
Why the world is full of buttons that don't work - electic
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/placebo-buttons-design/index.html
======
a-dub
I don't buy this argument that they were explicitly installed as a placebo.
Instead I think they're basically a form of technical debt. In the elevators,
they probably once did work, but then the ADA stuff came about or the
maintenance people just didn't see the point of hooking them up. For
crossings, some of them do work, and perhaps many. What's easiest, roll them
out uniformly or install a hodge podge? ...and for the motels, it wouldn't
surprise me one bit if it's cheaper to buy a residential thermostat with a
knob than a commercial temperature sensor. Maybe that even worked as well...

Engineers and builders don't care about "placebo effects on users" except for
in the most carefully built UX scenarios. We're talking about basic
infrastructure here, no one really cares about UX that much as long as it
meets basic requirements. All these buttons exist as an accident, or they're
detritus from an era when they did work, or it was just cheaper to get the
panel with a button than a blank.

"Let's put a placebo button in to make people feel better." said no traffic
engineer, elevator installer, motel HVAC installer, ever.

~~~
s_dev
Lots of devs are now using fake loading bars to emphasise certain tasks e.g.
Spinning up a Droplet on Digital Ocean.

I heard that loading bar is just a placebo to emphisise the creation of a new
droplet as being important. Apparently the droplet is finished initialising
long before the loading bar's 4 or 5 second length. It's probably why this
loading bar apprears to load so perfectly -- it's not timed on anything but a
counter.

In fact I had to draw out the experience of topping up in our app. It happened
too quickly and people didn't know what was just happened. They clicked their
pay button and were brought to the balance screen.

They all panicked for some reason and ran back to history to check the
transaction went through. We put in a success message before being brought to
balance screen and panic is gone. The success messasge is just elaborting on
what already happened -- it's a placebo.

I think you're right about the real world. Real buttons are often just broken
but in the world of software theres lots of bright and dark patterns behind
the buttons -- no software button broke from mechanical failure.

~~~
hueving
Visual feedback is not the same thing as a placebo effect though.

A placebo would be adding a button that says "accelerate droplet launch speed"
that does nothing. It's something that the user takes action on that is
irrelevant.

------
wodenokoto
Is this an American phenomenon[1]?

If I forget to click the pedestrian button, cars in the same direction as me
will get green light, while I wait for red.

Most elevators don't have a close button in Denmark. But it definitely worked
in Japan.

I can't remember ever sitting in an office with a temperature control knob
available.

[1] ... or am I just fooling myself on these accounts?

~~~
Macha
Yeah, the pedestrian section is clearly an optional part of the cycle at most
traffic lights I interact with (Dublin). If no button is pressed, then some
other part of the cycle is extended and the pedestrian light is skipped.

This isn't the same as pressing the button indicating that traffic will be
stopped in 20s or similar, but I don't know of anywhere traffic lights ever
worked like that. You're still going to have to wait for the allocated
"pedestrian" time, but it will never come without a button press

~~~
dmurray
Agreed. All traffic light buttons do something in Dublin, as far as I can
tell. Most lights are at junctions. If you don't press the button there, there
will be no point in the cycle where you're guaranteed no cars will cross your
path. If you do, there will.

Some traffic lights are just for pedestrians crossing, away from a junction.
Normally those work pretty quickly - traffic stops in 10 seconds, so long as
the last stop was at least 30 seconds ago.

In some countries, pedestrians can get a green light while cars are still
allowed turn across them. I'm not sure if that's the case in New York, but it
might explain some of the confusion.

------
dagenix
The fake thermostat is the most frustrating example and tends to make me
angrier than anything else. The problem is, fake thermostats tend to tell you
what the temperature is. And no matter what you set them to, which has no
effect, they continue to mock your failed attempts to become comfortable by
continueing tell you just how very cold you are. And nothing is more upsetting
than turning up the heat, only to see the actual temperature continue to drop.

~~~
ljm
I'm not sure I understand the logic of that when it's a hotel room, but in an
office environment it's fair enough. As long as the maintained temperature
sticks to what we understand as a typical room temp (21-23°C).

What makes me think that is the attitude to weather in the UK, where the
polarity shifts as soon as summer transitions to winter and vice versa. As in,
thermostats in most UK shops and pubs and bars in the summer are set to levels
of cold you would only begin to experience as November approaches; they're
practically icy and an amazing example of desert conditions when night falls.

But then winter approaches and everything is fired up to the point where
you're practically sweating if you're wearing full on winter wear. The total
lack of humidity prevents the sweating but the heat goes beyond cosy.

I hate this, so my idea of getting a comfortable temperature doesn't align
with the normal situation. But if I was to change it to suit my needs then
that would have a negative affect on everybody who justified the need to
freeze their ass off every time they walk into a shop when the sun takes its
hat off.

So when it comes to local climate control, it's practically impossible to
please anybody. You can't give one person the power satisfy their taste at the
expense of everybody else, that's why air conditioning fucking sucks. The best
you can do is maintain a comfortable average, remove or restrict the
thermostats, and provide other solutions that allow comfort without changing
it for all.

~~~
dagenix
Oh yeah, the thermostats in offices totally shouldn't work - that would be
maddening as everyone fought over temperature.

I'd just rather have nothing at all than something which both pretends to do
something while also making it very clear - via the temperature display - that
it does nothing.

At least at a crosswalk or in an elevator, I can pretend that what I'm doing
has an effect.

~~~
narag
_Oh yeah, the thermostats in offices totally shouldn 't work - that would be
maddening as everyone fought over temperature._

In a former job, people just opened the windows when they didn't like the
temperature. So we had cold in winter, heat in summer and I guess a pretty
high energy bill. But no wars, people opened _their_ window. Oh and I was just
a contractor so no chance to complain.

------
neumann
My favourite button that doesn't work is The DFA fader [0]. Basically, a tool
of the audio engineer to give difficult clients an auditory placebo effect
when they want to 'get it just right'. There is even a paper on its effect
[1]. There was the story of a famous record (I can't recall which) where after
endless battles in the studio the audio engineer let the artist twiddle an
unconnected dial so they felt they tweaked it just right. Maybe using a Rane
PI 14 [2].

[0]
[https://intelligentsoundengineering.wordpress.com/2017/08/15...](https://intelligentsoundengineering.wordpress.com/2017/08/15/what-
the-f-are-dfa-faders/)

[1]
[http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=18711](http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=18711)

[2] [http://www.rane.com/pi14.html](http://www.rane.com/pi14.html)

------
asaph
I challenge the notion that there can be any net-positive effect from
deliberately misleading the public and insulting people's intelligence. As
word spreads that people are being actively deceived, overall trust in the
system is eroded. These placebo buttons are a fraud and should be removed.

~~~
kpil
I agree, but I will settle for a sticker that says "disabled."

Also, when I press a "close door" button in an elevator, I expect a so-fast-
it's'-silly Star Wars closing speed.

Or realistically at least a reaction within 0.5 seconds or I get instantly
annoyed.

------
tialaramex
There are three crossings near me that exhibit some different behaviours
you'll see in the UK

1\. There's a major crossroads (junction of a bypass). The natural phase
design means that vehicles will be stopped before each crossing in the phase
anyway. So the buttons _almost_ do nothing. Why "almost" ? Well, in the middle
of the night with almost no traffic, the phases stop being automatic, bypass
traffic gets a green all the time. If something comes on the side road, the
phases will happen, but you don't want to wait for that as a pedestrian, your
buttons will cause all the phases (even the ones you don't care about for
crossing motor traffic) to happen so that you can cross. In practice of course
at this hour few pedestrians push the buttons anyway, they can see there's no
traffic.

2\. The high street nearby has an old-fashioned Pelican crossing, and the
buttons work as expected. A Pelican is a familiar design, traffic lights
control the motor traffic and red/green lamps are attached for pedestrians,
facing them from the far side of the road, the pedestrian presses the button,
a timer starts, and after some configured delay the traffic signals bring
motor traffic to a halt, then you can cross.

3\. But it also has a newer Puffin crossing. The Puffin crossing is
superficially similar to a Pelican, and road vehicle operators need no extra
training, but for a pedestrian the operation is improved in one immediately
visible and one invisible way: Visibly the red/ green lamps are moved to the
pedestrian's side of the road, positioned so that when looking at them the
pedestrian can also see the road with oncoming traffic (in the UK this will
usually be to their right, but in some cases it's the left and the Puffin is
adjusted appropriately). This reduces the hazard of pedestrians stepping in
front of traffic when they have a green light but a motorist hasn't slowed.
Also, the timer now starts when the crossing is used, and inhibits further
crossing activations. For a busy crossing this makes no difference, but at a
quiet crossing it means if you arrive after a long lull it will activate
immediately, since the traffic has not recently been interrupted. A big
improvement.

Elsewhere in my city I've also noticed examples of the Pegasus and Toucan,
which are similar to the Puffin except that they're intended to also
accommodate horses (Pegasus) and bicycles (Toucan) where routes allow these in
addition to pedestrians.

~~~
dingaling
The nearside Puffin crossing display can be obscured by crowds. The reason
they are mounted low is cost: the same unit can be used for command and
display.

They therefore require looking down, whereas farside displays keep the head
lifted which makes it easier to transition to looking at the road. In _all_
directions. Which is why nearside displays aren't used at junctions.

Puffin crossings are an excellent example of a system being redesigned to
reduce cost and then having bogus UX 'justifications' pasted over it.

~~~
tialaramex
How are two mechanically separate components "the same unit" exactly ?

The Puffin displays are replicable, which is how Pegasus crossings work (a
person on a horse obviously can't reach down to the level of a pedestrian
button, the crossing is functionally similar to a Puffin but adds a picture of
a horse & rider, and is replicated higher up the pole)

------
Scoundreller
I’ve found an ice/hot pack around the thermostat, packaged with a bubble
envelope, quite effective at controlling temperatures to my wishes.

------
donatj
What's more frustrating is the lights in my town literally won't give you
walk, ever, unless you push the button. So some do nothing, and some are
required. That makes all required, and that is frustrating.

------
nmstoker
In the UK, the majority I run into seem to be near-placebo, but they do
actually work in particular scenarios, it's just influenced by an algorithm.

The key one is Tube train buttons. For indoor stations, they are effectively
placebo buttons, but once the weather gets very hot or cold and the Tube train
is outdoors, they tend to become active. By the inconsistent way they're
activated, I believe it's the train driver in control but that may be
different on different lines.

The part that interests me is just how many people fail to notice they have no
effect indoors - whilst it's potentially difficult to spot with an isolated
button (eg at a road crossing), it's blatant for the Tube as everyone's door
opens at the same time and everyone emerges at basically the same time just
after (with tiny variations).

What stitches to tourists in London, is that it's the other way on UK railway
trains (near London at least) - they usually do work always, and thus the
inconsistency provides a further barrier to figuring it out!

~~~
im3w1l
I like the way the Swedish subway system works. Door buttons are normally
inactive, but when they are active they are lit up.

~~~
nmstoker
Yes, that's ideal

------
ljm
> These features, such as tactile paving and audible traffic signals, help
> people with visual impairments cross the road and are only activated when
> the button is pressed.

Unless I'm living in a different version of London to the authors, it is
unfortunately not the case that pressing the button invokes an interstitial
foot massage.

~~~
anticensor
You placed your feet wrong.

------
blackbrokkoli
That is one long non-article. Let's try:

It's an aplication of the placebo effect. It gives people the feeling of
having an impact on critical systems which work better automated when they
have not, like on traffic lights. A net-positive effect is widely observed.

~~~
UweSchmidt
Can't agree that the effect is net positive.

It adds another level of confusion and doubt in technology, since occasionally
people will figure out what's going on or read articles like this one.

How about showing a timer on the traffic light when they will turn green, or
temporarily disable traffic lights when there is little traffic (using live
data).

~~~
maxxxxx
"How about showing a timer on the traffic light when they will turn green"

In some areas they have these and it's really nice.

~~~
craftyguy
Yea having been to cities where this is deployed widely (e.g. Taipei), it's a
shame that they aren't in use everywhere.

------
kbart
Why this myth 'elevator close door button does not work' keeps reapearing
every now and then? _It 's not universal_ \- in some places it works, in some
it doesn't. Why the obsesion to find a single 'truth', is so hard to accept
that it's not the same everywhere? Same goes for pedestrian crossing button -
I've missed quite few green/red traffic light iterations on my way to work,
because I forgot to press a button and had to wait for another round.

~~~
coatmatter
It's a creative writing problem. It's fine when creative writing is writing
for writing's sake, but when dubious facts and over-generalisations are mixed
in, myths start to develop. It reminds me just a tiny bit of the "carrots are
good for night vision" myth.

------
paulsutter
In Japan, elevator close buttons not only work they are used everyday all the
time. The doors are set to close with a long delay, so everyone habitually
closes the door manually.

Now that I’m back, I notice that elevators in the US often close immediately
upon pressing a floor button. But also, most elevator close buttons do
actually work.

------
mjevans
Actually I believe they often DO work in service elevators and other 'back of
house' situations.

In a normal elevator I imagine they also do work when in a privileged mode
(such as an EMS key override).

------
njarboe
I would love for the elevator door close to work for me, but I thought they
still existed for operation during a fire. You can see a key where the firemen
can override the system and keep doors open or shut as long as they want. Here
is one site[1] that seems to verify that the close door button is used during
emergency operation.

[1][https://www.wikihow.com/Operate-an-Elevator-in-Fire-
Service-...](https://www.wikihow.com/Operate-an-Elevator-in-Fire-Service-Mode)

------
Havoc
>As for the lights, a growing number of them are now integrated into an
electronic system that detects traffic and adjusts intervals accordingly
(giving priority to buses if they're running late, for example), which means
that pressing the button has no effect.

Surely pedestrian presses button is a valuable input to any such semi-smart
traffic management system?

If the system is smart enough to know about _late_ buses and their routes then
this very binary input should be easy to integrate...

~~~
dredds
Thou if the buttons were used for pedestrian management (stats) then a certain
group of people would still 'hammer' them like on old arcade machines just for
the heck of it. (note the high-stress people that repeatedly smash these
buttons that never work)

------
rosege
A local Sydney paper just did an article on how the pedestrian buttons in the
city dont actually do anything during the day because they are on preset
timers [https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/when-pushing-the-
pedestr...](https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/when-pushing-the-pedestrian-
button-works-and-when-it-doesn-t-20180820-p4zykp.html)

~~~
coatmatter
> "Pedestrian council chairman Harold Scruby"...

Any time this so-called "Pedestrian Council of Australia chairman" (Harold
Scruby) is covered by an Australian reporter, doubt should be heavily cast on
the validity of the entire article or reporter's credibility.

Look up who Harold Scruby really is. I'll say no more.

------
carc1n0gen
In the city I live in, the crosswalk buttons are not for making the lights
change, but to tell the crosswalk to play an auditory signal the next time it
changes. This is of course for the visually impaired.

------
spicyusername
"World full of buttons"... Describes only three buttons.

------
droithomme
These buttons aren't really non-functional. They work to spread disease.

------
meesterdude
The same is unfortunately quite true of the web.

------
gumby
warning: Safari "reader" mode can't fix that page, so you get little dribbles
of text separated by pictures that don't add to a pretty minimal "story"
(TLDR: various buttons are placebo in the US. Some, like elevator "door close"
buttons, for ADA reasons -- they're really there for emergency personnel
anyway, and some just as placebo, like some crossing signal buttons).

