But how do you know if you know them without answering the door?
Peepholes? Windows?
This was always my dilemma, so recently I bought a Blink outdoor camera and screwed it under my eaves, pointing toward the front door and my driveway. When someone rings the bell, I hit a button in the Blink app on my phone and immediately see who it is. It was surprisingly easy to set up.
It's a self-correcting situation.
Good friends or neighbors call ahead of time nowadays.
It's the busybodies who want the element of surprise.
The only fly-in-the-ointment is if the busybody calls your cell while you're ignoring the doorbell ("Hi Bob it's Floyd, I saw your car in the driveway but nobody is answering the door and I was worried that maybe you're choking or having a heart attack becsuse I said to myself 'now why won't they answer the door when I'm ringing the bell I mean isn't that rude?' ") in your knickers while eating chips and watching "Battlebots." The same principle applies....there is no law requiring you to answer the phone.
Not a single person I know shows up unannounced at my home, and I never show up at someone elses' home unannounced either.
Therefore, anyone knocking on my door is someone I don't know, or someone IDGAF about.
If I answer the door, chances are very high the unannounced (presumably jack-booted government thug) is going to run from my property screaming for their life.
After all this burn-loot-murder b.s. along with the antifa-pantywaste's and eff the po-po b.s. the past few summers, I don't answer my door to an unannounced visitor unarmed. Anyone who does so is a fool taking a chance with their life.
Invest in camera. I always look on Ring before I open door.
My friends know that they need to call prior to coming over. I know that many people would disagree but I was raised that it is bad manners to show up without calling first.
I should add that if one of my friends did show up, I would answer. lol