Talk:Public toilet

message: A washroom is a room containing more than just a toilet.
It may contain toilets, sinks, urinals, and hand dryers, etc., and it seems like it could be a good superset of just "toilet".
I'd welcome your comments, thoughts, ideas, etc..
Glogger 04:35, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Nonetheless, we have an article on toilet that refers to rooms containing all those things. Observe that restroom redirects there. (Or at least, it did, before you turned it into a double redirect -- which does not work, by the way). - RedWordSmith 21:09, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Washroom

message: In the long run, I think it would be good to make an entry for "Toilet", an entry for "Urinal" (there is already one), and for "Shower" (there is already one), each talking about the specific fixtures, and then move content that talks about the overall environment into the superset "Washroom".  That's what I also did with "Changeroom", e.g. I created an entry for the superset, and then specific cases (like "Fitting room") could be linked in from that.
I don't think "Toilet" should be an article about urinals, hand dryers, sinks, and showers as well.  But I do think there is room for an overarching "umbrella" article that covers all of these, and I think that could be "Washroom" or maybe "Washroom architecture" (to keep it focused on the broad contextual concepts like space management, design, traffic flow optimization, etc.).  Glogger 04:22, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: The thing is washroom/restroom/bathroom are predominantly American usage. The rest of the world are quite happy to call it a toilet. Mintguy (T) 09:15, 12 Oct 2004 (UTC)
replies: text:  toilet fixture and toilet room are already two differnt articles. --Yejianfei (talk) 17:30, 30 January 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Toilet, Urinal, Shower, ...

message: I originally created a Wikipedia entry for "Washroom".
I apologize for not making the distinction from "Toilet" clear in my writing (my entry for "Washroom" was deleted and replaced with a Redirect to "Toilet", presumaby because I wasn't clear in my distinction).
I've created the entry "Washroom architecture" and re-written it to reflect the need for a Wikipedia entry that deals with the design of public washroom spaces, and not just flush toilets.
The "Toilet" entry deals primarily with residential tank type toilets, and although it covers also some other kinds of toilets, it does not address the general topic of commercial washroom space design and facility design, such as traffic throughput, labyrinth entrances, and the like.
Hopefully this new article will be of use to others.
If anyone would like to delete this article, please put it on VfD rather than just deleting it, because that way we can get a peer review on whether it's really redundant or badly written.  Glogger 23:45, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Washroom architecture

message: It was suggested that this article should be renamed Washroom.  The vote is shown below:
::Copied from WP:RM  Dragons flight 00:24, August 26, 2005 (UTC)
Someone moved it a long time ago but the title "washroom" would make much more sense. Andrew pmk 17:57, 21 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: As an American, I would rather prefer a move of this article to "restroom," the American term.  Washroom sounds so British! --Coolcaesar 01:34, 26 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, per my note above, "Washroom" is used in the US South, although much Southern diction is quite British in flavor.  (Flavour?)    "I do declare!"  Beetter "washroom" than "washroom architecture", that's for certain.  Though I, too, would prefer "restroom", although the rabble-rousing British, Australian, etc. speaking masses would doubtless have other ideas about that.  But hey I'm just an anonymous user, my opinion doesn't matter.
This article has been renamed after the result of a move request. violet/riga (t) 10:06, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

text: I just ran some Google searches to find out what is the majority usage. The Northern, Midwest, Western and Northwest states all use "restroom."  There's even an American Restroom Association! It's only the South that uses "washroom"---it's also the South that has weird food like "grits."  --Coolcaesar 18:14, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Got a couple quotations by a Californian. "He danced him over the ironing tables, the stove, and the mangles, and out into the wash-room and over the wringer and washer." "Bill's job was in the wash-room." (Jack London). Not exactly yesterday. The OED has a quotation from the U.S. dating back to the 1970's (Chicago, if I recall correctly---I don't have it at hand right now), and the last one is, duh, from Canada. But remember---the British couldn't have coined "washroom," that would have been "washing room" :-) JackLumber 20:50, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  Washroom is not a British term. If you said "washroom" in the UK I think most people would interpret that as being some sort of laundry. [Public] toilet, public lavatory, public convenience would be the more usual terms.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.32.72.129 (talk) 18:42, 16 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Requested Move 2005

message: Exactly what in the bloody hell does this term mean? There is no Wikipedia entry, nothing to be found in Webster's, at dictionary.com and not even at urbandictionary.com. If it's a neologism, someone please give some reference material for it. In the meantime, I'm removing it, as I feel it has negative connotations and thus is not NPOV. --dfg 19:47, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: "Backworld" ?

message: I've lived in America all my life and have never once heard nor used the term "washroom".  The word we use is "restroom".  Washroom is used in Canada, not the US.  So stop calling "washroom" an Americanism. 
:The word we use? We who? The English lexicon comprises several hundreds of thousands of words, and many thousands (like washroom, or restroom in that sense, for that matter) are Americanisms. So why don't you try to boost your vocabulary skills and, while you're at it, get some information on the culture and heritage of our Nation?  Shame on you. If there's something I can't stand, it's nescience. That's all there is. --JackLumber 20:23, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Sure restroom, the "institutional" term, is much more common than washroom, but the two words can happily coexist. If you like the Internet, well, the Internet has a slew of examples in this respect. JackLumber 22:20, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Sometimes, in my area (Michigan), whenever someone refers to the washroom, they're usually referring to the laundry room, not the bathroom or restroom. This usage seems to be more common. How common is this usage in other areas? --141.213.178.11 04:30, 12 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: "Someone erroneously thinks that washroom is not an Americanism"

message: I live in Gulf Coastal Mississippi, and I've only heard the word "washroom" used when referring to a laundry room. I really think this usage should be added to the article... --Celtic Jobber 05:37, 15 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: "Washroom" used instead of "Laundry Room"

message: Sometimes there are people in restrooms, usually men's washrooms, and particularly at places like fancy restaurants, country clubs and gentlemen's clubs where there are people who dispense the soap for you, give you a towel, offer mints and cigarettes, and usually seek tips for their services.  They also maintain order and cleanliness.
Should there be mention of these people.  I'm not entirely familiar with the subject and I'm not sure if this should be made a separate article (like the Toilet grannys) or not.  However, I think it is worth mentioning.  Comments? 131.156.238.75 00:33, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: This varies from country to country.  In some countries, like Italy, it is customary for practically every large public restroom to have an attendant on duty at all times, and it is traditional to tip the attendant.  In others, like the United States, restroom attendants are found only at very, very upscale establishments (the kind frequented by fabulously wealthy celebrities and socialites), which is why most public restrooms are in such decrepit shape in the U.S.  I certainly agree the subject is worth mentioning, but it needs to be explained in a way that is in compliance with both the worldwide view guideline and the Verifiability and No Original Research policies!  --Coolcaesar 06:55, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Courtesy Services in Public Restrooms

message: why no mention of it in this article? is this an example of self-censorship, as i always thought wikipedia was uncensored? cottaging in public toilets is surely significant and commonplace enough to be worthy of mention 212.159.101.129 13:23, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Please read Wikipedia official policies, such as Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not, which states that Wikipedia is NOT a soapbox or an indiscriminate collection of random information!  --Coolcaesar 17:38, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: There is now a reasonably well-referenced section. Slowly but surely the encyclopedia expands. Carbon Caryatid (talk) 13:59, 9 January 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  cottaging 

message: I heard that there was an official world record for the largest public washroom in China. Should we put that in?  —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.144.186.32 (talk) 22:02:39, August 19, 2007 (UTC) 
:If it's adequately referenced, I can't see a reason for not doing so. --Taraborn (talk) 11:50, 24 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  World record for the biggest public washroom? 

message: I have no idea whether this is common in other countries, but in larger Norwegian cities, pubs with restrooms that are easily accessible from the street commonly install blue or purplish light in them, ostensibly because the light makes it harder to locate a vein, making the restroom less attractive to heroin addicts.  I've been told by unreliable sources that it has absolutely no effect.  Besides, considering Norwegian drinking habits, most patrons would be too wasted to notice or care about a passed-out junkie...  DES (talk) 12:26, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Toilet has a photo. --Error (talk) 23:55, 17 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lighting 

message: Something should be said about its secondary uses.
For example, as a men-only area, they were the only places to buy fireworks in some society I forgot.
Men's restrooms were frequented by gays looking for sex, before the gay liberation.
In some discos and night clubs, restrooms, as a somehow private area are used for drug trade and consumption or impromptu sex.
--Error (talk) 23:55, 17 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Secondary use

message: required by law in some states? wha? explain.♠♦Д narchistPig♥♣ (talk) 05:34, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  white toilet seat 

message: Anyone else think we should put a picture of a squat toilet to balance out the picture of a sitting toilet? Squat toilets are the normn in some Asian countries and are far more likely to be encounter in a public toilet then a sitting one. Nil Einne (talk) 09:01, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with this suggestion. Some photos are available in Commons (see also under flush toilet or squat toilet.EvM-Susana (talk) 07:38, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Squat toilets 

message: Some of us don't like being referred to as "the disabled", so I've fixed it to "people with disabilities", OK? Also, I've removed a couple of occurrences of "spouse", since a) someone's spouse isn't necessarily of a different gender to them, and b) spouses can act as caregivers, so it's otiose to separate them out. IMHO, of course... Kay Dekker (talk) 21:41, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Disability 

message: In most of the towns the people had to walk to church, their meetings (Eagles, Odd Fellows, and other organizations like this (with some having women's auxiliary members too), political meetings, etc).  Because of them having to travel by foot (and occasionally by horse or horse and buggy/wagon) they had to travel over unpaved roads and the dust and dirt (snow in winter, mud and rain in rainy times).  [remember that paved roads didn't begin to be in existence until around 1910 when I believe the first paved road came into being in Ohio]  By the time they arrived in town they were a "mess" and oftentimes really sweaty -- both their clothes and themselves, as well as being very tired due to the time (usually hours) it took to go from home to town.  
Because of this, in most ALL of the towns they had "rest rooms" where the men and women could go and sit and relax (sometimes eating), and also go to freshen up or wash up (sometimes to bathe) and change their clothes so they would look nice and presentable when they went to the church or their meetings.  In my over 50yrs of researching and reading of newspapers, diaries, letters, books, etc I came across the earliest mentions of these restrooms in the late 1600s in Boston, Philadelphia and New York City.  Since that time in history I have seen thousands of mentions of these and most all of them had the same items I mention in the one I found in a small town in Iowa in the late 60s (see below) [some didn't have the cots/beds or tubs].  Neither the restroom (or washrooms mentioned later on) were to be used for urination/defication -- those things were done in the outhouses.  But they were used to get the people rested and back to smelling and looking better (brushing off dust from clothes, removing mud, etc).  In the over 50yrs of research I never found the word "washroom" used to describe these areas for the public to rest up, etc. until after the 1900s.
The term "washroom(s)" was always used when they were describing a place where they could wash up before or after work (like a washroom in a butcher shop, cattle yards or where they slaughtered cattle, a place where they made things or assembled them (like furniture shops (the newer automobile shops), and other places of work where people would get dirty and want to wash up before and after work or before and after lunch, etc).  The washroom only had sink and water (or bowl to pour water that was brought in from the streams and wells and used to wash hands and faces) -- occasionally a mirror.  These were sized according to the number of persons working at that location -- sometimes small -- sometimes huge with lots of sinks or bowls.
I never saw the term washroom (used in the same context as a restroom) in anything I read until the early 20th century -- always only in the context as I described previously.
In all my 60 yrs of living I have only come across one town (in 1969) that still had a restroom (even though I had read so many times about them and heard from so many elderly persons describing them and why they were there and what used for).  This particular restroom still had the large area with couches and chairs for persons to rest up, the separate areas for men and women to wash up (wash bowls), groom (with mirrors), and an area to change clothes, etc.  It had several rooms where a person could rent a cot or bed (these were in large rooms and you slept in the room with others of your same sex).  It had a room (one room for each sex) with a tub if a person wanted to pay to have a bath.  There was a HUGE area where there were long tables and chairs where people could fix their lunches (also had potbelly stove for warming up and a woodburning stove for warming up soup and water, etc.)  
Later on the towns no longer needed these (what with the automobiles, gas stations and their restrooms, interstate rest stops, etc).  After this particular town decided not to use it anymore, they rented it out for various purposes -- and I ended up renting it for a furnished "apartment".
Just a bit of trivia about how your ancestors lived their lives and where the word "restroom" came from and why they were used.
My sources?  Over 50 yrs of research in newspapers, diaries, letters, books, interviewing elderly persons in thousands of towns across the USA, and finally finding one that was still in existence.
Judith Sandage Murphy
:You have sources?  PLEASE LIST THEM (in a proper format like Turabian).  See Wikipedia:No original research and Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not.  --Coolcaesar (talk) 05:44, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Restrooms / Washrooms 

message: This article begins with this profound statement (after editing out all the crap, pun intended, in parentheses): "A public toilet is a public toilet facility..." Man, that is enlightening. One wonders what school children used for reference sources before wiki was invented. Guess a rose by any other name...  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.243.164.201 (talk) 03:19, 14 January 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: "Coolcaesar's Palace"  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.178.244.120 (talk) 04:34, 6 April 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Breathtaking Clarity 

message: So you have domestic facilities at home  and "public" facilities in the street or the bus station or the sport stadium or the shopping mall.
What about washrooms in places like office buildings and industrial facilities which are not open to "the public" but used by many workers.   These are not "public toilets".   What is the terminology for this ?Eregli bob (talk) 07:29, 22 April 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Non-public non-domestic "washrooms" 

message: We should add more information about the situation in developing countries, where e.g. in urban slums people don't have a toilet at home but use a public toilet (or a shared toilet) for their daily needs. I will put it on my to-do list, or perhaps someone else will beat me to it which would be great. If someone is interested in this topic but doesn't know where to start reading, see here. EvM-Susana (talk) 07:40, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Need to add more information about situation in developing countries 

message: Hi Hilnik, thanks for adding that information about India. It doesn't fit so well on this page, so I have moved it to the page on open defecation. It could also be added to the page on water supply and sanitation in India.EvM-Susana (talk) 09:56, 20 July 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Moved recently added content about India to article on open defecation

message: I have moved the history section back to where it was, i.e. at the end of the article, as per MOS Wikiproject Sanitation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(Sanitation) (by the way also same for MOS WikiProject Medicine). EvMsmile (talk) 12:40, 14 June 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Moved history section

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: As User:EvMsmile made dozens of changes a few days ago (WP:BEBOLD), I thought I'd have a good look as well. Most I agree with, but a few I'll challenge here:
1. If well-sourced material is cut as unsuitable to the article, it should not be lost to the encyclopedia. See our policy on content removal. One sourced sentence was removed, but I can't see that it has been placed anywhere else.
2. An item was removed from "See also" with no explanation. Our policy says "The links in the "See also" section might be only indirectly related to the topic of the article because one purpose of "See also" links is to enable readers to explore tangentially related topics." I contend that a significant novel whose title is a variant of the phrase "public toilet" fits the bill. 
3. A quote hidden within a citation was removed as "too much detail", when arguably this is exactly what the encyclopedia should be providing: a smooth read on the surface, and easily accessible sources tucked away underneath.
4. A sentence giving useful historical perspective (circa 1995 to now) and cited to a Vice Media publication was removed as an "unsuitable reference". Why?
5. Two very well-referenced sentences explaining the meaning and context of "cottaging" were removed. The image of the cottage-like toilet block was removed "not needed here as it appears in the main article about cottaging" - which seems more of an argument to include the picture, as a visible link. 
6. I note the removal of links internal to the article, i.e. pointing from one section to another, again with no explanation. This seems doubly odd, given that the new section, on "Purpose", includes such pointers, e.g. "see below sections on drugs and sexual activities". 
One area of weakness that remains is "External links". I suspect that most of them don't satisfy WP:EL. One that was removed was an essay by an anthropologist, which I will try to work into the article itself. Carbon Caryatid (talk) 22:19, 15 January 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: I've replied to your points 5, 3 and 4 below in a new section. 
About Point 1: This sentence "One term now fallen into disuse is "longhouse", from Whittington's Longhouse, set up in fifteenth century London." refers to a specific town and a specific time (15th century London) and is therefore not of general relevance. Actually, it is referring to an alternative term for toilet, not something historical about public toilets. If you think it's important, how about moving it to here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet#Names ?
About Point 2: I am fairly sure there are hundreds of novels that have something about public toilets in the title. What makes this one so special that it needs to be given a spot in see also??
About Point 6: I thought internal links in articles were not the norm; usually articles that are of GA or FA or A class don't have them or do they? Am I mistaken? If yes, then sure we can put them back in. 
About the external links, I will start a separate section on this, see below. EvMsmile (talk) 22:51, 15 January 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Being bold 

message: Thanks, User:Carbon Caryatid for your feedback above. I've started a new heading to discuss your points 5, 3, 4 - which all refer to the same issue:
: Thanks for your feedback. I will respond to most of it just now but just quickly about Point 5. That part about sex in public toilets was far too dominant, given that there is a separate article for it and given that it is no longer that common anyhow (as the article says it was before gay people had the chance to be elsewhere). So I really don't see a need to go into detail here and to even include a pointless picture of a public toilet looking like a cottage (when most public toilets nowadays don't look like cottages)! Anyone interested in the topic can read the summary sentences about the topic and then head across to the other article if they want. I actually feel like someone got carried away with the topic of sex in public toilets and gave it undue weight in this article. That's the reason why I have shortened that section, including removal of that image. EvMsmile (talk) 22:31, 15 January 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: The feedback I gave above also applies to Point 3. We don't need this long quote dominating the references section when the same quote can be found in the separate article on cottaging. To me it feels like a bit of an obsession with something to do with sex - which I am come across on more than one occasion on Wikipedia (although more usually in terms of vandalism).EvMsmile (talk) 22:34, 15 January 2017 (UTC)

text: Your point 4 again refers to the cottaging article; this content can be found in the cottaging article. As I said above, we only need a summary here but not a repeat of that other article. In my opinion we don't even need the summary. It may be sufficient to put it in "see also" and remove the cottaging stuff completely. EvMsmile (talk) 22:36, 15 January 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: How much content on [[cottaging]] do we need here given that there is a separate article for it

message: Thanks, User:Carbon Caryatid - I agree the external links are debatable. Which ones in particular do you think need to be removed or added and why? I think those about Australia could stay - Australia is a world leader in providing excellent public toilets; the one to PHLUSH is in my opinion also OK as they are a leader on this topic in the U.S. as far as I know. EvMsmile (talk) 22:54, 15 January 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Improving the external links

message: I am part of a little team of people working in an edit-a-thon right now, see here. We're going to put here some planned improvements. Bear with us as some of us are beginners on Wikipedia but all keen to improve this! EMsmile (talk) 15:47, 19 March 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Planned improvements on the occasion of World Water Day March 2017

message: Hi, I'm working on this article as part of the SuSanA Wikipedia Edit-a-thon for World Water Day, 2017.  I welcome your suggestions.
PROGRESS REPORT: 
* Very slow. 
* Invite feedback on lead below
* Need help or to read up on external references and pdfs.
* Sections on Types, Purpose, and Health aspects done.
* Design needs thought and amplification. Leaving for later.
* Fixtures is passable.
NEXT  Need key distinctions or a typology or public toilets.
Basic terminology: Cover standard names used internationally and in specific countries.  Public toilet, toilet block, washroom, restroom, etc.(Then informal names (not slang): bathroom, the facilities, W.C. etc) 
Architecture and layout:   
May be free standing or within buildings. 
May be smaller single-occupancy rooms or larger rooms with multiple stalls or urinals. 
May include larger rooms or stalls to accommodate wheelchair users. These accessible toilets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessible_toilet are equipped with safety features such as grab bars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grab_bar and other features proposed by Universal Design https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_design  or mandated by law such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_with_Disabilities_Act_of_1990.
Single-occupancy toilets may be called by various names: unisex, gender-neutral, all-gender, or family.  
Inclusive facilities may be designated all-user to indicate availability to all: disabled people with personal attendants, parents with opposite sex children, Gender-nonconforming individuals at risk of harassment in men's or women's restrooms.  (BTW Here's a poor article with a wonderful neutral title https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Sex_segregation_in_public_restrooms#Extremely_biased  Could add origin of women's rooms or some history from here http://www.phlush.org/2016/08/31/social-inclusion-toilet-rights-and-legal-protection-for-transgender-americans/)
Furnishings: 
Toilets for sitters and squatters.Amenities for washers and wipers  (Need links esp to photos) Furnishings for hand washing, hand drying, MHM,grooming, etc. 
Attended and non-attended:
Attendants in west have died out and now are coming back. Need good references to experiences in rest of the world.  See Toolkit for more especially San Francisco.
Community Toilet Scheme
Started in Richmond borough, community toilet schemes are now found throughout urban Great Britain.
[Link] http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120919132719/www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/guidancetoiletschemes Santa Barbara, California [LINK] and is under consideration by the Washington DC District Council (LINK to March 2017 DC ordinance as soon as official)
Cryacrem (talk) 19:29, 19 March 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: User:Cryacrem I am a bit confused now. Some of these changes you have already made, right? Or not? Please clarify what you would like to change, or very gently make the changes in the article, saving often, so we can follow what you are doing and how. Thanks. EMsmile (talk) 20:50, 22 April 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Re-thinking Public Toilet 

message: CRITIQUE REQUEST: I wouldn't mind a critique of my proposed lead.  You see, people need to grasp that public toilets include facilities that serve people without toilets in their homes.  For the "worldwide view" (and for current project goals) this distinction, new terminology seems important.  And we need a good example of a public toilet in an informal peri urban settlement (slum, katchi abadi, favela, etc) that serves people who do not have toilets in their homes.   And also facilities that serve people without homes, including in western cities. Proposed text below. 
A public toilet is a room or small building containing one or more toilets (and possibly also urinals) that serves the public. 
 
Strictly speaking, a public toilet is built and maintained by a town, city, state, provincial, or nations government to serve the needs of residents and visitors. 
However, the term also refers to a facility provided by a retail business for their customers or in a private workplace to serve workers. Another type of public toilet is one that operates as an independent business to serve primarily local residents without adequate sanitation in their homes or to serve those away from home. A public-private arrangement where local governments pay businesses to open their facilities to the general public during business hours is common in the United Kingdom, where it is known as a Community Toilet Scheme. 
A public toilet may be a room in a building or free standing structure. It may use use any of various types of toilet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet|Toilet fixtures, including []. They may use [] or []  technologies for collection, transport and treatment of urine and []. An attendant my be employed on site or not. Free standing public toilets may [automatically] or not. 
Architectural layout and furnishings within may vary to serve those who sit, squat, wipe and/or wash, disabled or gender nonconforming individuals, and people with personal attendants. Pay toilets are common in some places  and outlawed in others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_to_End_Pay_Toilets_in_America.   
 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cryacrem (talk • contribs) 15:52, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposed changes to lead 

message: User:Sslucic: you have added more content to the section "Separation by sex" but I would move that also to the existing main article on this topic (Sex segregation in public restrooms) rather than making the article on public toilets too big. That's what the separate article is for. EMsmile (talk) 13:51, 26 April 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: I've made that change now. I have left short sections but moved major content about transgender issues and unisex toilets to the articles on Sex segregation in public restrooms and unisex public toilet. This helps to avoid dublication and make this article here clearer. I also propose that the two articles (Sex segregation in public restrooms and Unisex public toilet) should be merged as they really talk about the same thing, just from two different angles. I would say the title of the merged article should be Unisex public toilet. EMsmile (talk) 22:07, 27 April 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Insert content about Separation by sex to other article

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I know this language area is heavily populated with euphemisms, leading to things often meaning the opposite of what the words literally mean, but the bit in the lead telling me that "A public toilet is...available for use by the general public, or by customers or employees of a business" is quite untrue in my country, Australia. Many businesses have signs up pointing out that their toilets are only available to customers or staff, and are NOT public toilets, i.e. a public toilet is one for use by the general public. This seems very logical to me. Is the situation different elsewhere? HiLo48 (talk) 00:12, 11 July 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: I remember this discussion earlier. Certainly in many countries restaurants etc may restrict the use of their facilities to their customers. The question is, what to call the toilet facilities in offices etc? So this wording is supposed to cover both cases: ones open to the general public, and ones provided to restricted groups. I believe I found a sanitation industry source which referred to them collectively as "out-of-home toilets", but that term never caught on. Carbon Caryatid (talk) 13:14, 11 July 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: In Australia we don't have an issue with what to call the toilets in businesses and restaurants. They are often just "the toilets". Everyone expects businesses to have toilets for employees, logically also called staff toilets, and restaurants to have toilets for customers, maybe called customer toilets. They are not public toilets. I'm interested in where such toilets ARE known as public toilets. And then I'll work on how to improve the wording in the article. HiLo48 (talk) 22:45, 11 July 2018 (UTC)
replies: text:  the term "public" is meant to mean here "out of home", like Carbon Caryatid said. I agree that it could be slightly misleading and if you have better wording, please go ahead and modify, HiLo48. I think it would not make sense to have a separate Wikipedia entry for "office & restaurant toilets", so this article called "public toilets" covers all of them. They are all public in the sense that you are sharing the toilets with more than just your immediate family members. If it could be made clearer in the lead or in the section on "alternative names" (lets rename that to "terminology"?), please go ahead. - If you are from Australia I have to tell you that the public toilets in Australia are the best and most frequent in the world! I currently also live in Australia. There might be some publications which we should cite that have come out of Australian local government, e.g. this one here.  EMsmile (talk) 02:44, 23 July 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Public toilets, customers, and employees 

message: Today I removed some text describing toilets used by prisoners as public toilets. There was no doubt in my mind at the time that this claim made no sense (due to language usage in my country, Australia). I was reverted with the Edit summary "they are not in private residences so are public toilets". Nah. I can cope with the result of the above discussion, just, but there is no way I can accept that toilets in prisons are public toilets. The "public" can't get near them, and probably wouldn't want to. Maybe language usage differs, but we cannot have that of one part the world being the only one deemed to be right in this article. HiLo48 (talk) 05:21, 6 November 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: See the section below "Privacy in prison toilets", I started the discussion there before your post appeared .2A02:2F01:5CFF:FFFF:0:0:51C4:FEE9 (talk) 05:30, 6 November 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: No you didn't. You may have begun writing it, but obviously my post appeared before you had finished it. Another difference in language use? HiLo48 (talk) 05:34, 6 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  ...and in prisons? 

message: To help with the discussion about prisons above, and in line with my comment from 23 July 2018 above, I have now edited the lead and re-arranged things a bit to make it clearer that this article is about all toilets that are NOT owned by a household. This can include toilets at businesses, restaurants but also schools and prisons. I have also created a new heading called "Toilets in particular locations" where the relevant information about toilets in schools or prisons can go. There is no need to discuss use of the term "public toilets" in different varieties of English. We just need to decide if this Wikipedia article should cover them all or not. I think the answer is yes, it should be a broad article which can - if needed - branch off into sub-articles (e.g. if we ever think we need a separate article on toilets in prisons then it can be linked to from this main article. I hope you like the changes that I made. EMsmile (talk) 03:10, 19 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Making it clearer what public toilets are

message: I've added a section on cleaning, maintenance and management and I'd like to build it up more over time. This is crucial for public toilets to remain pleasant. I got the idea after coming across the very short article on restroom attendant. EMsmile (talk) 02:30, 26 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: I've added a section on cleaning, maintenance and management

message: I had put the below on the talk page of urinal several years ago. In the interest of making this article more global, I think we need to add a statement that urinals are not (or less) common in public toilets in Muslim countries. It might be hard to find a reference for this though? This is copied from the talk page of urinal from 2015:
I think we should add something about where (public) urinals are common. As far as I know, urinals are not used much in Muslim countries as many Muslims practice cleaning with water after urination and they also don't like the idea that urine could splash back onto them. I don't have a source to cite ready at hand but if someone else knows more about it, can you add it? We could say something along the lines that urinals are common in countries in Europe, the US, Canada, Japan, India (??) etc but not common in the Middle East, Northern Africa, i.e. Muslim countries (??) EvM-Susana (talk) 16:40, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree that there should be more coverage of this; sorry that I don't have much expertise on that topic.  Look at the article on Bidets and related topics, where there is some coverage of customs in Muslim traditions.  Reify-tech (talk) 14:23, 10 May 2015 (UTC)
replies: text:  I have started a little survey about this topic here on a discussion forum. A picture is emerging that they are not common in Muslim countries but I am still trying to find a good, reliable reference for this. EvM-Susana (talk) 19:58, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Add information about use of urinals in Muslim countries?

message: Just a reminder that if someone has time, I think we need to beef up the section about legislation a bit. I have just wikilinked to an article that was created in 2016 about employees' rights. EMsmile (talk) 03:58, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
thread_title: Add more information about legislation

message: Violent crime inside public toilets can be a problem in areas where the rate of such crimes in general is very high. Would it still be an issue if the bystanders heard a bullying incident in the opposite gender bathroom?
208.59.132.152 (talk) 21:34, 14 July 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Violent crime inside public toilets 

message: I've removed this textblock as I felt that if we want to include information about this we would need more reliable sources as per WP:MEDRS:
=== Health risks from spreading disease ===
Public toilets may cause people to be infected with some diseases, particularly if hygiene is lacking. In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, it become clear that COVID-19 spreads not only through respiratory droplets but through aerosol particles which remain suspended for much longer.McCreary, C. (2020) Public Restrooms and COVID-19: Guidelines for Reopening, PHLUSH, Portland, Oregon, USA There are multiple touch points in public toilets – stall door locks, flush handles, and faucets. The NGO PHLUSH has published guidelines on the safe reopening of public toilets. This includes for example: "Place hand-hygiene stations at the entrance restrooms and ask users to clean hands before entering to avoid surface contamination." The guide also recommends removing forced air hand dryers that can spread viruses and bacteria into the room. EMsmile (talk) 08:35, 1 March 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Removed a text block about Covid-19 

message: Public toilets may cause people to be infected with some diseases, particularly if hygiene is lacking. In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, it become clear that COVID-19 spreads not only through respiratory droplets but through aerosol particles which remain suspended for much longer.McCreary, C. (2020) Public Restrooms and COVID-19: Guidelines for Reopening, PHLUSH, Portland, Oregon, USA There are multiple touch points in public toilets – stall door locks, flush handles, and faucets. The NGO PHLUSH has published guidelines on the safe reopening of public toilets. This includes for example: "Place hand-hygiene stations at the entrance restrooms and ask users to clean hands before entering to avoid surface contamination." The guide also recommends removing forced air hand dryers that can spread viruses and bacteria into the room. EMsmile (talk) 08:35, 1 March 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Health risks from spreading disease