel quite comfortable using doorbell.

I do this all the time even when I know I'm at the right place as my friends have young kids and I usually turn up around when they might be in bed, so I tend to just message my mate I'm there to see that I'm ready and outside. Both of us are in our late 40s.

Wow that’s a surprisingly aggressive comment. I’ll share why I used to text and call “I’m here”. I’ve had many experiences where the residents had dogs that would absolutely lose their minds and bark non-stop or go crazy when you ring the doorbell. It’s just a better experience when their owner opens the door and there’s a guest. Other times, my friends lived in a multi-unit apartment and I didn’t want to bother 5 other people who I didn’t know. Other times they lived with their family and, again, just didn’t want to talk to them that time. -shrug- but I guess these are examples of not being able to think without a device.

For you, if you’re expecting guests, just tell them to ring your doorbell. Get rid of the ambiguity and give them comfort in knowing the “right” thing to do. You clearly gave it some thought and have strong opinions about it. I’m sure other people are just trying to be considerate in a generation where they mostly grew up living with lots of other people.

> For you, if you’re expecting guests, just tell them to ring your doorbell. Get rid of the ambiguity and give them comfort in knowing the “right” thing to do

I'm not the person you're replying to, but the way I see things, if I put a button on the front of my house labelled "visitors, please press me" and then I got mad at my visitors for pressing it, that would be super weird behaviour on my part. The button is the permission.

People who don't want visitors to press the bell either remove it, or tape a bit of cardboard over it or something.

Sure, I think if a doorbell exists, it's fine to press it. For me, I just don't want to get overwhelmed by their barking dogs or greeting 4 other people. Sometimes, I'm just not in the mood and just want to see my friend one-on-one. I'm not doing it for other people. I'm doing it for myself because I find the experience of calling someone when I arrive to be a lot more pleasant in some cases. Those cases happen to occur more often when my friends are young. i.e. living with lots of other people or with their parents and family dogs.

Well, usually.

Our doorbell, which was non-functional from when we moved in until we moved out eight years later, and which we were always planning to fix 'next week', is a good counterexample.

Not that we'd get mad at people for ringing the doorbell, but we were very glad that people usually figured out they had to knock.

I hate when people ring the doorbell. I'd rather they just walk in so I don't have to get up.

Some places don't have functional doorbells, and some doors are too far from living space for a knock to be heard.

Some renting situations make solving those problems difficult, annoying, or impossible.

But yeah, generally a doorbell is a pretty reliable tool.

> Some places

That's probably true, but I don't live in some places. I have a door with a knocker and a doorbell. Calling/texting me is so damn annoying and pointless. You knock/ring, I get up and answer the door. You text/ring, I might ignore it or at least it could take time to go to where it might be sitting other than in my hand.

If you live in one of these "some places", I doubt the landlord is going to be very happy about people plastering various QR codes on their property, especially if "some place" is a multi-tennant property which typically already have a system in place

> but I don't live in some places

Great. I don't think OP made this thing explicitly for you.

And I'm not attempting to persuade you into choosing this doorbell option.

For others, who are not you, and who have different living situations than yours, this could be an interesting option.

The ‘system in place’ in question: two non-functional doorbells, a third wired up to your housemate’s room, and a fourth which only works on Tuesdays (nobody in the house knows why). :)

I disconnect that shit because of unwanted use.

Mailman, flyers, delivery not for me, neighborhood kids pushing wrong buttons or just fooling around.

If I have delivery scheduled or there is scheduled maintenance for building I will connect it for that day. Even delivery guys sms/call me when they are in area to check if they should drop by with parcel anyway.

People like friends/family don’t drop by without calling sending a message. There is no unscheduled visits since I was teenager.

I get annoyed by people knocking instead of ringing the doorbell. I am less likely to hear a knock.

I would not scan the QR code because that’s way less trouble. If the owner insisted on it I’d do it, but I’d roll my eyes and wondering why the owner thought this was an improvement.

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