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Show HN: Elevators

1668 points · 413 comments · Jrh0203

  1. Wowfunhappy · · focus · HN ↗
    All I want to know is why the heck I can't un-press a button I pressed by accident. This should be very simple. Press once to turn the button on, press again to turn it off.

    Or I guess you could do long-press to turn off or something if you're worried about confusing people, but I really don't think that should be necessary. We know how toggles work. The button lights up when it's on.

    1. magarnicle · · focus · HN ↗
      What about jerks un-pressing your button cos they don't want to wait? Passive-aggressive button wars breaking out, escalating to active-aggressive wars...
      1. Wowfunhappy · · focus · HN ↗
        I don't know, what about jerks pressing every button because they want to make you wait? The downside risk here strikes me as much more unlikely than the upside.
        1. voyagerfan5761 · · focus · HN ↗
          Jerks do push all the buttons to make everyone else wait. It's why newer elevator systems are often configured to ignore those if too many floor buttons get pressed at once.
          1. Wowfunhappy · · focus · HN ↗
            > Jerks do push all the buttons to make everyone else wait.

            That's my point. The attack goes away if you can un-press buttons.

        2. [deleted] · · focus · HN ↗

          [deleted]

    2. ericbarrett · · focus · HN ↗
      I lived in a high-rise that let you unselect a floor with a double press. Try that next time. Can confirm it's very nice!
    3. userbinator · · focus · HN ↗
      In some old systems with buttons that actually pushed in and popped out upon arrival, you can pull them out to cancel your call: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=37385826">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=37385826

      More examples:

      <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=JzC5Bpz-PkQ" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=JzC5Bpz-PkQ

      <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=xYtsNxzDR50" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=xYtsNxzDR50

      1. stinkbeetle · · focus · HN ↗
        &gt; <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=37385826">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=37385826

        This man has sixteen hundred videos of riding up and down elevators and is still going strong. Amazing. I love how Grandma was willing to ride random elevators and feature in his videos if it meant she could spend time with her eccentric grand son.

    4. cwillu · · focus · HN ↗
      The most common control circuit has the button triggering a relay which then powers its own trigger until the circuit is interrupted elsewhere; this isn&#x27;t compatible with the same button cancelling the call.
      1. userbinator · · focus · HN ↗
        On the pop-out controls I mentioned in a sibling comment, the relay is the button, and you can pull it out to cancel.
    5. dguest · · focus · HN ↗
      They had this in Korea when I was there a decade ago!

      It works fine, but people&#x27;s reaction on hearing this is always interesting, ranging from:

      - enthusiasm: that&#x27;s awesome everyone should do that

      - skepticism: that seems like a terrible idea, people will un-press your floor and chaos will follow

      - denial: you didn&#x27;t see that

      - cultural &#x2F; racist: that would never work in &lt;name your country&gt; it must just be because Koreans are &lt;random cultural conjecture&gt;

      1. ASalazarMX · · focus · HN ↗
        &gt; people will un-press your floor and chaos will follow

        I can see some engineers deciding that the button press needs 2FA or TOTP so only you can unpress it. Bonus points if you need to buy their brand&#x27;s smartwatch to use it.

    6. dsego · · focus · HN ↗
      In some elevators there is a stop lever for emergencies, but I found out it cleared all the selected floors as well. So in my building if I&#x27;ve made a mistake or a kid selected all the floors, I can just flip the stop toggle and reset everything.
      1. shmeeed · · focus · HN ↗
        OMG, this brings out memories about that oh so tempting red stop lever I was absolutely NOT allowed to touch as a kid. I haven&#x27;t remebered that for decades..
        1. dsego · · focus · HN ↗
          One time our neighbor forgot her phone and activated the stop in the small elevator just as the doors were closing and it started going down. It stopped but already moved down and got stuck between floors. We were inside with our small child and it was not pleasant. Luckily, after resetting the switch and pressing some buttons, the elevator continued on its way.
      2. ButlerianJihad · · focus · HN ↗
        In my building there are fire extinguishers for emergencies, but I found out they produce a really amazing snow-blanket effect even when it&#x27;s not Christmastime.
    7. socalgal2 · · focus · HN ↗
      Some elevators do this. It&#x27;s usually a double tap to clear. THey are less common in the states
    8. newtwentysix · · focus · HN ↗
      Double-click to cancel: is there in many of the recent (10+yrs) lifts I&#x27;ve been in
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