A memory from my college days recently bubbled to the surface-
The first year I went away to college I lived in an on campus dormitory. There were around 36 rooms on the floor with two students in each room. After the first few weeks of everybody sizing each other up myself and a handful of other stoners got into the habit of regular bong sessions. During one of these sessions we had the bright idea that it would be good for us to have a secret knock to let each other know they didn’t have to hide any contraband every time someone was at the door. This knock was pretty simple, two short raps, a pause and one more knock. It seemed to be working quite well for a while, you could breathe easier when you heard that knock and not have to scramble to hide your stash. However, this peace didn’t last too long. We were knocking each other’s doors so often everyone on the floor heard that pattern several times a day. It wasn’t long before everyone who lived on that floor was using that knock, even the RA, rendering it useless for us. If any of us had been in a group psychology class we could have probably done a thesis on how it only took a small percentage of people on that floor to get everyone doing the same thing. But no, we were too busy figuring out a new way to keep our stashes safe.