Ladies... You Know What I've Never, Not Once, Done In My Entire Life?

[Rednog]

I'm sorry, but how do you propose bacteria are getting into the air if in a hypothetical situation the toilet was airtight when the lid was down?

When someone lifts the lid to use it, obviously.

While bacteria free, a permanently hermetically sealed toilet is rather pointless.

Uhhh I don't think you or the other guy really understand how bacteria work, they just don't come shooting out of the toilet bowl when you open the lid if the toilet isn't being flushed, the water is stagnant. The real world ramifications if bacteria could just go wherever they wanted into the air would be devastating.

Even then in a situation where bacteria could just up and leave the water, which they can't, when you flush everything flushes down with it and it replaced by new water. Realistically the only bacteria you'd be exposed to when opening the lid in this unreal situation is the same bacteria you'd be dousing your toothbrush in when you make it wet from your tap water.

 

[Carbonyl]

Man, I do not give a flying fuck if you leave the seat up, as long as you have it up while you are peeing. I never understood that trope....and I've never known anyone who actually had a problem with or arguments about leaving the seat up. I only care that the area is clean, I am not so addled by my lady parts that I can't find it within myself to check if the seat is down, and I don't think I know anyone who is.
I'm pretty sure that the whole 'leaving the seat up' thing was made up for story-telling purposes at some point in the past and people just think it's supposed to be a problem now.

 

[General Vagueness]

Even if it was airtight with the lid down, you have to use it with the lid up; stuff will still get in the air.

I'm sorry, but how do you propose bacteria are getting into the air if in a hypothetical situation the toilet was airtight when the lid was down?

I thought I made it clear right in that sentence, you have to open the the lid to use it. I don't know anyone whose body would form an airtight seal on a toilet seat. Now that I think about it this is also ignoring that the seat itself would have to have an airtight connection with the toilet bowl, which would most likely mean you couldn't lift it up, which would destroy half this argument.

I'm sorry, but how do you propose bacteria are getting into the air if in a hypothetical situation the toilet was airtight when the lid was down?

When someone lifts the lid to use it, obviously.

While bacteria free, a permanently hermetically sealed toilet is rather pointless.

Uhhh I don't think you or the other guy really understand how bacteria work, they just don't come shooting out of the toilet bowl when you open the lid if the toilet isn't being flushed, the water is stagnant. The real world ramifications if bacteria could just go wherever they wanted into the air would be devastating.

Even then in a situation where bacteria could just up and leave the water, which they can't, when you flush everything flushes down with it and it replaced by new water. Realistically the only bacteria you'd be exposed to when opening the lid in this unreal situation is the same bacteria you'd be dousing your toothbrush in when you make it wet from your tap water.

OK I see how I might not have been clear. It would happen *while* you're using the toilet. As for the rest, you're the one who implied the bacteria coming out between the lid and the seat was enough to be worth noting, which I think is on a similar scale to the exposure between the seat and someone's body, and have you ever heard of airborne bacteria?

 

[Rednog]

Even if it was airtight with the lid down, you have to use it with the lid up; stuff will still get in the air.

I'm sorry, but how do you propose bacteria are getting into the air if in a hypothetical situation the toilet was airtight when the lid was down?

I thought I made it clear right in that sentence, you have to open the the lid to use it. I don't know anyone whose body would form an airtight seal on a toilet seat. Now that I think about it this is also ignoring that the seat itself would have to have an airtight connection with the toilet bowl, which would most likely mean you couldn't lift it up, which would destroy half this argument.

I'm sorry, but how do you propose bacteria are getting into the air if in a hypothetical situation the toilet was airtight when the lid was down?

When someone lifts the lid to use it, obviously.

While bacteria free, a permanently hermetically sealed toilet is rather pointless.

Uhhh I don't think you or the other guy really understand how bacteria work, they just don't come shooting out of the toilet bowl when you open the lid if the toilet isn't being flushed, the water is stagnant. The real world ramifications if bacteria could just go wherever they wanted into the air would be devastating.

Even then in a situation where bacteria could just up and leave the water, which they can't, when you flush everything flushes down with it and it replaced by new water. Realistically the only bacteria you'd be exposed to when opening the lid in this unreal situation is the same bacteria you'd be dousing your toothbrush in when you make it wet from your tap water.

OK I see how I might not have been clear. It would happen *while* you're using the toilet. As for the rest, you're the one who implied the bacteria coming out between the lid and the seat was enough to be worth noting, which I think is on a similar scale to the exposure between the seat and someone's body, and have you ever heard of airborne bacteria?

The space between the lid/seat/cover is worth noting because during a flush water becomes aerosol these droplets of water that become airborne can have bacteria within them. The space between the lid/seat/cover allows the aerosol to escape the confines of the toilet and spread throughout your bathroom.
Also, airborne bacteria are "airborne" because they were put up into the air by a force, whether this be coughing, sneezing, carried by an aerosol, etc. They don't do it of their own free will, there is a very big difference.

 

[Ryotknife]

My problem isn't that I don't notice if the lid is open or not. It's that I don't feel I should be the one responsible for touching that nasty toilet seat that dudes routinely splash their pee all over (and subsequently fail to clean off). It's just a matter of common courtesy.

No, it's not common courtesy, it's sexism. Why does a man have to put it down just so a woman doesn't have to put it up?

This is a joke right? You can't seriously claim that this has anything to do with sexism right? Because really, you need to learn to pick your battles and point out actual sexism against men rather than this petty shit.

actually, it is sexism. Very mild sexism in the grand scheme of things (and honestly has no real affect on society as a whole nor is this a grave injustice), but sexism never the less. to expect men to capitulate for no other reason than because they are men and therefore are inferior.

There are plenty of posters from both genders in this thread who have rules that are a bit more fair like majority rules or putting the toilet lid down (some rules in which gender doesnt matter. GASP! it is almost like gender equality! madness!). Hell most guys dont want the toilet seat being up being the default position, we want there to be NO default position which is fair to BOTH sexes, rather than..you know..treat guys like second class citizens.

that said, some of the posters in this thread have made some good arguments for putting the toilet lid down. It does look better and it equally inconviences everyone, thereby ending the debate once and for all.

 

[General Vagueness]

Makes sense, it did seem like a bit of an unscientific problem/solution (a case of what 'feels' to be right rather than what is, like if your hands look clean then you figure they probably don't need a wash, even if you've been touching germy stuff) but then this is the same household that doesn't want a microwave because it's so unhealthy having 'microwaves going everywhere'.

It is unhealthy having microwaves going everywhere (depending on the wavelength and strength), that's why microwaves-- er, microwave ovens-- are required to have grounded metal inside them to absorb the microwaves-- that is, microwave radiation-- and have been for decades.

Lolololol sorry, I thought of the South Park episode about the toilet seat belts.

Really? South Park nicked a Carrot Top routine?

They really are cutting edge and insightful.

IDK if that's where they got the idea but the episode didn't focus on that. It was more about the TSA, people paying for dumb supernatural stuff, and people getting their guts sucked out by the flush of a toilet after falling in.

The space between the lid/seat/cover is worth noting because during a flush water becomes aerosol these droplets of water that become airborne can have bacteria within them. The space between the lid/seat/cover allows the aerosol to escape the confines of the toilet and spread throughout your bathroom.

The space between someone's body and the lid should allow for that too, shouldn't it? You could flush after you get up and put down the lid but then you leave a larger window of time and space for things to drift out before you flush.

Also, airborne bacteria are "airborne" because they were put up into the air by a force, whether this be coughing, sneezing, carried by an aerosol, etc. They don't do it of their own free will, there is a very big difference.

Actually I was talking about bacteria that can survive being airborne-- there are a lot of bacteria in the air all the time, but most of them don't survive more than a second or two at the temperature, pressure, and humidity you usually find in an indoor bathroom. I would think the force of adding your waste to the water would cause some aerosolization.

 

[Chemical Alia]

My problem isn't that I don't notice if the lid is open or not. It's that I don't feel I should be the one responsible for touching that nasty toilet seat that dudes routinely splash their pee all over (and subsequently fail to clean off). It's just a matter of common courtesy.

No, it's not common courtesy, it's sexism. Why does a man have to put it down just so a woman doesn't have to put it up?

This is a joke right? You can't seriously claim that this has anything to do with sexism right? Because really, you need to learn to pick your battles and point out actual sexism against men rather than this petty shit.

actually, it is sexism. Very mild sexism in the grand scheme of things (and honestly has no real affect on society as a whole nor is this a grave injustice), but sexism never the less. to expect men to capitulate for no other reason than because they are men and therefore are inferior.

There are plenty of posters from both genders in this thread who have rules that are a bit more fair like majority rules or putting the toilet lid down (some rules in which gender doesnt matter. GASP! it is almost like gender equality! madness!). Hell most guys dont want the toilet seat being up being the default position, we want there to be NO default position which is fair to BOTH sexes, rather than..you know..treat guys like second class citizens.

that said, some of the posters in this thread have made some good arguments for putting the toilet lid down. It does look better and it equally inconviences everyone, thereby ending the debate once and for all.

I really don't see how it is. For example, I have my own apartment, and I like to keep it neat. I keep my toilet seat down, and I expect that any of my guests would leave my bathroom the same way it looked when they came in. Which means that if you put the toilet seat up, you need to put it back down. And if you splashed pee somewhere because aiming is hard or whatever and you can't pee sitting down, I would expect that you take care of that as well.

I would expect my female guests to properly discard/dispose of their female nasty shit, such as tampons, just the same, in a manner that doesn't require me to go near it. If women needed to move the toilet seat from its default position every time they peed, then it would be fair for that duty to fall on us as well.

 

[Lieju]

Never any problems with that in our household. You have to close the lid,to keep the animals out of the toilet.

That's how I was raised, and everyone I know always shuts the lid too.

Except for this one girl I shared a bathroom for a while. She not only left the toilet lid open, she had the habit of dropping things in it, like the rolls of toilet paper and nail-clippers. I took the precaution of keeping my toothbrush in my room.

I was far more annoyed with her behaviour than if she'd left the seat up. (But she was pretty annoying at any rate)

 

[Ryotknife]

My problem isn't that I don't notice if the lid is open or not. It's that I don't feel I should be the one responsible for touching that nasty toilet seat that dudes routinely splash their pee all over (and subsequently fail to clean off). It's just a matter of common courtesy.

No, it's not common courtesy, it's sexism. Why does a man have to put it down just so a woman doesn't have to put it up?

This is a joke right? You can't seriously claim that this has anything to do with sexism right? Because really, you need to learn to pick your battles and point out actual sexism against men rather than this petty shit.

actually, it is sexism. Very mild sexism in the grand scheme of things (and honestly has no real affect on society as a whole nor is this a grave injustice), but sexism never the less. to expect men to capitulate for no other reason than because they are men and therefore are inferior.

There are plenty of posters from both genders in this thread who have rules that are a bit more fair like majority rules or putting the toilet lid down (some rules in which gender doesnt matter. GASP! it is almost like gender equality! madness!). Hell most guys dont want the toilet seat being up being the default position, we want there to be NO default position which is fair to BOTH sexes, rather than..you know..treat guys like second class citizens.

that said, some of the posters in this thread have made some good arguments for putting the toilet lid down. It does look better and it equally inconviences everyone, thereby ending the debate once and for all.

I really don't see how it is. For example, I have my own apartment, and I like to keep it neat. I keep my toilet seat down, and I expect that any of my guests would leave my bathroom the same way it looked when they came in. Which means that if you put the toilet seat up, you need to put it back down. And if you splashed pee somewhere because aiming is hard or whatever and you can't pee sitting down, I would expect that you take care of that as well.

I would expect my female guests to properly discard/dispose of their female nasty shit, such as tampons, just the same, in a manner that doesn't require me to go near it. If women needed to move the toilet seat from its default position every time they peed, then it would be fair for that duty to fall on us as well.

okay, that is "your house, your rules" which btw is fine. But that is not what you said before.

"My problem isn't that I don't notice if the lid is open or not. It's that I don't feel I should be the one responsible for touching that nasty toilet seat that dudes routinely splash their pee all over (and subsequently fail to clean off). It's just a matter of common courtesy."

nowhere did you mention or insinuate your property or guests, it was a blanket statement revolving around genders. But, its christmas-ish time so ill just leave this as another case of the crappy English language striking again where you clearly meant to insinuate a scenario and a different scenario was insinuated instead due to the crappiness that is English.

EDIT:....and i just realized that any word involving "crap" is probably a poor choice of words considering the subject at hand....oh well.

 

[Your Gaffer]

A great and hilarious post, someone is feeling put upon at home!

Anyway I have a hard time believing you've NEVER sat down on a toilet with the seat up. I have several times, usually late at night when I don't turn on the bathroom light or am half asleep. It is always terrible. It is a common courtesy to put the seat down. You might not remember every time but you can at least do it most of the time. Is that really so hard?

 

[Wyes]

This is a really bizarre problem, and I'm not sure how 'toilet seat down' became the default position (over say seat and lid down, or both up). While there are gender issues at play sometimes, I don't really care about that.

Here's the thing - if the toilet seat is up, it is really hard for a dude to get pee on it. If it's down, then it's damn near impossible not to get pee on it unless the guy is sitting. My personal experience is that girls leave the toilet more of a mess than guys, precisely because guys put the toilet seat up and so don't get pee on it.

I'm aware of several households however where, it seems largely due to the poor design of their toilets, girls get pee on the seat (more precisely, on the underside of the seat, because it splashes up). When that happens, guess who has to touch the "nasty toilet seat that girls routinely splash their pee all over"?

Honestly, it's a toilet. They're always going to get dirty. Both genders and everybody involved in using a toilet has to deal with that. I agree that seat down somehow looks more neat than seat up, but as others have pointed out - why not both seat and lid down?

 

[Chemical Alia]

My problem isn't that I don't notice if the lid is open or not. It's that I don't feel I should be the one responsible for touching that nasty toilet seat that dudes routinely splash their pee all over (and subsequently fail to clean off). It's just a matter of common courtesy.

No, it's not common courtesy, it's sexism. Why does a man have to put it down just so a woman doesn't have to put it up?

This is a joke right? You can't seriously claim that this has anything to do with sexism right? Because really, you need to learn to pick your battles and point out actual sexism against men rather than this petty shit.

actually, it is sexism. Very mild sexism in the grand scheme of things (and honestly has no real affect on society as a whole nor is this a grave injustice), but sexism never the less. to expect men to capitulate for no other reason than because they are men and therefore are inferior.

There are plenty of posters from both genders in this thread who have rules that are a bit more fair like majority rules or putting the toilet lid down (some rules in which gender doesnt matter. GASP! it is almost like gender equality! madness!). Hell most guys dont want the toilet seat being up being the default position, we want there to be NO default position which is fair to BOTH sexes, rather than..you know..treat guys like second class citizens.

that said, some of the posters in this thread have made some good arguments for putting the toilet lid down. It does look better and it equally inconviences everyone, thereby ending the debate once and for all.

I really don't see how it is. For example, I have my own apartment, and I like to keep it neat. I keep my toilet seat down, and I expect that any of my guests would leave my bathroom the same way it looked when they came in. Which means that if you put the toilet seat up, you need to put it back down. And if you splashed pee somewhere because aiming is hard or whatever and you can't pee sitting down, I would expect that you take care of that as well.

I would expect my female guests to properly discard/dispose of their female nasty shit, such as tampons, just the same, in a manner that doesn't require me to go near it. If women needed to move the toilet seat from its default position every time they peed, then it would be fair for that duty to fall on us as well.

okay, that is "your house, your rules" which btw is fine. But that is not what you said before.

"My problem isn't that I don't notice if the lid is open or not. It's that I don't feel I should be the one responsible for touching that nasty toilet seat that dudes routinely splash their pee all over (and subsequently fail to clean off). It's just a matter of common courtesy."

nowhere did you mention or insinuate your property or guests, it was a blanket statement revolving around genders. But, its christmas-ish time so ill just leave this as another case of the crappy English language striking again where you clearly meant to insinuate a scenario and a different scenario was insinuated instead due to the crappiness that is English.

EDIT:....and i just realized that any word involving "crap" is probably a poor choice of words considering the subject at hand....oh well.

What else would I be talking from, other than my experiences? Other people can do whatever they want, of course, though I do maintain that it's mostly a problem of common courtesy that ultimately falls on the guys for reasons of personal cleanliness and responsibility.

 

[Meatspinner]

Also this thread has an entirely too much TMI!

Wouldn't it just be... TMI? Too much I, perhaps.

It makes perfect sence when you think of it in math terms

a = Too Much

i = Information

a*(a*i)= ಠ_ಠ

 

[Creator002]

I always put the toilet seat down and shut the lid before flushing. I also always give the seat a wipe before sitting. I still think it's silly that people have arguments about the position of the seat since it takes all of 2 seconds to adjust it. I understand the issue though. Women always sit, sometimes men sit, makes sense to be down.

 

[Twilight_guy]

I believe in gender equality. Either women have to move the toilet seat or I get to yell at them for not doing it. I'm fine with either.

 

[Wolf In A Bear Suit]

I literally never lift the seat, and I'm male. It's because I like to test my sharpshooting skills, and because I have the etiquette of a filthy animal, a Warthog maybe. So I have never induced the wrath of women-folk for leaving it up

 

[Dags90]

The space between the lid/seat/cover is worth noting because during a flush water becomes aerosol these droplets of water that become airborne can have bacteria within them. The space between the lid/seat/cover allows the aerosol to escape the confines of the toilet and spread throughout your bathroom.
Also, airborne bacteria are "airborne" because they were put up into the air by a force, whether this be coughing, sneezing, carried by an aerosol, etc. They don't do it of their own free will, there is a very big difference.

Right, but when someone pees it disturbs the surface of the water, creating small droplets that bounce out. Hence "using" the toilet.

 

[kannibus]

I just do it up like Foul Bachelor Frog.

Piss in the shower!

 

[WOPR]

I always put the seat down for the sake of "no one wants to see toilet rings".

I tend to look too, when my mom was young and in girlscouts her friend used a pit toilet while camping and didn't look; turned out there was a porcupine in the toilet and she got stabbed in her girly bits. Hearing that story, you kinda look first.

 

[manic_depressive13]

How is this even a thing? Ideally, people shouldn't have to inspect the toilet seat in the comfort of their own home. Why is there ever a need to raise the toilet seat? Toilet bowls are really quite wide. If you can't land it in the bowl without pissing all over the seat you should sit the fuck down.