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Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

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Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#361
post #286
post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not know in what country you live, but in the countries I lived in if you chop somebody's property you will go to jail.

But the guy did it himself. Must have gone insane.

"The victim did it to themselves" is a famously bulletproof defense. I don't know why people don't try it more often.

This is the typical tall tale that used to travel in every neighborhood as a warning, especially to scare kids from doing some things. Kids eat up these stories. Probably doesn't work that much in the age of phones and "pics (shorts?) or it never happened".

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#363

Ugh, this reminds me of a neighbor of a family member. They have a backyard, and sometimes, it is pleasurable to sit, grill, bbq, etc. in a backyard, particularly in the summer months. You know, normal suburban stuff. The neighbor has some sort of device that emits extremely loud, extremely high-pitched (but not ultrasonic; or at least, not exclusively ultrasonic) noise. The family member thinks its some sort of anti…

my mother's neighbor had in garden this anti-mole device, quite annoying to hear this frequent high pitched sound in regular intervals, maybe talk with neighbor about other ways how to get rid off moles

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rule is simple IMO: whatever you’re doing, if it impacts people beyond your own sphere then you’re the problematic one. Playing loud music, your neighbours can hear it => you’re the problem Smoking and having the smoke pollute your neighbours air => you’re the problem

Your comment impacted me, so I assume you'll post an apology for this deeply problematic behavior of yours? Plenty of times the fault is with the apartment, etc.: if the reasonable noise of me living disrupts my neighbors, that's bad design. Different people work different shifts - I don't see why the morning person should have to hold off on a morning shower just because the plumbing wakes up their neighbor, nor why…

Right, I was thinking about avoidable things like playing loud music or smoking in a particular place. Obviously old building and normal usage is a different situation

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#365
post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on this tall tale being the top comment, and the replies to you, I hereby request dang remove the “HN is becoming Reddit” nono from the guidelines.

I agree. I don't understand the argument that just because people have incorrectly claimed HN is turning into reddit before, it automatically means it can never happen. I think HN has become a lot more like reddit and in some ways even worse.

> I don't understand the argument that just because people have incorrectly claimed HN is turning into reddit before, it automatically means it can never happen.

I don’t think the argument is it can never happen, but rather that at the time of writing of the guidelines it hadn’t. And that it is an argument that doesn’t advance the discussion. Complaining that HN is becoming like Reddit is one of the things which makes HN more like Reddit.

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#366
post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the guy did it himself. Must have gone insane.

"The victim did it to themselves" is a famously bulletproof defense. I don't know why people don't try it more often. This is the typical tall tale that used to travel in every neighborhood as a warning, especially to scare kids from doing some things. Kids eat up these stories. Probably doesn't work that much in the age of phones and "pics (shorts?) or it never happened".

Unfortunately, we’ve reached the era where pics and shorts are very much no longer proof. In a few minutes you could generate video of that exact scenario.

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's impossible to tell who is normal in these stories. for example, the guy can start smoking inside, and it will always smell like smoke. or, the guy can get his own buzzer. i've had oversensitive neighbors sit there and bang on pots all night because fireworks or construction noise. like another comment mentioned, apartments are just built really badly. you can hear anything. which leads to friends of mine complai…

The rule is simple IMO: whatever you’re doing, if it impacts people beyond your own sphere then you’re the problematic one. Playing loud music, your neighbours can hear it => you’re the problem Smoking and having the smoke pollute your neighbours air => you’re the problem

the problem is that there's oversensitive people and you actually do impact their lives by being a nurse that comes home at 3 am.

if you cook some dishes, and some oversensitive person doesn't like the smell, then you're impacting them.

it becomes not so simple, especially when you are a building manager and two people have a problem with each other. it's not always easy to figure it out.

Then you have cases like a once per year loud birthday party. That's annoying. Are you really the problem if you do that once a year?

I can hear my neighbors televisions regularly. It's annoying yet I never thought they were a problem. However, another person in the building DOES think they are a problem. Partly because they don't understand that they need to compromise because the walls are so thin. Since the sounds are annoying, do they get to stomp around all night and get revenge with machines and devices? at that point, the petty revenge is probably the problem.

and for a building manager, it's not always easy to figure out which person is the unreasonable one.

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#368
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 can relate to this very much. A city guy, no one could understand my (also) 20 years of complaining about neighbors with loud music, slamming doors, making noise after midnight, etc etc. I lived on top floors, and I even spent a fortune living in a luxury building that was newly built, hoping sound insulation was higher end. The problem is that bass music travels through everything. I suffered from being woken up i…

> - Younger people are less sensitive to noise, go out more, and generally don't understand how distressful it can be

Nonsense. This has 100% to do with manners and how your parents taught you. When I grew up making a noise in an apartment was a grave offense, because you make a nuisance for your parents and neighbors.

> - Some people are light sleepers as well as get cognitively overloaded, needing relatively quiet environments to relax. People like me are in a tiny minority.

Double nonsense. I don’t have statistics, but given how bad modern mental health is, I don’t buy that only a tiny minority has problems with sleep.

> - Cities are the future, they're the greener option, and you're supposed to prefer the dense apartment life instead of the car one, on ethical grounds.

You should’ve started with this. I would’ve just skipped the whole message. Complete, utter nonsense.

Unless you believe in the “eat-ze-bug” future, the greener option is to:

- reproduce less

- raise living standards

- drastically increase productivity so we don’t need so many people

- AI + Space exploration

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can relate to this very much. A city guy, no one could understand my (also) 20 years of complaining about neighbors with loud music, slamming doors, making noise after midnight, etc etc. I lived on top floors, and I even spent a fortune living in a luxury building that was newly built, hoping sound insulation was higher end. The problem is that bass music travels through everything. I suffered from being woken up i…

> - Younger people are less sensitive to noise, go out more, and generally don't understand how distressful it can be When I was younger I lived in a large shared house, constant activity and people coming and going, music always playing, I loved it then. Now I live in a very soundproof apartment, literally never hear anyone else (our neighbours right next door had a party until 4am with loud music, etc. We didn't he…

> A city is not a quiet space, and we can't really expect it to be.

Why? It’s one thing when it is completely silent – that would be absurd –but when it is full of noise pollution? Rude, loud people, constant shitty music blaring out of every spot.

Re: Teaching my neighbor to keep the volume down

#370
post #107

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…

No smokers in my neighborhood, but people use their goddamn fireplaces too much and it’s kinda impossible to get fresh air in winter evenings and often during the day. Not sure how to train them. And unfortunately, there are too many. Burning wood should be forbidden in residential areas. It’s similar to smoking in restaurants, except you can’t escape them.

> people use their goddamn fireplaces too much and it’s kinda impossible to get fresh air in winter evenings

Not a problem with a properly designed HEATAS approved wood burning stove and properly seasoned beach wood.

Being daft enough to buy an inefficient, unapproved stove and/or and burn unseasoned green wood is ridiculous. Not to mention its illegal to sell small quantities of unseasoned firewood in Blighty; large amounts to season yourself are fine.

EDIT: If you disagree with the above, then get off your arse and write a rebuttal saying why! Downvoting simply because you disagree (rather than because the text doesn't add to the conversation) simply turns arguments into a popularity contest and is turning this place into another Reddit. (A statement of fact, no matter what the old HN guidelines say about Reddit).

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