Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down • Hacker News Board

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#141

Post by throwaway150 » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 11:02 PM UTC

skulk wrote: post #96

This is the stupidest nitpick, but it's not really Pavlovian conditioning (as mentioned in the last paragraph) but rather operant conditioning. Pavlovian, or classical conditioning is the triggering of a biological response after a neutral stimulus (ring a bell before feeding each time and the dog will salivate when it hears the bell even if there's no food anywhere nearby). Operant conditioning is where the agent le…

Whether stupidest nitpick or not, thank you for posting this. I learned Pavlovian conditioning better from your comment. This is the kind of comment I come to HN for. Appreciate it.

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#142

Post by luckylion » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 11:06 PM UTC

TacticalCoder wrote: post #137

nntwozz wrote: post #90

Not saying it's right for everyone, but I moved off-grid where my nearest neighbor is 5km away. 20 years in an apartment in the city was enough for me, as I grew older I realized there are too many things outside of my control if I want silence and peace of mind. Sound pollution is a very real baseline stressor.

Triple-glazed windows do work wonder. I live atm in a modern construction with triple-glazed windows everywhere. Now it's not the city per se, more like the posh suburbs, but it's still an apartment, with neighbors. But you don't hear them, nor do you hear the cars outside. That said TFA's author is a real dick and that is seen in the way he writes. You don't "teach" your neighbors and you don't program them in a pav…

He might have, and my experience is that you cannot teach inconsiderate people, they lack social object permanence: as soon as you don't stand in front of them, they become unaware of your existence and thus are also unaware that their music at two in the morning might be annoying to you.

Better windows don't help either - but they're great for noise outside. The only thing that helps against horrible neighbors is moving. If you've never learned that lesson, you've never had horrible neighbors.

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#143

Post by sysworld » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 11:13 PM UTC

nkrisc wrote: post #43

binaryturtle wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish there was an easy solution like this for smoking "neighbours". Some sort of detection device that instantly closes my windows automatically and then "explodes" a nasty "stinking bomb" outside (e.g. automatic opening of a container with butyric acid or similar), so it smells worse than their smoke. Eventually their brains would connect smoking with nasty stinking and stop doing it. But I wouldn't know where to…

People who smoke on the balconies of multi-unit buildings are awful people. It’d be a beautiful day but I can’t keep my windows open because there’s always somebody smoking to make my unit smell disgusting if I just want to enjoy a cool breeze going through. Thank goodness smoking is becoming rarer here and is no banned pretty much everywhere indoors and near entrances. I don’t mind if people have a vice (I’ve got mi…

It makes me a little sad to see a lot of peoples comments here about how they're annoyed by xyz thing someone does that doesn't stop at there fence line or unit. So many are being downvoted.

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#144

Post by wingworks » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 11:19 PM UTC

nkrisc wrote: post #131

gljiva wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Since they smoke on the balcony, rather than near roommates/family, many are likely more mindful and pleasant to coexist with than what you displayed. They’re more pleasant to coexist with because they let their smoke drift into my home instead of their own? What? They’re just externalizing the negatives of their own vice.

Yeah, it's a bit worrying that some people don't seem to understand that just because you enjoy smoking, doesn't mean the rest of the units downstream of you want to breath it in too.

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#145

Post by direwolf20 » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 11:19 PM UTC

its_ubuntu wrote: post #110

flocciput wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

did you not read the last line of the post?

[dead]

Bazinga

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#146

Post by sejje » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 11:20 PM UTC

its_ubuntu wrote: post #117

WA wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good neighborhood = keep your emissions low. Be it sound, light, or smell. These rules apply to almost all public places. If you want to be loud, burn shit or have floodlights, move to a place outside of the city.

[dead]

Five miles from pavement, and my air quality is perfect 365 days per year.

I hear some gunshots during hunting season, echoing across the valley, but they'd be drowned out by the frogs singing--they're way louder.

Wait until these guys start telling you you don't need a truck.

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#147

Post by matheusmoreira » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 11:21 PM UTC

gljiva wrote: post #119

nkrisc wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who smoke on the balconies of multi-unit buildings are awful people. It’d be a beautiful day but I can’t keep my windows open because there’s always somebody smoking to make my unit smell disgusting if I just want to enjoy a cool breeze going through. Thank goodness smoking is becoming rarer here and is no banned pretty much everywhere indoors and near entrances. I don’t mind if people have a vice (I’ve got mi…

[flagged]

> you just declare them awful people just because smoking is part of their lives

They're awful people because they are drug addicts who insist on making their unbearable smoke part of our lives too.

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#148

Post by wingworks » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 11:23 PM UTC

nntwozz wrote: post #90

Not saying it's right for everyone, but I moved off-grid where my nearest neighbor is 5km away. 20 years in an apartment in the city was enough for me, as I grew older I realized there are too many things outside of my control if I want silence and peace of mind. Sound pollution is a very real baseline stressor.

I'm sure it depends on demographic/country etc, but I've lived in Apartments where everyone was considerate, no loud neighbours, no smokers. Everyone just peacefully co-existed. (I've also experienced the opposite, and unfortunately, it is more common.)

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#149

Post by barbera7 » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 11:24 PM UTC

gljiva wrote: post #119

nkrisc wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who smoke on the balconies of multi-unit buildings are awful people. It’d be a beautiful day but I can’t keep my windows open because there’s always somebody smoking to make my unit smell disgusting if I just want to enjoy a cool breeze going through. Thank goodness smoking is becoming rarer here and is no banned pretty much everywhere indoors and near entrances. I don’t mind if people have a vice (I’ve got mi…

[flagged]

[dead]

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#150

Post by aidenn0 » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 11:25 PM UTC

its_ubuntu wrote: post #125

aidenn0 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smoking tobacco got rarer here, but smoking marijuana has gotten much more common. I don't know if it's just that I grew up with tobacco, but the skunk-like smell of marijuana bothers me a lot more.

[flagged]

I'm agnostic as to the harms vs. benefits of smoking marijuana, it's the smell that bothers me. I personally love the smell of frankincense, but I would understand if my neighbors objected to me burning it regularly.