Talk:Committee to End Pay Toilets in America

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The logo requires a citation[edit]

  • https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CEPITA_LOGO.svg
  • The current infobox shows a logo with the text "CEPITA" while the acronym is "CEPTIA". The person that restored the logo had a typo. But I went searching for a citation of what the actual logo looks like and I couldn't find an authoritative source.

--Ubershmekel (talk) 19:19, 9 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]


WikiProject[edit]

I have no clue what WikiProject this might fall under. Any ideas? Lәo(βǃʘʘɱ) 01:00, 18 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

and by the decade's end, pay toilets were almost unknown in America...[edit]

The article stays: and by the decade's end, pay toilets were almost unknown in America, it looks like someone expects that the reader knows how it is at the present time... but I do not know. Is there any public toilet in America right now? And is there enough of them? I would like to have rather some pay toilet on the street than no toilet. I understood that the goal of the people was not only to remove the paid toilet, but also somehow to replace them with unpaid ones. Or am I mistaken? On what concept are the new ones operating? Who pays the costs? And how they achieved their goals? And I have to repeat, is there enough of them and are in good shape? Is it working even 30 years after the change from the commercial model (or is this also some kind of commercial model, but on different basis?) Reo ON | +++ 19:53, 8 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I don't have much beyond anecdotes or isolated facts (such as Vandalism plagues S.F. street toilets, July 9, 2001, concerning JCDecaux toilets (Sanisette presumably) which have been installed in San Francisco). I don't really know where to find much information on this (other than the stray scholarly article). I don't know if there is a government report on the state of public toilets for example. Kingdon (talk) 13:15, 13 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
But anyway thanks to your concern. in the first moment when I, as someone from Europe, was reading, that there was a movement against the street toilets in America, I thought that there are no more ANY street toilets in America right at the moment. (Awkward).
I had to read it several times to realize (rather from the context) that the people would not want to cause such an awkward move and that they had to have some replacement by something else in their heads. Probably If I would have been in America, I would be not surprised, I would have everyday experience for the reference. But not everyone who likes to read about USA and who likes America is from America. I have not the Experience to compare. So I have not the direct reference what the people probably had in theirs heads as the solution for the ending of paid toilets. I just guess, there are just now some unpaid toilets (but it is just guess there is no note of it in the text).Reo ON | +++ 20:23, 17 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
It's true; I was never happy with this line, but I simply could not find a source that stated there weren't any pay toilets any more. It's just basic common (American) knowledge. Anybody who was here through the 70s knows they disappeared, although few of us know why! I thought I had a link to a statistic in here though, maybe it got deleted. Have to check the history; that was a valid link I thought....Eaglizard (talk) 18:27, 3 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You should know...[edit]

this article has been deemed so funny and so ridiculous that it is currently on the vote for highlight system on Uncyclopedia, a parody wiki of wikipedia. --92.25.168.230 (talk) 17:51, 27 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A voice from Europe[edit]

This is a fine companion piece to European toilet paper holder, a former FAC. Bishonen | talk 13:44, 3 October 2010 (UTC).[reply]

Hoax?[edit]

I'm calling bullshit on this one. I can't verify a word of it. There's nothing solid (forgive the pun) online and the sources listed are out of print.

  • The articles listed by Griffin has no mention of it: [1].--Scott Mac 20:42, 3 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • "On Answering the Call of Nature; Slovenko, Ralph" exists, but this too turns out to be a false lead. [2]


  • OK, seems to have been verified now. Thanks for the attention.--Scott Mac 21:07, 3 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I greatly appreciate your efforts in nailing down the references further. OFC I would never have entered an article this astonishly absurd if I hadn't already verifed 'em pretty good, but online refs can change, etc.. Thanks for helping, I just love this silly little bit of Americana! :) Eaglizard (talk) 20:52, 26 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Don't Know If It's a Hoax or Not[edit]

CEPTIA was real. I was one of the founders with my friend Ira Gessel. His brother Michael was also involved. Natalie Windsor, a friend of ours was also instrumental, though there were hundreds who eventually came to participate. I've got a bunch of clippings, but they are bare articles, so I'm not sure how to cite them. And they didn't always get it right anyway. The article states that Ira founded CEPTIA in 1970. I'm sure the article cited says that. But CEPTIA was founded during winter vacation of Ira's and my senior year in high school. That would either be late December 1968 or early January 1969. By 1970, CEPTIA had spread from our home in Dayton, Ohio to Boston, where Ira went to college, and Chicago, where I went to college. We probably had a few hundred members by then (remember, this was pre-Facebook, so a few hundred members was positively viral--we had to personally talk to each one). The subject of our campaign was obviously funny so, while we earnestly pursued the "elimination" of pay toilets, we were never sure whether we were pursuing a legitimate political goal or perpetrating a hoax. 24.1.244.64 (talk) 23:11, 21 August 2011 (UTC)Steve Froikin, Aug. 21, 2011.[reply]


  • That's beautiful, man. Article almost gets deleted as a hoax (which it isn't), but one of the founding members says "I was never sure if we were serious myself. It may HAVE been just a hoax!" I love it. Ofc, the organization existed, so the article itself is definitly non-hoaxual. BTW, if the IP who posted the above reads this, PLEASE msg me on my talk page, as I'd be interested in what kind of articles you have ... scans could be posted and added to the article. (And as far as the founding date, obviously you grasp WP's policy: I'm sure you are correct, but the article must go by what it's source says.) Hope you respond to this, love to hear from you! 05:25, 9 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That IS beautiful! I so wish I had seen this in a timely matter; it would be great to have some scans of those clippings he mentions. And god I wish I could add in his much more personal account of the founding. *sigh* I love how this article has taken on a life of it's own. Eaglizard (talk) 18:25, 3 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Article here says it was bored teenagers[edit]

https://psmag.com/economics/dont-pay-toilets-america-bathroom-restroom-free-market-90683 Victor Grigas (talk) 23:59, 17 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]