I wash most of the visible stuff off of my dishes before putting them in there. You don’t rinse your plates and glasses before you put them in the dishwasher? That’s a really common thing. I’d actually wager that most people do it.

I don’t understand how everyone is so baffled that this could possibly be an issue. If you go on Amazon, there are dozens of these clean/dirty signs. This method does the same thing but you don’t have to buy anything, plus it’s more reliable.

Being a renter, I don’t have a top-of-the-line dishwasher that will clean any dish no matter how dirty it is. If I don’t pre-rinse dishes, they have a good chance of still having gunk on them when the cycle is done, not to mention all that gunk being spread around by the water.