Economic Analysis of Toilet Seat Position

Ant writes "The Science Creative Quarterly has published an economic analysis of The Social Norm of Leaving the Toilet Down, employing game theory. This analysis is more thorough than preceding ones cited (from 2002 and 2005), as it factors in the cost of yelling. Both men and women can take some comfort in the conclusion though neither may in the end be satisfied.

Comments

Re:What about the lid?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah no shit, the seat isn't tthe reason that I put the toilet seat down, but I close it because of all of the things that I have accidently dropped in the toilet because I left it up. I think that is more important than if it is up or down when you get to it.

Re:What's the big deal..

[markdavis]

I am a man- I sit down ALL THE TIME with private toilets- you have to more than 50% of the time, ANYWAY. Much less messy, much less noise, slightly faster, no conflicts. I don't give a rat's a** what anyone thinks (not like anyone would know, anyway, unless I post it in a stupid message on Slashdot for a million people to read).

Now, public restrooms? I will use the urinal when possible, which is what it is there for. My conclusion? Unless the private bathroom also has a urnal, just sit, for crying out loud!

If you want another interesting thing to statistically fight over: Do you leave the LID closed or open? At my house, it is always to be closed. Why? Because it grosses me out when the cats drink out of the toilets!!!

(This has got to be the silliest thread I have ever seen on Slashdot!)

Re:What about the lid?

[jc42]

I close it because of all of the things that I have accidentally dropped in the toilet because I left it up.

Around our house, we have a good reason to keep toilet lids closed. Due to my wife's allergies to nearly everything furry (except me ;-), we have four small parrots, who sometimes fly around the house looking for things to get into. I've been thinking of putting up signs in the bathrooms for visitors quoting the advice in many "How to care for your pet parrot" books:

The most common cause of accidental death of pet birds is drowning in toilets. Please close the lid when you're done.

This pretty much decides the issue here.

Re:What's the big deal..

[datapharmer]

Wait... it's faster? What kind of pants do you wear?

It's the first time i hear this ...!

[GNUALMAFUERTE]

Let me get this correctly:

You sit to piss?

There is something very weird about the USA. You are a completely ANAL society. You like asses, admit it. A little bit too much. No, not true for the rest of the world. Maybe in the last couple of years this is starting to get more widespread. But usually, TITS were what man looked for first in women (which is logical, since we all have an ass). In the USA, ASS, ASS, ASS. Look at the way you talk:

Your more usual words are "Shit" and "Fuck you". All your insults are ass-related, while it's usually not so in the rest of the world. In Spanish, for example: "Carajo" (Dick), "Coño" (Vagina), are far more common.

But even when you seem to insult ass-related all the time, you censor anything relating to body functions. For example: Number 1 or Number 2 ... What is that shit???. And the parent post also bring plenty of examples: "Much less messy, much less noise, slightly faster" He is worried about the noise?, What mess is he talking about?. It's just PISS!.

It's common for the human being to try to separate itself from certain things that remember him that once he was an animal, and then, at the same time, find pleasure in certain primitive sensations. But in the USA you seem to be doing this in a pretty twisted way.