Discussion
Saw this photo on LinkedIn.
It's quite a clever idea! Rather than having to press potentially dirty buttons in a toilet to record your feedback, you can use a gesture instead. Nifty!
Except… Here's how they describe it on their website.
> No specialist hardware. No complex setup. Just plug in a camera-enabled device and you're live.
Oh. Good. A 24/7 video stream live from the loos. What could possibly go wrong with that?
@Edent say, where is this, or which is the linkedin profile publishing it?
@Edent How Innovative! What will they think of next? Impromptu slice of life video subscriptions?
@Edent Does it recognize middle finger gestures?
@simondassow I wanna see if it can tell that I'm mooning it.
@Edent What if I don’t want a camera in a public washroom?
@LabSpokane probably just piss outside on the floor?
@Edent Oh, so it’s a British train.
@Edent This is a good way to discourage feedback, and encourage middle fingers.
This will prove less effective than the buttons.
@Edent You can read gestures with capacitative sensors that don't passively record while they wait for a trigger.
@Edent you could run the visual recognition locally on the device, the video would never leave the device. But even for that you have to trust the company..
...
Wha...
...
I'm sorry...
Why... Would _anyone_ want this?
WHAT HAPPENED TO MOTION SENSORS THAT ARE NOT CAMERAS?!
👀
@401matthall how do you solve the problem?
Seriously?
I'd identify the problem as "want to flush toilet without touching".
We've had motion sensors on toilets for... Wow... At least 3 decades, I think?
If there's _another_ problem it's not made clear by the graphic.
@401matthall You… you literally didn't read the post or look at the photo, did you?
This isn't about flushing a toilet!
Of course I didn't read the full post but... I'm reading your statement and I _am_ looking right at the picture.
The camera is incidental. That's my whole point. The camera isn't necessary.
Because... The excuse for including the camera enabled device... Is about flushing a toilet.
@401matthall
This is about recording feedback.
There's nothing in the text or the image which talks about flushing a toilet.
Oh, FFS, no I didn't _zoom_ in on the image and made the assumption this was _above_ a stainless steel _toilet_.
Guh.
@401matthall
Just to hammer home the point, I did also say in the post:
"to record your feedback"
Can I ask, as you're American, did you learn the "three cueing" method at school?
This isn't me being snarky. I only ask because I frequently see Americans responding to what they think was written, rather than what was actually in the text.
Oh, yes very American unfortunately.
I've never heard of the "three cueing" method.
To my shame I often consider myself fairly astute at _parsing_ text. So, that's embarrassing.
That's fascinating that I did skim the text and absolutely blew past the "record your feedback".
Shit, man, I'm super sorry for burning your time.
@Edent Password for remote ssh access: "jeepers creepers look at them peepers"
@Edent I'm sorry, but ...
What the actual fuck? Reviews on bathrooms? We've gone this low already? I thought we had at least another decade before they ask people to review taking a shit.
@KittenKoder I'm not sure if you've been to a public bathroom in a large venue recently, but these type of surveys are reasonably common.
It's a low effort way to see if people are happy with the state of the bogs.
@Edent But it's a bathroom, do people really spend that much time in them?
@KittenKoder again, that's not what's being asked here. The owners want to know if there's enough soap & loo roll, if the locks are broken etc.
People judge venues on the quality of their toilets.
I'm not arguing that asking for feedback is bad. I'm saying pointing a live camera into the loos is probably not going to end well.
@Edent @KittenKoder Oh, in China, the reviews of bathrooms led to an incredible increase in quality. Nowadays, many restaurants have 10 out of 5 star bathrooms. Ok, the original 5 stars was not very good, but nobody had anything better.
@Edent Then hire someone.
@Edent I went poking around their website and thought "that doesn't seem right"
But perhaps it does?
@Edent why not just have the QR code go to an online survey?
@Fractal618 it literally does. Scan and you'll see.
But, also, who wants to wave a camera around in a loo?
@Edent That's fucking stupid, considering that public toilets with motion sensors that already solve this problem much more simply and cheaply have been a commercial technology since like the early 2000s.
Fucking hate the collective amnesia that makes this kind of marketing viable.
Also, even way before motion sensors, brass handles have done a pretty good job of killing bacteria. Still waiting for brass touch surfaces to be mandated for commercial buildings.
@Edent I know I'm out of touch (pun not intended) because I think QR code menus are sheer insanity already, but do people seriously whip out their phones to scan QR codes *inside* a stall?
@landelare In a stall? Sure. Who cares?
By the hand dryer or sinks? That's a different kettle of fish.
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