Stop asking me for my phone number • Hacker News Board

Re: Stop asking me for my phone number

#41

Post by mikeash » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 12:03 AM UTC

bradleyland wrote: post #4

According to some brief research, it looks like somewhere around 0.33% of Americans under 85 are deaf, and around 4% are hard of hearing [1]. I find it preposterous to optimize for that small section of the user population at the expense of the overwhelming number of our users who tell us that phone is their preferred method of contact. We're probably going to continue asking for a phone number, because many users wo…

Why do you insist on creating a false dichotomy between requiring a phone number and disallowing phone contact altogether? You can support multiple methods of communication with any single one being optional. Making the phone number optional wouldn't inconvenience your other customers in the slightest.

Re: Stop asking me for my phone number

#42

Post by briandear » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 12:06 AM UTC

bradleyland wrote: post #4

According to some brief research, it looks like somewhere around 0.33% of Americans under 85 are deaf, and around 4% are hard of hearing [1]. I find it preposterous to optimize for that small section of the user population at the expense of the overwhelming number of our users who tell us that phone is their preferred method of contact. We're probably going to continue asking for a phone number, because many users wo…

Phone calls from anyone are usually a pain in the ass. I have to stop what I'm doing and context-switch wasting my time. Unless your company is live dispatching transplant organs or is rescuing me from being trapped in an earthquake or if you're my wife--I NEVER want a phone call. I don't like wasting my time listening to nonsense. Amazon works just fine without calling me so I can't imagine why any other business aside from a few very narrow exceptions would ever need to call anyone. Remove validates phone number :presence => true and leave me the hell alone. Xie xie.

Re: Stop asking me for my phone number

#43

Post by neutronicus » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 12:13 AM UTC

reemrevnivek wrote: post #13

bradleyland wrote: post #4

According to some brief research, it looks like somewhere around 0.33% of Americans under 85 are deaf, and around 4% are hard of hearing [1]. I find it preposterous to optimize for that small section of the user population at the expense of the overwhelming number of our users who tell us that phone is their preferred method of contact. We're probably going to continue asking for a phone number, because many users wo…

What service are you running where the "overwhelming number of [y]our users" tell you that phone is their preferred method of contact? As I wrote on the blog, email allows me to: - respond when it’s convenient for me. - keep most of my attention on what I’m doing. - archive and share the correspondence easily. - filter content I don’t want to hear anymore. - remain anonymous. - make careful, researched, edited respon…

Phone calls allow me to:

    - make sure that I have your attention until my problem is solved

Re: Stop asking me for my phone number

#44

Post by dredmorbius » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 12:26 AM UTC

neutronicus wrote: post #43

reemrevnivek wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What service are you running where the "overwhelming number of [y]our users" tell you that phone is their preferred method of contact? As I wrote on the blog, email allows me to: - respond when it’s convenient for me. - keep most of my attention on what I’m doing. - archive and share the correspondence easily. - filter content I don’t want to hear anymore. - remain anonymous. - make careful, researched, edited respon…

Phone calls allow me to: - make sure that I have your attention until my problem is solved

Re: Stop asking me for my phone number

#45

Post by dredmorbius » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 12:27 AM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #41

bradleyland wrote: post #4

According to some brief research, it looks like somewhere around 0.33% of Americans under 85 are deaf, and around 4% are hard of hearing [1]. I find it preposterous to optimize for that small section of the user population at the expense of the overwhelming number of our users who tell us that phone is their preferred method of contact. We're probably going to continue asking for a phone number, because many users wo…

Why do you insist on creating a false dichotomy between requiring a phone number and disallowing phone contact altogether? You can support multiple methods of communication with any single one being optional. Making the phone number optional wouldn't inconvenience your other customers in the slightest.

I've found that if provided with a phone number, the people you'd least like to call you, do.

Re: Stop asking me for my phone number

#46

Post by rmason » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 12:45 AM UTC

veb wrote: post #18

johns wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will give anyone here that wants to do this a boat load of Twilio credit to get started. Email me jsheehan@twilio.com

Wow. My hat off to you, sir. :)

Terrific! Kudos to Twilio for being so reponsive. Guys just make certain that both the original blog author and the folks at nad.org know about it to give the pubicity it deserves to their members.

Re: Stop asking me for my phone number

#47

Post by dredmorbius » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 12:47 AM UTC

The phone has its place.

Generally it's buried somewhere far from me under a pillow.

I'm a non-deaf, high-functioning normal. I hate phone calls for all the reasons iterated here (intrusive, annoying, inconsiderate, lossy, non-searchable, difficult (or illegal) to record, etc.). I'll just include reemrevnivek's post by reference, it's excellent: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3104873

I might check voicemail once a week (sorry, Mom).

My voicemail message basically says "don't leave a voicemail".

My biggest present gripe: recruiters who call at all hours of the day. Actually, thanks to them I found a call-blocking app for my phone, such that only known numbers will ring.

Even with blocking, phone calls interrupt current activity on the phone (not so hot when you're buried deep in a technical problem and it's the only link out to technical resources which might help).

What I'd like to see is the ability to classify contacts by who is or isn't allowed to actually ring through to the handset.

And that null-voicemail feature others have suggested.

Re: Stop asking me for my phone number

#48

Post by pmiller2 » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 12:52 AM UTC

jallmann wrote: post #39

rmason wrote: post #14

I liked the one comment in the article where the guy recommended a public service that gave the deaf a real phone number which just contained a recording informing callers that the person was deaf. That way they could enter a real phone number of forms that insisted on one. I don't know anyone at Twilio but if they want to perform a public service and gets lots of karma it wouldn't be a bad thing to go do.

I'm deaf. Not sure about other countries, but here in the US we have free video relay services that have a number attached to your account. Calls go to a video interpreter, who will also take messages for you. I don't particularly like dealing with calls either, but for the times when I must, my cell number forwards to VRS. Problem solved.

As a hearing person who has communicated with deaf people over relay service, let me tell you it sucks just as much being on the other end of a relay call. It seems to have all the disadvantages of email and phone rolled into one, with just enough added latency over a straight phone call to be annoying.

I wish I had an alternative to suggest, but whether anybody likes it or not, every so often, hearing-impaired people are going to need to communicate with people over the phone, and those of us who can hear need to just suck it up.

Re: Stop asking me for my phone number

#49

Post by CamperBob » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 12:52 AM UTC

rmason wrote: post #14

I liked the one comment in the article where the guy recommended a public service that gave the deaf a real phone number which just contained a recording informing callers that the person was deaf. That way they could enter a real phone number of forms that insisted on one. I don't know anyone at Twilio but if they want to perform a public service and gets lots of karma it wouldn't be a bad thing to go do.

That way they could enter a real phone number of forms that insisted on one.

In my (non-hearing impaired) world, that's what pay phones are for. If your site insists on a phone number, then you get to talk to somebody who has, presumably out of sheer boredom, picked up the phone in front of the 7-11 at the corner of NE 42nd and Pine.

Re: Stop asking me for my phone number

#50

Post by kylec » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 1:09 AM UTC

I'm not deaf, but I share the sentiment. If we are not very close friends or related, I don't answer your call. And I've taken to giving my Google Voice number to some of the more persistent callers with it going straight to voicemail. I get what I want (an email with a mediocre speech-to-text version of the message) and they get what they want (to use a phone).