General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How do you react when I knock your door after dark with election materials in hand? [View all]noamnety
(20,234 posts)or whether your actions are legal.
It's sounds from your other comments ("A lot of folk, who are obviously home, don't answer their doors even in broad daylight" that although most of the people who DO come to the door seem to want to talk, you are also aware that many people find it annoying, threatening or otherwise at least disruptive.
A sample of the reactions of people who go out of their way to answer the door isn't a very scientific study of the overall effect you are having on people. I'm just saying that it's possible the bad outweighs the good, and you aren't aware of the bad (which can sometimes have lingering effects that last hours) because those people aren't answering the door.
It's sort of like smokers in restaurants back in the day when that was allowed. Their perception is that they've followed the rules by sitting in the smoking area, and nobody complained. They go about their day completely oblivious to the fact that they may have triggered a migraine in someone who then went home and was puking repetitively all night because of that migraine. All the smoker sees is that they "followed the rules" - and heck, maybe even did a good deed by letting someone at the next table bum a cigarette off them, which totally made that person's night.
Sometimes things which are legal and benefit some people have other negative effects on other people which we prefer (understandably) to disregard or be in denial about.