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I HATE it when people say to "Google it" or post a link to a Wiki article

P-MAC

P-MAC

Member
Nov 15, 2017
4,455
It depends on the question…if it is open enough to allow a discussion, I agree. But often people ask simple yes or no factual questions that can't be discussed and could be immediately answered in seconds by Googling so it's like…what are you expecting to happen here?
 
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Bentendo24

Bentendo24

Member
Feb 20, 2020
5,344
I think I should have clarified that this is specifically for questions where people are explicitly seeking a conversation.
 
jalkerway

jalkerway

Member
Oct 27, 2017
273
Bentendo24 said:
I think I should have clarified that this is specifically for questions where people are explicitly seeking a conversation.
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This is valid, but as other people have said, often requires the question itself to be more thought out. You'll get back what you put in. Example:
Q "What is Wendy's?" A "Google it" or "it's fast food"
vs
Q "What is your opinion of Wendy's? How does it compare to Mcdonalds"? A "I like their fries way more!" etc
 
CloseTalker

CloseTalker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,576
Bentendo24 said:
I think I should have clarified that this is specifically for questions where people are explicitly seeking a conversation.
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Yeah but questions that are framed as thoughtful inquiries looking for a discussion are almost impossible to answer with "just Google it". 99% of the times I see that response, it's because the question is literally phrased like something you'd type into Google. It's a simple matter of you'll get the same effort in the replies as you put into the question
 
kayos90

kayos90

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,685
CloseTalker said:
Yeah but questions that are framed as thoughtful inquiries looking for a discussion are almost impossible to answer with "just Google it". 99% of the times I see that response, it's because the question is literally phrased like something you'd type into Google. It's a simple matter of you'll get the same effort in the replies as you put into the question
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Time changes discourse and technology has completely changed how discourse functions nowadays. Back before the internet existed and people talked with each other in person a simple "What's Wendy's?" would've been sufficient enough to get a dialogue going. Technology and the expediency of the internet and the speed at which consumption of information and goods happen has altered how people engage in interactions now in my opinion. Because information is so readily available everyone commonly assumes "What's Wendy's?" can be easily googleable when in reality the conversation is something deeper. The intent is sort of lost. Sure the question can be framed better but we also move so much at lightning speed that we gravitates towards the answer to the question rather than the dialogue (or moreso the journey). People assume that others want answers because they themselves are looking for answers to the question rather than forgetting the fact that there is often times a journey to get that answer. Before the internet, that journey would be taken together through dialogue. Nowadays that journey is taken alone and the journey doesn't even matter because the end result justifies all things. Just one thing I noticed.

EDIT: I would also note that the questioner's intent is discovered over the course of the dialogue before internet. Nowadays people want that intent all up front.
 
Poeton

Poeton

Member
Oct 25, 2017
789
Austin, TX
I was a recent college grad a few months into my first job as a firmware engineer, and my co-worker who had graduated 6 months earlier than me. Sent me this thing, Help Vampire.

Dude was a miserable cunt. About a year later, we hired his friend/roommate and he sent him the same link a couple of months after he started. He heavily implied hiring his friend meant he would train him up. Dude set his good friend up to fail after he decided the new guy was making him look bad. He eventually got let go for being a miserable cunt.
 
Parch

Parch

Member
Nov 6, 2017
7,980
CloseTalker said:
Eh. Sometimes people ask very googleable questions. I've done it myself. It's crazy to me that someone will ask an easily searched question here, and then just wait for the answer, instead of looking it up themselves in 15 seconds. The best is when they quote themselves hours later and say "anyone?"
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Yeah, that's what bugs me too. There's not any conversation involved, they just ask a question they could easily look up themselves. The want somebody else to look it up and hand them the answer because they're too damn lazy to look it up themselves.
 
Cipherr

Cipherr

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,422
Lishi said:
Then they should put some more effort on the OP rather than.

why did such and such happen" or "what is this"
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You wouldn't exactly be leading by example in terms of "putting forth some effort" by replying with "Google it" though. Thats what annoys me about that attitude, it doesn't withstand scrutiny at all. I have to agree with, "Just don't reply" if you don't have anything to contribute. Any form of "It takes so little effort/time to google it" equally translates to "You could have helped the OP with an answer in the time it took you to be snarky" if we are being honest.

And just about every question out there is "very googleable". Sure there are some complex topics that may not be; but most are. It bothers me because it leans far too close to the "Stupid questions" thing.

Edit: And the whole "They spent twice as much time and energy to ask this than it would have taken to google it" mixed with the "They are too lazy to spend the energy to search it themselves!" has the same vibes as the "These immigrants are lazy!" and "These immigrants are taking our jobs!". Complete contradictions. Maybe people really are looking for conversation and they just approach it differently than you do? Just a thought.
 
Genesius

Genesius

Member
Nov 2, 2018
15,485
I'm fine having a discussion about something worth discussing.

But if your discussion is "what's the capitol of <state>" or something like that, fucking look it up.
 
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Bentendo24

Bentendo24

Member
Feb 20, 2020
5,344
DumpsterJuice said:
What type of conversation? If it's argumentative, factual or simple then nah, I'm pointing you straight to Google. If it's an intellectual conversation about life, family, careers etc, then we can talk.
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But why even respond if it's just to be snarky? If someone wants to have a simple conversation, why would you try to squash that?
 
Sai

Sai

Prophet of Truth
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
5,607
Chicago
I have a pet peeve about being asked easily googled things when the answer is yes/no/extremely simple (a date, a name, etc). I know someone with your pet peeve though OP, and they always try to frame it like "I'm just trying to have a conversation!", well, asking me a yes or no question is not a conversation.
 
Binabik15

Binabik15

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,600
In a discussion, sure, it's part of making your point to provide information. At least in spoken conversation, for online stuff it depends.

I literally sent "google it and don't waste my time" to an acquaintance today after she tried to ask me anatomy questions to get a conversation started again, so it does have its place.
 
Fuchsia

Fuchsia

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,641
Kind of in the same vein for this forum, I really dislike when people post pics of games without giving the god damn name of the game in threads. Sometimes I see something cool and it makes me want to play a game someone posted a pic from but I don't want to have to ask them for it and go through the work of doing that.
 
jman1954goat

jman1954goat

Linked the Fire
Member
May 9, 2020
12,416
It drives me up a wall whenever someone asks about a timezone conversion when googling the conversion yourself takes 10 seconds.
 
astro

astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
56,890
Bentendo24 said:
Sometimes people just want to have a discussion and don't want to read an encyclopedic entry.

Next time someone asks "why did such and such happen", "what is this" etc.... If your only contribution is to say "Google it" or post a link, maybe just do everyone a favor and not comment.

Discuss...
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Enitrely depends what the person is asking, imo. Some things don't need a discussion.
 
Biske

Biske

Member
Nov 11, 2017
8,255
MouldyK said:
The worst thing I hate is when people ask easily find-able info.

Like I have people who message me asking crap like "Oh, when does Spider-Man come out?" and it's like...we are talking on the internet...you can find that yourself by typing the question in Google instead of asking me...
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This. I get what the OP is talking about, sometimes you just want to talk about a subject. But yeah specific dates or when someone is like "what temperature is it outside?" That's when they are literally asking you to google it for them or check your phone for them and they can fuck off.
 
lexony

lexony

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,518
It really depends on the situation.
This is maybe a bit specific, but I grew up in a tourist town and as kid I got constantly asked things like if there a school, how many people live here or how cold it can get etc.
I mean I get that people are curious and want to hear stuff from a local person, but I hated it. If they didn't asked something like how to get to the train station I stoped them answering questions. Some people got angry and would say that locals here are unfriendly but I am not obligated to know all facts about the place where I live and I certainly don't need to play the free local guide. I mean in the end do you know all random facts about your city? Probably you would even need to google first.
 
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Seikca

Seikca

Member
Feb 21, 2022
106
This is an undercover Linux thread, right?

If someone asks and I can help, I usually point out to what I know are good sources of information. I can give a short explanation if I feel confident enough for it, but I prefer to refer to something that is already explained better than what I could do.
 
Silvergun-Blue

Silvergun-Blue

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,930
If somebody asks something and you respond with an answer then that information isn't just for them it's there for everybody else reading the thread. You've added something to the conversation where a snarky "just google it" added nothing. And it probably took you no more effort to do so.
 
nel e nel

nel e nel

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,134
Bentendo24 said:
I disagree, I think any question can benefit from a conversational style. The whole reason I bring this up is because a Belgian asked on AskAnAmerican on Reddit what Wendy's is

There was a bunch of fun responses, a ton actually. But then some smartass sent a link to Wikipedia. I'm pretty sure the OP knows how to Google something, but he thought it would be fun to have Americans talk about the food chain that he's only heard about. It provided for a great conversation imo
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The time spent logging on to a forum, creating a post, typing in your question and waiting for responses would be better spent just finding the fucking answer yourself.

80-90% of forum responses are going to be uninformed anyways.
 
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