How do you deter solicitors?

I have already posted a red "No Solicitors" sign at eye level on my door. They usually come knocking after sunset. The last straw was when a dirty looking teenage Hot Topic afficionado was extremely rude and pushy when I politely declined and wished him luck. I don't want them on my doorstep at all. What actually works to keep them away?

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• I think posting a sign that says: DO NOT INTERRUPT MY SEX! would do the trick.

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• Just leave your picture on the door, OP. Nude!

• Put up a new sign OP. "Solicitors will be shot"

• Draw a swastika on your forehead, then open the door.

• Don't answer your door, gramps.

• You failed to tell us what he was soliciting for.

• If it is a pair of Mormon boys in their white shirts and black pants getting off of their bikes I usually tell them I think they are cute and suggest they hot tub with me.

• Solicitors and salespeople are told to ignore signs. Say you dealing with an emergency which they interrupted, then close the door fast. Sadly if you're too polite, they'll keep coming back.

• I don't answer the door unless I am expecting someone. Most friends will call prior to showing up.

• R9 wins.

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• R8 is right. I put a note on my door saying 'do not knock', specifying: Jehovah's Witnesses, political surveys, utility company surveys. They still knock. I give them a blank look, silently point at the sign and close the door in their faces.

• Why feel obligated to open the door? We don't get an awful lot of callers, but if I'm not expecting anyone or if I see they're not familiar, I ignore the doorbell and they go away. After years of apartment living either with a vestibule or a doorman, it was kind of a shock to get rings. Ninety-five percent of the time, it's a waste of time. When a neighbor complained about solicitors, I asked why they would bother to open the door. He was a bit taken aback since there seems to be some tacit obligation involved around. But why? The thought of ignoring was practically a revolutionary idea.

• [quote] What actually works to keep them away? Not answering the door, my dear Watson.

• Does anyone recall those black, white, and red plastic signs that had the barrel of a revolver on them and a sentence like "This property is protected?" They were similar to the standard "For Rent" or "Yard Sale" signs. The barrel of the revolver looked just like the one in the pic except there was no greasy, hicky scum holding it. Might be particularly effective nowadays.

  http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/363/363373/folders/282194/22698211.jpg

• I pull back the curtain on the door windows, stare them dead in the face, and go back to whatever I was doing. There's no reason to open the door. You're in your home; they're the intruders. Fuck 'em.

• I put a picture of the Giudice girls on the front window. Voila.

• Guaranteed against Jehovah Witnesses. Works well against others.

  http://www.fsu.ca/images/interrobang/01092006/knocker.jpg

• Try this link.

  http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/album554/wei_doorknocker.sized.jpg

  R17

• I live in the country and am spared that sort of thing now. Previously, I would conduct a conversation through the (unopened) door. Forcing strangers to state their business at high volume makes them come quickly to the point, and left me the option of saying, "No," and walking away. In the event it was someone legitimate calling, I could shift gear, apologize, and invite them in; they always seemed to understand.

• Answer the door in an open bathrobe. Well that wouldn't work for me, but for most of you DL'ers it'd work just fine.

• The kid was trying to sell me magazines. I'm checking Amazon for a creepy sign depicting a firearm.

  OP

• You mean rent boys? They're allowed in.

• "WE DON'T WANT ANY!" through the door. But these eldergays probably invite them in for tea and offer up their mussies, lonely sheltered creatures they are.

• I kid you not, i once saw a sign reading "this property protected by pitbull with A.Y.D.S." Would probably do the trick.

• We have a solicitor in our apts office. She has gotten away with it for years. Some tenants seem to be afraid to say no, because their rents are subsidized. One gay just throws her envelope in the trash. Another gives in. Myself, I finally said no. So she has become bolder. She puts flyers about her project where we cannot ignore it. She isn't doing anything illegal, according to my friend who knows the law.

  Anonymous