Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with rules

Do I really want to know what a man's "jolt" is?

dinger — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:25:52 -0800

What would it have meant in the mid-twentieth century to "shake another man's jolt"? There are numerous versions of the "three rules of life" for men. Variations I have heard include "never play cards with a man named Lefty", "never feel sorry for a beautiful woman", and "never spend venture capital on a limited partnership without a detailed analytical fiduciary prospectus" (Cheers, 1986).

Well, I finally stumbled upon the original version, from Nelson Algren's 1956 novel, "A Walk on the Wild Side":

“But blow wise to this, buddy, blow wise to this: Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom’s. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own. Never let nobody talk you into shaking another man’s jolt. And never you cop another man’s plea. I’ve tried ‘em all and I know. They don’t work."

OK, so now that I've found original rules, I discover that there are not three, but five, one of which concerns a man's "jolt". Google has failed me. What could it possibly meant in the noir world of the forties and fifties, to "shake a man's jolt"?

Common rules for a threesome (or foursome)

A Special Kind of Weird — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 16:59:24 -0800

What are your rules for threesomes or foursomes? What rules can help such an encounter be successful all around, but particularly for folks new to such encounters? Any tips for how/when to negotiate rules with the other party/parties involved? My wife and I have been talking a lot about threesomes lately, though we haven't pursued one because the opportunity hasn't presented itself yet, and we've been too busy with other things to put our energy into pursuing one. However, an opportunity for a foursome may be forthcoming.

We both listen to the Savage Love podcast, and since Dan Savage recommends "scripting" such encounters before getting into the heat of things, we want to make sure that we are doing our research and covering all our bases. As we were talking about what our specific rules might be (i.e., what would make us comfortable/uncomfortable as individuals or as a couple), we were curious whether there are any common rules out there, or if not, perhaps ones that people have found helpful for newbies. Not necessarily looking for universal rules - just curious about what's typical or what things we should consider in addition to the ones that came to mind for us.

Additionally, we're trying to figure out how/when to have the negotiation for the potential forthcoming opportunity. We're going to a convention, and our friend (let's call her Anna) is also going with her girlfriend. Anna asked us to share a hotel room with them during the conference. I've had suggestive conversations with Anna. For example, during one recent conversation, we shared suggestive photos of Anna, Anna's girlfriend, and my wife. In another conversation, Anna told me about a threesome she and her girlfriend had with a man. But in our conversations, neither of us has said outright "Hey, let's do this!" I'm reading the request to share a hotel room as a likely offer, given that we could afford to stay separately, but there's a chance that I could be reading this wrong. If nothing happens, that's fine - we'll still have a great time hanging out with them.

My wife and I are curious how others go about situations such as this. Is there a way that we can let things happen organically, but still set rules before starting up anything? That would be our preference so that it's not overly scripted. How and when do people typically have the rules discussion?

Want to sell my paintings - what to do?

Tullyogallaghan — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 07:38:29 -0800

I would like to begin to sell my paintings at local art fairs and online sites such as Etsy, $25-100.00 price range. Do I really need to set up an LLC or sole proprietorship, get a tax number and whatever else just to sell a painting or two (if I'm lucky?) Thanks. P.S. I live in Illinois.

Divisive things are hard to Google.

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:09:56 -0800

I'm working on a project where I've got 2 union talent already booked and one Fi Core talent on deck. I have questions. This is a cat 2 industrial voice over project. Talent A is booked, on-card, AFTRA. Talent B, same. Talent C is Fi Core. These guys are not going to be in the same piece. They are on the same project solely because the project consists of three separate items requiring three separate talents.

I am not adopting a position on what I think of Fi Core - I'm just trying to figure out what my obligations are in hiring these guys and trying to make an ethical decision.

So, questions that I'm trying to answer:
1. If I've got the two talent who are union, and since Talent C has the option to "go union," am I obligated by law or otherwise to make Talent C "go union"?

2. If answer to 1 is "no," my instinct is that I'm just going to offer Talent C the rate on the card anyway, because there is little to no price sensitivity and I feel like that is the correct thing to do. Yes?

I realize these are rookie questions and I am going to inquire with others in person that are knowledgeable, but I am looking for resources that just lay out the rules. Googling about Fi Core has been a true and total rabbit warren, and I dislike being uninformed. Thank you.

I love Outlook Rules!

Danithegirl — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 06:25:55 -0800

I have a shared folder with one of my bosses where he dumps emails for me to file. I would like to create a rule in Outlook to alert me when something has been placed in this folder. Help? Can you set rules for shared folders? I have Outlook 2007

Too large for carry-on?

Hither — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 20:07:35 -0800

How likely is it that Delta Airlines will accept my slightly-oversize backpack as carry-on? I have a Gregory Z-pack internal frame backpack I'd like to take as my luggage on a couple of Delta flights. Planes involved are an Embraer 175, an Airbus A319, and an unspecified Canadair.

The backpack has a stiff internal frame which means it has dimensions of 24"x12" at best, which is a bit outside the 22"x14" specified by Delta.

How likely are they are to demand that I check it? I will bring a duffel I can use to protect it if they do, but I'd prefer if I can carry it on, or gate-check it. But if they're pretty likely to insist, I might as well bring a bit more equipment and get more out of my $25 checked baggage fee.

If it matters, its a trip from Peoria IL (PIA) to Missoula MT (MSO) and back.

New roommate at 40, where do I start?

Amalie-Suzette — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 05:12:12 -0800

I’ve decided to get a roommate to offset my bills. What is this going to be like? For the first time in my life, I am going to have a roommate. We are both 40, both going through the same kind of things in life (divorce, only having kids every other weekend, boyfriends, etc.). What rules should you set? How do you set rules? How do I make her feel like this is her house too? (I’ve lived here for a while by myself) We have been acquaintances for 26 years, went to high school together, worked together in high school…we have kept in touch, but not really had much of a ‘friendship’ over the years. I guess I’m envisioning Romy & Michelle…but I don’t know how this is supposed to work. Any advice is appreciated. :)

My new roommate just declared: no dates can ever spend the night here.

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 06:59:48 -0800

My new roommate just declared to me that there is a rule in our apartment: No dates are allowed to ever sleep over. Can you help me figure out how to have a productive discussion about this with her? I am a 28 year-old American woman and I just moved into a apartment last week with one female roommate, who was a friend before I moved in, but not a best friend. My new roommate has already been living in this apartment for about a year, so I feel like I'm the newcomer. She is Chinese, from one of the largest cities in China, and 21. We are living in a big Western city where we are both foreigners.

We were hanging out in the kitchen yesterday, talking about our plans for the weekend, and I mentioned that I have a date on Saturday with a new guy I'm excited about. And she said, "Oh! That's really exciting! But, you know, there's a rule in this apartment: no guys are allowed to spend the night. I don't want to be the third wheel. My last roommate had a boyfriend, and it was really awkward." I was so taken aback by this that I agreed with her, and said something cheerful (and not even totally serious because I'm not sure that this thing on Saturday is even a real date) about how this guy seems to have his own place, so if things go well then the not-in-this-apartment rule shouldn't be a problem. But by that point she was just looking at me in total horror, so I changed the subject.

It's been a long time since I've dated and even longer since I've had a roommate. Was it off-base for me to assume that if a date goes well, I could occasionally bring someone home without that being a huge deal? If you know anything about dating in China, can you give me some insight on her background here? That look she gave me made me feel really slutty and awful for even suggesting that I was thinking about sleeping with this guy in the near future. The idea of broaching the topic with her again makes my skin crawl, because I think it's going to feel like talking about how much I want to have sex right here in this apartment.

But I do want to talk to her again, because it made me uncomfortable having a rule handed down like that that without any prior discussion. I would like to actually discuss it and see if we can come to a compromise of some sort. Because the issue of guys staying over, or not, isn't important to me because I want to have loud sex with a different guy every night at 3 am, but because I like the other parts of having someone spend the night in my place: talking quietly late at night about things right before you fall asleep, waking up next to him. I know that those things can all happen at a guy's place, but there's something really nice about having someone I care about in my space too.

So could you give me some advice for how to have a productive discussion about this with her? Would it be inconsiderate to try and get her to change her mind and instead make some rules like: guys can only stay over once a week, must be appropriately covered whenever they leave the room, and if a particular time period is really stressful, either one of us could have a short-term veto on visitors? Also maybe relevant: our bedrooms share one wall that is a bit thin, and our apartment is small: it consists of two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen.

She seems like a really great roommate in all other respects: she's clean, quiet, and friendly, and she doesn't take it personally when I close the door and/or don't feel like chatting. She's also very direct about almost everything, so it's generally pretty easy to discuss problems with her. I'd really rather not move out if it were possible to resolve this. Thanks for your help.

Give me your rules of thumb!

Calicatt — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 17:46:48 -0800

What are some quick tricks or rules-of-thumb you use to help plan/organize/live your life? I was thinking about planning a project today and was reminded of Parkinson's law: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. I gave myself less time than I thought I needed for the project and was able to complete it on target.

Which got me wondering...what are some other good rules of thumb, laws, adages, etc. that you use to help you make good decisions on the fly?

Another example that comes to mind:

-the Pareto Principle, aka the 80/20 rule: 80% of the value you create comes from 20% of your work, 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients, etc. A reminder to focus on the most important things.

Looking for practical, useful things, not like Murphy's Law, for instance :)

Bend Outlook to my will.

Jacob G — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:16:15 -0800

I'm looking for an Add-In for Outlook 2010 that will pop-up a notification when certain, quantity or time based criteria are met. I receive a number of production/log emails a day from our production websites. I currently have them being sorted based on certain criteria into different folders that organize them by type and severity. In order to see these emails accumulate, I need to keep my entire folder tree expanded and, depending on their frequency, I may need to react more quickly than in other cases.

(For example, it may be the case that 1 issue of type X per hour can be addressed at a later time, but 100 issues of the same type in a couple of minutes clearly indicate an immediate issue.)

So, this means that my folder hierarchy is quite long and I'm frequently checking my email to see if "something is wrong."

I would like an add-in that would pop up an Alert if a particular folder contains more than X messages (ideally in a given time period, but not required.) Before I go off and write this myself, does anyone know if such a thing already exists? Might it already be built in to Outlook?

I am 99% sure that I will still lose at Monopoly with these rules

davejay — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:09:57 -0800

I am devising a revised Monopoly ruleset for my friends and family to follow, with an Occupy Movement theme. Can you suggest interesting rule variations to attempt? While teaching my kids to play Monopoly, I considered that it might be fun (or at least more relevant to my day-to-day existence) if we altered the ruleset to reflect the day-to-day life of "the 99%". To that end, I am playing around with "Occupy Monopoly" rules that stack the deck significantly against the player (and perhaps towards the bank) from the get-go. As an added side-effect, any rules that drive a shorter game are (to me) a good thing.

Variation one:

- Players choose tokens for each other, instead of their own (we don't get to choose our lot in life);

- All players start with no money (no trust funds), so a player can lose the game on their first roll;

- Rolling a double does not let you roll again (no entitlements);

- If a player lands on a property, but chooses not to purchase it, the property does not go up for auction (no discounted property purchases);

- You can win by bankrupting the other players (1%-er approach), or by having the most money in cash when all players have at least $2000 in cash (99%-er approach.)

Variation two, same as variation one, plus:

- The bank owns all the properties at the start of the game, so the bank collects rent from the first roll of the dice -- when players land on such a property, they can either pay the rent or purchase the property at full price;

- After each round of play, the bank places one new house on one bank-owned property, sequentially starting clockwise after "go", and rents are raised accordingly;

- If a player is purchasing a bank-owned property at full price, that price must include the property improvement costs (that is, the land price plus the per-unit cost of any houses or hotels);

- Last player with at least $1 in cash wins.

So far, the first variation is quite playable, and I suspect the second variation (which I haven't yet played) would be a short and somewhat fatalistic experience...which is in some ways the point of all this.

What I want to hear from you is any other rule variations on this theme that might flesh out the playability somewhat, or amuse without disrupting the flow of game play...and if you decide to give these rules a try, let me know if they work for you or not (because more play-testing makes for a better set of rules.)

How to compose solo flute folk music?

teraspawn — Sun, 06 May 2012 08:42:28 -0800

I want to compose a piece of unaccompanied folk music. What do I need to know? I remember doing some composition when I was at school, and have a vague idea that you end on a perfect cadence, and you have other cadences sort of in the middle and so on, but no idea of what they are or why they're there. I never really understood the rules for chord progressions in multi-instrument pieces, but I suppose that is a story for another day.

At the moment, I want to write a piece (or a few pieces) of folk music for solo flute.

What are the rules when you're composing for a single instrument? Should I just start and end on the first note of the scale? Or is it more fluid than that?

I'd be really grateful for general advice, or recommendations of articles or books to read.

I'm a competent flautist with a fairly bad grasp on music theory, so please assume I need to learn everything except for how to complain and play trills.

How to use this capital letters?

mizukko — Tue, 01 May 2012 07:08:37 -0800

I'm learning English and I found the sentence, "Most Likely to Succeed." on the internet. Why are they spelled with a capital initial? Is there any particular rule of English grammar...? How different from "most likely to succeed" ?

Giving a yellow card when it doesn't affect play. Does it ever happen?

omnigut — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:28:09 -0800

Football (soccer): if a player does a cautionable offence (or an offense that has been repeated enough times to warrant a caution), but it does not affect the run of play at all, can they still be given a yellow once the ball is out of play? Examples inside. If a defender attempts to use his hand to prevent a ball from going over the goal line, and despite hitting it still fails to prevent the goal, can they be given a yellow card?

What if there is a non-agressive tackle where the player misses the ball, and the referee plays advantage. Can the ref then go back and give the offending player a yellow?

Can I "barge" another player on the pitch when the ball is nowhere near? Can I tug someone's shirt over their head if we're nowhere near the ball? And if I try to tug someone's shirt as hard as I can, but they wriggle free and continue with the ball, can I be carded once the ball is out of play?

I don't remember seeing it ever happen, and yet there's nothing in the FA rules that I can find that says it shouldn't.

Of course, violent offences do not apply here. Of course violent offenses can be penalised at any time, regardless of advantage.

Metafilter Rule Number 30: When there is a plate of beans, over-think it

vegetableagony — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:36:49 -0800

I'm looking for lists of TV shows and movies that have characters referencing numbered lists of rules. As examples in Wedding Crashers they reference a random assortment of rules e.g. Rule #110: Never walk away from a crasher in a funny jacket. Fight Club has "First Rule of fight club is..." What else has a set of rules like this?

SCotUS rules of thumb.

Garm — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 10:33:09 -0800

I'm looking for Supreme Court created tests or rules. More like the Miller Test for obscenity, or the Lemon Test for Establishment Clause violations. There have to be a bunch more, but I can't seem to think of any more.

HOA headache

teg4rvn — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 09:49:42 -0800

Is my Homeowners Association being arbitrary and capricious in enforcing its rules? *You are not my lawyer*; nevertheless, opinions are requested. Forgive a slight amount of vagueness in certain parts of my question. As many of you are aware if one is too specific here on the green, someone else doing a google search on the same topic will find this thread in their top ten within days.

Four years ago, we wanted to erect a specific type of sports equipment on our driveway (hint/hint..think LeBron James). The committee of our HOA that handles these matters declined our request, stating simply that they were prohibited. Well, in fact, they're not according to the CC&Rs, they just simply need to be approved by this committee. Nevertheless, we abided by this decision and did not erect this structure. In the intervening 4 years, we have seen at least a dozen obvious violations of the CC&Rs, and reported almost all of them to the President of the HOA. In every instance except one, he has failed to cite the homeowners or even point it out to them. When asked he said the corrections would place undue burden on the homeowner. The problem is that in each instance, the homeowner was required to report their landscaping/architectural plans to the same committee that denied our request...BEFORE they made the modification to their home/property, none of them did.

Also, over the course of the last four years, neighbors have come and gone and the makeup of the community has changed (i.e., more families with kids) so we thought, as per the CC&R rules we could bring this up for a vote. There are only twenty five homes in the community, unfortunately, the aforementioned committee for "architectural" matters has had the same three members for nearly a decade. They do not want this vote and claim their decision is final. And forgive a little age-ism here, but they are retired individuals who have openly said to me that children should not be playing in the neighborhood, that's what parks and YMCAs are for.

What options do I have? What would you do? We plan to encourage the homeowners that agree with us (likely a majority now) to try to run for HOA office to maybe oust this committee, but also we wonder based on my description above if we've been treated unfairly and that the fiefdom of our little HOA is selectively harming us and not impacting others represents some sort of true legal abdication of their responsibilities. In the end, the HOA has only a couple of thousand dollars in its account at any one time, so the ability to get into a legal tussle with us is severely limited.

Obviously, we're angry and slightly vengeful. Please help me see through the fog of the smoke pouring out of my ears......Thanks.

The Rule of Flaw

Balonious Assault — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:15:06 -0800

I'd like to make a list of commonly known "rules" that people have learned and follow, but are in fact not rules at all, and by following them people are led astray. The best example of what I'm looking for is a grammar rule that many of us were taught as kids, which says that it is correct to say "Steve and I," not "Steve and me" or "me and Steve." It is improper to say, for example, "Steve and me are going to the pool," but presumably it's this "rule" that makes a lot of people say things like, "Would you like to go to the pool with Steve and I?"

I'm not just looking for grammar rules. It could be programming, driving, etiquette, or anything else that people regularly do improperly because they understand it to be "the rule." To be clear, I'm not looking for things that people just don't realize they're doing incorrectly, or that there's a better way of doing. That was covered thoroughly in the You were doing it wrong AskMe thread. I'm looking for specific examples of actual, known "rules" that are flawed, or just commonly misunderstood, but people follow anyway because they believe it means they're doing it right.

Thanks for your help.

senseless rules

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 10:54:44 -0800

How do I deal with a basically useless rule that I am supposed to enforce (at work)? I work within the administration for a language program for American students, in the country where the language is spoken. I am American, but the in-country director and other staff are all natives of the country.

The director made a rule that the American students must speak the language they are learning "at all program activities, events, in classrooms, and offices". Okay, seems somewhat reasonable (students have advanced language skills).

She reads this rule to them at orientation, but does not talk about it. They continue to speak English at orientation. She says nothing. I work in the office where students come most often, and she is next door. Therefore, I see the students the most. Last semester I started speaking English with them part of the time, because she didn't seem to be enforcing the rule at all. She then told me that I, and they, were speaking English too much and that I need to enforce the rule. So this semester I have told them when they arrive that they must speak in language in the office, and I have not been speaking with them in English while in the office. (the office is kind of a communal space where they spend a lot of time).

Most of the students will speak in language most of the time. When they haven't, I've been reminding them to, but then I notice that I am the only one doing so, which seems strange since I am the only non-native language speaking staff member. The director will stand right in front of them, smiling, while they break the rule, and say nothing. I have asked her to say something and she says she will but I haven't heard her say anything yet. None of the other staff say anything. So I feel like I look like a jerk to the students.

Frankly, I hate being the only one to enforce this rule and I don't undestand why it's a rule if it is not enforced by the director. Further, if the director is not enforcing it then of course the students are not going to take me seriously. Moreso because I am not a native speaker.

So my question is, how should I deal with this? I already told the students to speak in language in the office so I feel if I stop holding them to that I look like an idiot with no authority. At the same time, it is also idiotic to be the only one to enforce the rule and I can't force the director to enforce it.

This is driving me somewhat crazy. I am thinking that now I should speak to them in language, but not really enforce the rule. If the director says something I will then tel her I cannot be the only one to enforce the rule- that won't work.

However the students are in the office a lot and I find the whole situation awkward. There are other staff in the office but they do not enforce the rule.

Any thoughts would be helpful!

Can I Still Have a Butler?

amicamentis — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 07:42:37 -0800

How would one successfully blend in with the rich? After watching The Talented Mr. Ripley, I am curious about how one would behave to blend in with the 'upper-class' rich in America nowadays. Are there different forms of etiquette that normal people wouldn't be aware of? What is considered gauche to bring up in conversation, and what social norms are expected?

I am curious to hear from people who are rich, or who interact often with people who have quite a lot of money. What are the faux pas that one may not be aware of? What are the unwritten rules?

Obviously, even the location of "America" is very broad and one cannot generalize easily. How does it change from the South to the Northeast, for example, or from California to the Midwest?

More specifically: if Mr. Ripley wanted to pass for rich in today's average large U.S. city, what would he need to be aware of before doing so?

Even Eudora c. 1994 could do this! Come on, Outlook 2007...

buckaroo_benzai — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:36:06 -0800

Outlook 2007 rule to filter messages based on whether it was sent to a specific group of people? HOW? I need to create a rule in Outlook 2007 such that:



Apply this rule after the message arrives



Where my name is in the To or CC box



And from MY BOSS



And sent to Coworker1 AND Coworker2 AND Coworker3

I cannot figure out how to do this. The "And sent to" logic requires me to select my coworkers' address from our address book, or to type it in manually. But once I do that and return to the rule it says "or" between the names, not "and". I can't seem to change the logic here, unlike every other email program I've ever used.

To be clear, I am trying to filter messages that MY BOSS sends to me and my 3 coworkers. I do NOT want to filter out messages that the boss sends to just me and coworker2, for example.

I know it's Microsoft, but come one, this IS possible, right? Out of all the bullcrap things they put in the Rules that you can use, I can't believe the functionality to filter messages sent to a group of people is not there...

Help!

How do you judge if you can afford something?

matthewr — Thu, 19 May 2011 15:41:52 -0800

How do you judge if you can afford something? I've realised that, despite training as an economist, I don't have a mental framework for making financial choices. For instance, I'm thinking about buying a fun new road bike. In the narrowest sense of affordability (having enough money in the bank), I can easily pay for it. But beyond that, I have no idea where to begin in setting myself a maximum amount to spend.

Obviously this is partly a subjective judgement. But without some kind of coherent way of thinking about this sort of decision, it seems unlikely that my choices are maximising my utility. It must be possible to do better!

So, Metafilter: Do you have some kind of mental framework for judging what is affordable? Do you set some firm long-term financial goals and then work out how much spending you can afford? Or seek to achieve a certain material standard of living now and save whatever's left?

Or do you use some kind of rule of thumb? Do you just rely on a vague sense of what 'feels' affordable?

And if you do have a system, does it work?

For context, I'm: early 20s, in the UK, with some savings, in a comfortable but not particularly high-paying job.

What weird rules have you come up against on campsites?

mudkicker — Mon, 16 May 2011 10:05:50 -0800

Unusual restrictions or rules on campsites? Looking for examples of strange rules on camping or caravan sites. Hi all,

I'm still writing for a camping website, and my latest assignment is to find 15 unusual rules on campsites. I'd guess this is probably UK-centred, but anything would be great to hear about. I have been googling, but can't find much of use. Any help would be much appreciated. Links to whatever rule would be great also.

Thank you.

Double or triple play?

teg4rvn — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:46:06 -0800

Baseball rules question---put on your umpire's cap. Runners on 1st and 2nd, nobody out. Runners going on the pitch---deep fly ball to right-center. Runner from second takes a quick glance at the ball, determines that it is non-catchable, and sprint around third toward home. Runner on first not so sure--stops between 1st and second to see if the ball drops. Lo and behold, centerfielder makes a diving catch in the gap. Runner from second (who has now already crossed home plate realizes he is a dead duck to be doubled off at second), just stands at homeplate in amazement of the catch. CF injured badly on the catch (rightfielder needs to run over and retrieve ball)---runner from first goes back and tags up all the way to third base. Questions:

Did runner on first figuratively "pass" the runner who should have returned to 2B...and is therefore out?

Let's say runner from 2B goes back to dugout on play (knowing he'll be out trying to get back to 2B)..is it now OK for runner from 1B to go all the way to 3B (assuming that runner who went into dugout is technically out of basepath)?

Bonus points for finding where in the rules of baseball this may be covered.

FYI, this is a hypothetical of a similar situation.

City rules governing advertising bicycles attached to cycle racks?

priorpark17 — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 06:15:28 -0800

Anybody know their local city rules governing advertising bicycles attached to cycle racks? What does your city do? I have been asked to think on a new local government rule on unwanted street advertising. Does anybody know their local city rules governing advertising bicycles attached to cycle racks? Or can point me in the correct direction? My city is starting to be plagued by stores attaching advertising to bikes, or decorating bikes with their signage, and then locking the bikes to the publicly funded cycle racks. One chain, yes you Banana Republic, recently locked 12 bikes around the small city center. Cyclists see it as a form of obstruction, as they then have to park elsewhere. Non cyclists complain about the visual pollution. There seems no reason for me to reinvent the wheel (sorry) if there are already well thought out responses. Any experiences of direct action against this practice are also welcome.

The city doesn't have an objection to mobile advertising bikes, ie somebody pulling a trailer with a sign - it is the static ones we need to deal with.