[nyx]

Yeah, every so often I'll encounter someone who somehow still hasn't figured out basic conference call courtesy, and it boggles my mind especially given how we've all been remote for over a year. That should have been plenty of time to smooth over any rough habits...

But still there's the odd meeting where, with 30 people attending, one person shows up and blasts everyone with heavy breathing, dog barks, screaming kids and forces the presenter to say "hey, we've got some background noise, can everyone make sure they're muted?"

In my mind this kind of thing is akin to failing at basic hygiene, and it probably infuriates me more than it should.

[handrous]

You get enough people on a call, someone's gonna miss something, even if everyone knows how to handle calls and is trying to do the right thing.

[nyx]

Yeah, that's fair. I can't imagine being that person, but perhaps I'm uncommonly neurotic about making sure I'm muted.

[handrous]

The other factor is that, once calls start getting large enough, it's highly likely that you've got people on who don't do many group calls or video chats, or don't often use the program the organizer's chosen so are more likely to not notice they aren't muted, or not realize that this one doesn't join muted-by-default like their preferred one does, or whatever.

I've noticed a strong preference for actual conference calls, as in, calling a phone number, in certain companies, and I think consistency-of-interface and the fact that no-one, including people from outside the org, need to have a certain program available or installed, is part of the reason.

[Spooky23]

We use Webex a lot in this way, personally, I get very little or no value from seeing video. The novelty of seeing people in the grid wore off pretty quickly.

[darkerside]

I was totally embarrassed the first time I was "that guy" whose eating noises were audible on a huge call. Thankfully someone chatted at me, and I was able to mute. I consider it equivalent to having something in your teeth at this point, and I treat it as an opportunity to do that person a favor by letting them know, instead of condescending to them.

[walshemj]

A decent microphone and interface should not need muteing

[ghaff]

Background noises happen. People take notes using a keyboard. People cough. If it's a few people interactively chatting, sure, leave things unmuted. In a big group call where someone's presenting, please mute however leet your audio setup is.

[walshemj]

Well I use a an actual Shure dynamic mic and unless you get close 3 inches or so it pics up nothing - this is not you crappy laptop mic or 19.99 headset.

[Joeboy]

Interviewing sometimes involves using an unfamiliar platform, which involves things like not being sure which variant of mic icon means you're muted.

[eropple]

This happens a lot, and I'd recommend as a baseline having a microphone with a hard mute. My cheap Sennheiser USB headset has one; my XLR microphone is inline with a Rolls MS111 because it doesn't.

[joegahona]

For something high stakes like an interview, I'd encourage candidates to take the time to get familiar with the unfamiliar beforehand.

[mssundaram]

I agree, however not always possible

[BeFlatXIII]

Or a pair of icons: one of which mites your microphone and the other drops you out of the audio conference completely.