The "just google it" mantra has probably held back quite a lot of interesting conversations and debate
The "just google it" mantra has probably held back quite a lot of interesting conversations and debate
I've always been a "lurker" on all platforms and communities because when I do have a question or would like to contribute my first thought has become:
Actually, let me google it first
In which case I'll usually have some answer. Usually it isn't a complete answer but enough for me to not want to share my question anymore.
Googling something is probably the most efficient way to find an answer, in the same way that flavorless nutrient shakes are probably the most efficient way to fuel your body. Asking questions and conversing about the answers is fun. It's madness to abandon an entire genre of human conversation just because some search engine exists.
and sometimes it’s not about the answer …
The problem with this mantra for me is that in a discussion, I don't want to know what website x thinks the definition or answer is, I want to know what you think it is. If the term/issue is uncontroversial then googling is fine, but if it's vague, confusing or has different interpretations, Google could make things worse.
E.g. someone complains that cultural marxism is bringing down western civilization. I could Google this and find out it's an antisemitic conspiracy theory espoused by the Nazis and now the American right. But will this definition help me understand the person I'm talking to and what they mean? Will it help the conversation? Absolutely not.
But if I asked, "what do you mean by that" nd the person responded, e.g. "how the left is pushing diversity in society against the will of ordinary people" (or whatever), then we can have an actual conversation about what is bothering this person.
Maybe. It does bother me when I see people complain about posts where the person asks a really basic question and someone gives a few words in snide response like, "Google much?" and don't actually answer the question. At the same time, some questions being asked could honestly be answered with a simple Google search, I just don't know what the cutoff is. Sometimes you can get better responses in the comments than you would with a Google search, or the Google searches themselves will just turn up Reddit comments where somebody else asked the same question once upon a time. I think it does help to refresh the information sometimes, rather than just relying on Google Searches for information, sometimes you get actual real-world experts chiming in like, "Yeah, everybody thinks it's A, but actually it's B because of X, Y, and Z, it's a common mistake that alot of people make." So I'll usually err on the side of just let ask whatever they want to, no matter how basic a question.
>google question >reddit thread with exact question as title >one comment >”just google it”
I always try to answer even though I know the answer is on Google.
Either because it may be a more up-to-date version or because you simply never know when other websites will stop being available and therefore that source of information will be lost. Also because many times no matter how hard one searches before asking, sometimes we do not know the concepts we want to reach and our search is limited.
Imagine if everyone responded with "Just Google It", we would never find an answer to anything.
I really hate that mantra and it should be part of "If you don't have anything to contribute, don't comment."
Now we don't have to discuss facts because we can look them up but rather discuss whether things are good or bad or certain aspects of them. We don't have to discuss "is there climate change?" But we can discuss what to do
At my work we usually debate ad nauseam until one, both, or all of us suddenly remember that we have all the wealth of mankind's knowledge at our finger tips and then we Google.
...then we inevitably complain about the lack of internet in our office, agree to disagree and then forget what we were discussing as we move onto another debatable topic.
I really hate the "just google it" responses to questions online. Not only are they rude, they also actively damage the internet as a growing document. Even if you DO want to be an arrogant prick and say "you are a moron and google has the answer", you can do that AND post the answer. Whatever you post online is not a discussion in the moment but rather instantly becomes a part of the internet that will age with it.
Comments will sit forever unchanged, but google results will change. Oftentimes the thread being written in that very moment will become the top google result down the line.
The correct response to a question to which you know the answer, no matter how stupid it is, is:
Optional remark about how the OP should have googled
Single sentence stating the correct answer
A few sentences providing more detail, if more detail is needed
Link to the source, optional but recommended especially if the link has even more detail to read about and especially if you included the "you could have googled this" remark.
(this applies to matters of fact; opinions you usually don't need to cite etc)
If the link isn't to a self-archiving site like wikipedia, and you want to be really thorough, go to https://web.archive.org/ and plug the link into the "save page now" module on the bottom right -- that way if the page goes down or changes in the future, someone who finds the thread in the future can go to the wayback machine and see your link as it was when you made the post
In a similar way, proper etiquette if you post a question and it gets answered in the thread, especially if it gets answered in pieces in multiple replies, OR if you find the solution outside the thread (especially in this case), is to edit your post with a summary of what you found.
The trouble with google search these days is...
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you have a question that you need answered, but don't know the answer to? Everyone runs into this issue from time to time, but fortunately there is a simple solution. By using google search to find your answer, you will be both satisfied and educated by the result! People across the world use this simple tool every day to find answers to a wide variety of questions.
Then after 2+ paragraphs of that you're lucky if there's an answer at all, not to mention a correct one.
I rarely tell people to just Google something, and when I do it's usually in addition to me giving an explanation, telling them exactly what to google and which results to look for, and it's to provide additional examples or visual references of the thing I just explained after I have vetted those google results myself.
I'd generally rather participate in the conversation and help make someone into one of today's "lucky 10,000" (I'm gonna be an asshole and tell you to google that and click the link to XKCD if you don't get the reference)
But some of the things that people will turn to reddit (and now probably now Lemmy,) yahoo answers (is that still a thing?) Facebook, etc. instead of just googling does baffle me sometimes. One example that bugs me whenever there's an election coming up, is people on Facebook asking about voting - where their polling place is, how to register, when the deadline for mail-in ballots is, etc. It's all pretty straightforward information that shouldn't need a whole lot of explaining, and is very easily Google-able. Half the time you don't even need to click a link and the information is right there on the Google result page. And don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're showing interest and wanting to participate in democracy, but it does worry me a little because if they can't even research that much themselves, how much research are they going to put into the candidates and issues to make an informed decision?
Personally I like to google things, I like going on my own personal little journey of discovery and falling down a rabbit hole clicking links and learning more about everything. I love having so much information at my fingertips and my first instinct when I encounter something I don't know, or am curious about, etc. is to start googling it. It's wild to me that not everyone has that same little spark of curiosity driving them to learn more as quickly as possible and would rather ask a question and have to wait for an answer. I also like sharing that knowledge, there have been times I've seen someone ask a question online, thought it was a good question so I googled it myself and shared what I came up with, but it still kind of burned at the back of my mind "why didn't they Google it themselves?"
There was a guy on Reddit (remember that place?) recently who used an acronym in a post and then refused to explain it, kept saying "just Google it" but it was stupid because no-one could Google it and get the result that he was meaning. And the results varied depending on where you were in the world, I think I got a football team in France, other people were getting organisations in Mexico, etc. He never did explain it. Such a douche.
I don't think so. People who answer with "Just Google it" wouldn't have contributed to any meaningful or interesting, to begin with. At most, they would have ignored the question. People who would answer the question usually aren't discouraged by others saying "Just Google It" either.
The only instance would be if a person actually does google their own question and then doesn't check the conversation again. But I would also argue that these people would have at most responded with a "thank you" to any explanation either. As even if they found the answer themselves if they were interested in a discussion about it, they would and could still do so.
Yeah, I know what you mean. Its a hard habit to break out of though - I always feel like I should exhaust other resources before asking questions.
When I ask things without looking it up first, it feels like I'm not doing my best to solve my own problem before "bothering" others
There are some things you cannot simply "google". As a straight man, define "queer" to me about 5 to 10 years ago. I was on a dating sight and decent amount of women were putting this in their profile. I asked politely. Let me tell ya, it wasn't a polite response.
Why are questions all of a sudden insults when the person may actually be ignorant and trying to educate themselves?
In a similar vein have ever ready portal to all of human knowledge constantly in our pocket it has killed some avenue of debate in face to face social situations, like out at a bar. In the before time you could spend an entire evening debating which came first or who wrote some film, or which song sold most albums and the argument would not be settled by some whipping out a phone, googling and done.
Just chatgpt it
Not to mention that Google is also terrible for retrieving some (most?) kinds of information. It can work with basic facts but then you're still relying on Google (or any other search engine) not to omit other salient facts or sources.
I was like you and mainly lurked for this reason, too. The fediverse can be a lot friendlier. The atmosphere had changed a little since the latest Reddit exodus. Hopefully, most of the toxicity of that platform is left behind.
It might be helpful to reiterate that knowledge isn't fixed and the while Google provides one answer, we could get a better answer after a discussion. So keep asking questions!
I would like a hard rule that there's no stupid question. If you don't want to help someone, just ignore it.
No need to add a negative comment town discussion.
Something I've noticed as I've shifted more of my conversations from Reddit to Discord (even before the garbage fire over at the site) is that I'm not looking up stuff as much during instant, short-form communication. Just casual conversation really is okay sometimes. I'll be trying to keep that in mind as I spend more time on Reddit alternatives.
I also have a theory that message board conversations spend as much time on opinion as they do because all the little shit has been solved now that we have esoteric information at our fingertips. Some people don't even know what it was like to be sitting around with friends all trying to figure out what 80's film you saw Robert Loggia in because you couldn't just look it up on-demand.
Whenever I debate for fun with some friends we kinda have this unspoken agreement of googling is cheating.
Not "google it", but when people who seem to be trolls keep asking nonsense questions that make it clear they haven't read past the subreddit name, I have no problem with them just being linked to the FAQ (I hate when people don't link it: it's not people's fault reddit, especially official app, make finding such impossible) or told to search their question and read the other 1000 times that question has been asked on said subreddit (and ideally link to one of them that people have actual answers to but not necessary imo).
True. And just as true is that there sure have been a lot of long, time-consuming, non-productive, non-entertaining, maybe even destructive discussions that could have been completely avoided or diverted into a completely different direction if someone would have said "google it" right at the beginning.
I’ve had to stop casually asking my partner for help with my crosswords because he keeps googling the answers. DEFEATS THE PURPOSE, babe.
Even with ready access to Google, I still try to ask questions about people's beliefs/lifestyles/hobbies/etc. It's a mixed bag with the responses I get. Some folks are very passionate and ready to explain the subject. Others just tell you to Google it. I obviously know I can Google it, but was hoping for human interaction with someone who clearly has an interest in the topic. Maybe some bonding, maybe some learning, maybe give that person a second to nerd out.
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