Poll: Are these things acceptable in Halls?

Headphones would take care of the loud music problem. I wouldn't mind if someone took my food and replaced it, although some people can be really picky so I would probably ask before taking.

Kind of curious as to what's going on with the poll. There's no "not okay" option to compare to?

I'm not a big party person, but I am the type of person that has to have background noise the entire time I'm awake... and I don't sleep much, usually I'll go to bed around 3-4am but have music on because silence drives me crazy and I don't like having to listen to irritating things like clocks o_O I'm hoping we have pretty thick walls at my accom. lol, I did buy 50 pairs of earplugs about a year ago so might give out a pair to everyone in my flat

My Uni has times set for noise level though, whether people actually stick with that I'm not sure... we're meant to keep noise to a "reasonable level at all times and, in particular at a low level between the hours of 11pm and 8am on weekdays and 12 midnight and 8am at weekends".

OR you could wear headphones?

I think it's OK because I honestly couldn't care about other people's listening habits. It doesn't affect me- music doesn't ruin sleep as much as some people claim, and most people who listen to this loud music sleep too, so aren't listening to it 24/7. If they did, that would be an extremely impressive feat.

Some of these responses are a bit... OTT. No noise after 10pm? , 10 is so early! Like fair enough if it was 12/1am, but 10? Come on...
What even counts as noise? People chatting in the kitchen?

This year I was generally fine with noise any day up until about 1-2am. Parties were usually in the flat across the hall and I was a fair distance away from the door so noise didn't bother me that much. I know my flatmate who's room was right next to the door got annoyed quite a few times when the other flat left their door open while having a party, which was twice per week on average. A few times he got so pissed off that he went across there and closed their door for them

So what, people who don't want to put up with constant noise 24/7 should go out of their way to make an alternative??

Usually if I have my headphones in I listen to the music instead of just having it as background noise or I have my earphones in but the music really loud so it drowns everything else out but too loud to really focus on lol it's loud enough that if you are in the same room you can hear it, but maybe they wont through walls

But if you're in halls, you live with so many other people, who will have different sleeping habits, that even if you stop your music from 3am-10am to sleep, someone else might start theirs at 2am and go on until 1pm when they decide to go to bed.
And I'm not sure how you can say "it doesn't affect me" and then claim that it "doesn't ruin sleep as much as some people claim". If you can provide scientific studies or whatever, fair enough, but by saying it doesn't affect you and recognising that other people make a complaint, do you not realise that it affects some people more strongly?
It depends on the volume and type of music as well, the sort of music you're likely to hear at 2am is club music with thumping bass, which is the worst sort of music for trying to sleep to.Clearly it does affect sleep, or people wouldn't complain.
Also, just because someone's sleep pattern happens to be 10pm-6am, why should they suffer when yours is 2am-10am, and therefore your music is playing for 4 hours of their "sleep" time?



From the poll, I meant loud "party" noise or music - shouting, whooping, drunk singing etc. You know how even "conversations" rise to a ridiculous volume after a couple of hours of drinking? Not just having a sober chat with your mate over a cup of hot chocolate or whatever.
Also if you consider that you're "supposed" to get 6-8 hours of sleep per night, and classes tend to start at 9am, which for most people will mean getting up at about 7am (yeah, you can get up at 8.50 if you live on campus and rock up to lectures but most people don't like to make a habit of that and would rather shower and eat first) then surely 11pm is reasonable midweek to allow people to get 8 hours sleep and get up at 7?
I think most people commenting have also said they'd be happy with it later on occassion, if that occassion isn't right before an exam/deadline, but as a general rule, there should be quiet from whatever time they stated. Why is 10pm (or, for the sake of the adequate sleep argument 11pm) such a bad thing to have as a general rule? If it's 12 or 1am or whatever "normally", that means the exceptional noise will be permitted later, and it means you could theoretically have a party every single night til that time.



Proximity to the nosie makes a huge difference, yeah. I would hate to have a bedroom next to the "common room" or kitchen or whatever, and I think that in allocating rooms in halls maybe the people responsible should try to prioritise "quiet" people and put them away from the hub? If you're involved in most of the parties, you won't care that they're next to your room, but if you're the person who rarely gets involved, it must really suck to be subjected to other people's noise all the time!



This is exactly the attitude that annoys me - the expectation that we (if you're a grumpy git like me) should go out of our way to accomodate noisy people. From what I've seen, we're willing to make compromises, and we don't do stuff that annoys the noisy people who we live with, but they expect us to just put up with their noise whenever they want to make it.
The most I did in halls that annoyed other people was spend a lot of time in the kitchen just sitting around - and I'd chat to people if they were there, and not moan if I was studying there and they made noise, I'd happily leave or join in instead - or leaving washing up for a few hours. I never caused noise on my own, or with one or two other flatmates, only when the entire group were involved. If I'd had really noisy flatmates, I wouldn't have had parties that might disrupt them, only they ones that disrupted me, and I don't think that's acceptable.

I just want to remind people in this thread that I'm trying to provoke debate and discussion, not start a personal argument! I know I'm pretty touchy about noise, and I wouldn't hold other people to my standards, but I'm amazed by how much further than my "compromise" limits some people would expect me to go if they lived with me!

The worst bit about halls is the paper thin walls and hearing everyone have sex and knowing they can hear you as well. As for partying it depends, we found if everyone communicated then it was never an issue, ie) respectful if someone said they wanted an early night for example. Excessively loud music is never necessary during the day as there are headphones if people want to listen loud, and who needs it that loud in their room! Partying until about 11 is ok, if its later as having a halls party and not just pre drinks then if everyone is agreed ok- security will come and shut it down anyway probably

This I agree with - even when I was in a really bad mood I could tolerate loud music and chatting but it was hardly ever just that! I remember once when I was ill and trying to just watch tv in my bed/get to sleep early some guys (friends with one of my flatmates) started bashing on my bedroom door and shouting- even after I went and told them I felt ill and wasn't coming out they kept banging on all the other doors, came back to mine later and started yelling to my flatmate about how inconsiderate I was and that I should be out there being their host because I lived there >_<

I know people will always want to have parties and make noise but you just have to be considerate - if your flatmate has an 8am exam, don't keep them awake until 3am with music and shouting and arguing and then wake them with the fire alarm an hour later...!

Kind of curious as to what's going on with the poll. There's no "not okay" option to compare to?

I'm not a big party person, but I am the type of person that has to have background noise the entire time I'm awake... and I don't sleep much, usually I'll go to bed around 3-4am but have music on because silence drives me crazy and I don't like having to listen to irritating things like clocks o_O I'm hoping we have pretty thick walls at my accom. lol, I did buy 50 pairs of earplugs about a year ago so might give out a pair to everyone in my flat

My Uni has times set for noise level though, whether people actually stick with that I'm not sure... we're meant to keep noise to a "reasonable level at all times and, in particular at a low level between the hours of 11pm and 8am on weekdays and 12 midnight and 8am at weekends".

In my flat it was free for all. Someone kept stealing all our food, tens of pounds stolen until it got to the stage where I gave up buying food. I accepted the partying past 11 as sometimes I was involved. We had an agreement to do it on weekends and some weekdays (not all) and to not play any music past 10 during exam periods.

safe to say no one followed that agreement

ticked all but last one, possibly playing music LOUD all day would be wrong too

last one I would usually say yes, but for those others who eat specific foods and they took the last one of yours, well that's just going to cause problem

All is acceptable and more. Its a student halls of residence, not an old people's home.

If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

The way I see it is that if you're living in halls with hundreds of other students, partying/loud music/noise is to be expected. There were times this year when people were making noise from midnight onwards and I just let them get on with it. If it's the weekend it doesn't really bother me.

I ticked that it's okay to play loud music during the day because that's probably something I'm guilty of. However, my music's never ridiculously loud, I wouldn't do it if I thought people were sleeping and my uni had a quiet period during third term where you weren't supposed to make any noise.

I didn't tick the last one but I don't really have a problem if what's taken is going to be replaced, it would be useful if the person let you know beforehand though

I think all of these vary based on how loud the music is. Mediumly loud music during the day is fine but when it's so loud i can't reevise quietly on the other side of the house it's too loud. And Same for the up to 11pm thing. I'd say no loudness after that time is acceptable.

My old housemates disagreed but they also ended up woken up at like 7am when i woke up a lot so it worked out evenly.

Also, with the food thing if it's like 2 slices of bread and you have a whole loaf and they're shopping later that day to replace it then it's fine. But when people take all of something then they're an *******. Had a fair few things taken in halls but with a building of 120 people who could walk into our kitchen it was impossible to ever trace it.

Quiet music whilst you sleep is fair enough, if I heard it every night through the wall I'd just ask you to make it a bit quieter, but if it's "sleeping" music, I doub't it's going to be that loud or disruptive!
I think Uni curfews are a great idea, if they're reasonable (later noise at weekends, not too strictly enforced at the start of term and very strictly enforced during exams etc).