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A comment on Isaac Asimov on Security Theatre.. Parent comment

Re:Isaac Asimov on Security Theatre. by tzs on Tuesday October 04, 2011 @06:15PM (#3073163)
> I see people every day come into an elevator and press the door close button like it is the only way to get air. Nobody realizes that the button does nothing. Furthermore many do, but they do it any ways on the off chance that it saves them an extra millisecond here or there of waiting. It never gives any benefit. However "may as well do it just in case it works". Trivial to disprove but still

The close door button on the elevators in my work building work as follows:

1. After summoning the elevator, if I enter and press the door close button, the door immediately starts to close--even if I have not selected a destination. If I do not press the door close button, the door closes automatically after several seconds.

2. If I press the door open button to interrupt a door closing, as soon as the door finishes opening the door close button makes it close. If the door close is not pressed, the door closed on its own after approximately five seconds.

3. When the elevator arrives at a destination floor, if I press the door close as soon as the door finishes opening, it immediately starts closing. If I do not press the button, the door opens, waits several seconds, then closes.

Conclusion: your theories on elevator operation are inconsistent with experiment.

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Re:Isaac Asimov on Security Theatre. by brettvallis on Wednesday October 05, 2011 @01:50AM (#3074409)
In my experience - admittedly, I haven't been keeping detailed notes - 99.9% of the elevator close buttons that I have pushed have done absolutely nothing: the doors just wait the default interval before closing. The open buttons always stop the doors closing, but the close buttons: no response. Perhaps it's country specific, or company specific. But most people know this, and don't press them. The button is irrelevant and ignored. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about airport security: irrelevant but unfortunately cannot be ignored.
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Re:Isaac Asimov on Security Theatre. by danssig on Wednesday October 05, 2011 @08:57AM (#3075371)
It depends on where. In Switzerland they absolutely do something.
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