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Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2015-04-26 11:49
by Head_on_a_Stick
Speaking personally, any responses I make on this forum tend to be entirely selfish in nature.

I run Arch ([testing]) & Debian (Sid) in the hope and expectation of encountering regular breakage that will force me to learn more about my system in the process of repairing said b0rkage.

Sadly both systems have been a disappointment in this respect -- Arch [testing] had a GCC update to version 5 yesterday with major API/ABI* changes and my system just booted and carried on as if nothing had happened...
:(

I hope Sid will prove more challenging in the coming weeks now that the freeze has ended.

In the meantime I scour the forums for users who foolishly offer up their problems to others and devour them hungrily (if not entirely successfully).

IMO the JFGI brigade are doing the posters a great favour by encouraging them to develop their system administration skills independently; I don't consider it to be "cyber bullying" at all.

* Probably the wrong terminology but you know what I mean.

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2015-04-27 00:38
by GarryRicketson
How about this. What if your mother decided to try out debian and had some questions about it? Maybe she would be overwhelmed and show up at the forum.
My mother is dead.
I got my degree in computer science and I have worked in the SEO industry, so I'm a much more competent google user than most people. Really I'm a lot more competent than 99% of people with any topic pertaining to computers, but I also have a shred of empathy for people who don't have my education and experience, and as this thread shows, there are a lot of people whose lives are so pathetic and meaningless that they really get a kick out of insulting people who aren't as knowledgeable and experienced.
Hmm, ok well now I understand, I do not have any degrees, in fact never finsished the 5th grade, which is why I use google search so much, I need to in order to learn the things I am trying to learn about, and it workd quite well for me, but unfortunately the SEO s, and "marketing engineers", have done every thing they can to mess it up with their advertising, and putting useless advertisement links all over the internet, SEO = spammer , Marketing Engineer = spammer, just fancy names "highly educated" paper chasers with lots of degrees come up with.
If some one is "insulted" because someone else suggests they try using the search engines, that is their problem, maybe they need a Psychiatrist.
But sometimes she won't have the right search phrase
Usually that is the problem for most people, getting the right search phrase, some one with a small amount of intelligence, at least one would think so, like me for example, no degrees,schooling etc,..so if and when I do not find any useful results with google or any other search engines, then I ask on a forum,
I tried using google to answer my question, using these key words "the key words or phrase I used ", but I did not get any results that could help me,
Then probably I also include some details to my circumstance, ...usually that results in some one suggesting a better way to phrase the question, or key words, or sometimes, when some details are included, some one knows the answer,
What causes me more problems with the search engines, is
but because it is common knowledge in the SEO industry that a page with changing text is seen by the crawlers as an active
The SEO wizards with their "degrees", are constantaly using any forum,website ,blog, where ever they can to put in their phrases and garbage,which causes the search engine to give us results that are mostly advertisements, or completely irrelevant to what we are searching for.
On a Google search you get hundreds of answers that may or may not be correct and if you follow the incorrect advise it may hose your system and or waist your time
If someone is not sure about what they find on google, they should post and ask about it, people will tell them , which answer is best, if they also explain enough details.
When someone says "Google it" it means they have no idea what the correct answer is or that they don't want to be bothered helping you. (In which case, why do they even post at all?) It is a type of cyber bullying. They are saying. "I know the answer, but you are not worth helping."
Well often, that is true, I don't know the answer to the question, but I do like to learn, and also try to help someone, so when I see a question that interests me, but do know really how to solve it,..That is how I get the answers, I use google, and usually get good results, so when I see that they can find the answer as well, using google, I often wonder why they did not do that, ... often there is to much material, and variables to simply answer the question on a few words, but the results on google show there is a lot of info on the problem, that is the best way to start, looking through the information available, ..
When I suggest to someone that they try using google, I usually include the key words I used that yielded good results, I am suggesting to use google, because I have found good results, that might help them. But if they are to stupid to see that, and get offended, well, that is to bad, they can wait and see if someone else helps them, or what ever,..
But all of this is redicules, which is why I still think the only purpose of this thread was to start arguments, troll,..
It does not matter to me, what arguments you have, I for one , will still suggest to people that they try using google or a search engine, and I will still continue to try to help them with the key words that I used, then if there is something they don't understand with the answer,and if I can I will try to help clarify or explain it, if I can't, some one else will.
Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?
The answer to that is really quite simple, I respond to question, with "google it", because I have googled it , and found good ,usefull results, and I believe that is the case for most of the others ,when they suggest that someone google it.
All the wild accusations, "cyber bullying", "trying to be snarky",..
I think you need to follow your own advice
t is common knowledge in the SEO industry that a page with changing text is seen by the crawlers as an active blog/news site, so the rank is bumped up. Believe me or not, I don't care, just stop polluting the web with your self-righteous crap.
Yes, I wish the SEOs and marketing engineers would stop polluting the web with their "self-righteous crap" and advertising, but that is another subject.

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2015-04-27 03:29
by alansmithee
GarryRicketson wrote:
Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?
The answer to that is really quite simple, I respond to question, with "google it", because I have googled it , and found good ,usefull results, and I believe that is the case for most of the others ,when they suggest that someone google it.
Unless you have disabled Google's semantic searching, the results you see will be specific to what Google knows about your proclivities and location. Part of the reason "most others" found good useful results to questions about Debian is that they've been using Debian -- and Google -- for many years and Google caters the results to their history of searches.

Even if you depersonalize your search by using Tor, disabling cookies, or changing your browser preferences, the person to whom you are responding may not have. There is no guarantee that their search will produce similar results to yours (add to this the effect that differing locales and participation in social media sites might have).

If you've found good, useful results through your search, why not link to one of those directly? Why introduce an unreliable, inexact intermediary -- especially one whose business model is premised on tracking and logging one's search queries.

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2015-04-27 04:23
by dasein
All true, which is exactly why startpage is just too handy. It makes it impossible to "bubble" the results. Google goodness without their accursed "personalization." The results for a given query are the same for everyone.

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2015-04-27 05:02
by GarryRicketson
If you've found good, useful results through your search, why not link to one of those directly?

Some times I do, it all depends on the circumastances, often the results are various, and the person with the question , should be able to find which ones fit his/her problem best,..
Some times it would be easy to copy, what I find, and paste it into the reply , however that could cause problems , copying stuff from another site, and using it here,..
I have noticed , most of the time, when it is a question that has enough details with it, and also it is something that is rare, or unique, and not much or nothing comes up in a search, that is when some of the most experienced members do start giving suggestions as to what to try, in order to figure out what is causing the problem,and how to solve it.
The posts that get answered with "search google", are questions that there are literally 1000s of tutorials,and solutions all ready available, all ready written,..it is obvious the person is either to lazy to use the search engine, or does not know how, and there is nothing wrong with that, every one needs to learn, but then this forum is not about "how to use the search engines", if they don't know how to do that, they should google it, once they learn how to use it, and if they get results that confuse them, then they could ask, here it says "do this and that" but on the other it says " Do that first then this", so Do I do THAT first or This,..bla bla,.. quite often, the best adivice might be to download a copy of all the linux commands, and some good tutorial on linux and unix, It all depends on the question, and how the OP words his/her question.
Sometimes it is that simple, no need to suggest google search, simpley post a little code, or script,..IE: some one asks,
"How do I see what directories and files are in my system, from the linux terminal ?" answer:

Code: Select all

cd /
#then type
ls
To find out more about the commands, use google search " linux commands",...Which if they had done that in the first place, they never would have needed to ask the question.
Trying to get people to use a search engine, is good advice, in the long run it will help them, but if they want to act like babies, and cry about how it offends them, because they were told to "google it",..well that is their loss,and problem, they will continue through life, being whiny , ignorant, babies.

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2015-04-27 08:19
by johnc0123456789
Usually that is the problem for most people, getting the right search phrase, some one with a small amount of intelligence
You made my point. Antisocial responses to forum questions posted by new users are all about showing how smart you are.

Never did I say that SEO is a socially productive thing to do, in fact this is why I left that industry. The only reason I took the job in the first place was because I was fresh out of school and desperate to pay my rent. SEO is also a pretty ineffective thing to try, in fact at the company I worked at, we were constantly scrambling to just get on the first page because any searches relevant to our customers would have non-optimized (ie correct) results at the top.

Seriously, kudos for making a career and becoming a competent computer user without the benefit of formal education. I'm by no means trying to hold mine above anybody or say I'm better than anybody, just saying that my background (or entitlement if you will) enables me to be a more effective searcher than most people, and I have questions sometimes that aren't helped by searching, or I can't come up with a useful phrase. Maybe I'm just an idiot with letters after my name because I can't answer every question for myself like you.

Whether your mother is dead or not, presumably there is somebody in your life who doesn't know much about computers. Whoever that person may be, are you going to be a condescending jerk when they ask you a question? If a stranger stops you on the street and asks for directions, are you going to chew them out and tell them to buy a f***ing map? Maybe you do, but people with personalities like that don't get far in life. I think you probably don't, so I'd suggest that everyone be as polite when hiding behind a computer screen as you are in real life, even if that means saying nothing.

Regardless of the etiquette of the situation, there is no changing the fact that searching like you're supposed to gives a whole bunch of results where people get jfgi-ed and that jfgi-ing increases the pagerank of useless threads because the crawlers see it as an active discussion and assume there is a useful exchange of information going on. I also agree with the assertion that people who show up here and obviously haven't done their research need to be told to do so, but if we politely point them toward a way to find the information they need it will improve their research skills without alienating them or creating a hostile environment. Eventually these people may become knowledgeable members of the community who can help us grow the free software community. If you don't have time to help some clueless noob, go find a question that's up to your level instead of alienating them.

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2015-04-30 22:43
by bettylou
Another classic, useless reply to a forum question:
"I don't use <insert package name> but maybe you could try <insert random action>"

As for "have you tried google?" Consider also:
"File a bug report."
"man <item>"

The all time classic, needless forum spamming reply:
"I'm not at my computer right now, but I'll try that later and get back to you."

Or, why not post 2000 lines of a log file without code blocks.

True, "google it" may be an option an OP hasn't thought of, but consider another person who actually is using google to research a question. The google research model works best when the first 25 hits don't terminate with these spoilers.

PS: The most helpful forum threads are the ones that have their subject edited with the word solved.

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2015-05-01 11:57
by milomak
the one thing that strikes me is that on the landing page of this forum, there is nothing that is obvious that takes you to what is expected of you.

my understanding of having had to show some effort before posting on a forum comes from my earlier days using suse 9.3.

i've just tried to carry that since then. but this forum having a beginner section says actually google it is not what it wants when i think about it.

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2015-05-01 17:49
by mardybear
I don't think there is even a stickie for newcomers, outlining expectations. Also don't remember seeing a similar disclaimer when signing up for a new account. This was recommended previously but nothing every became of it.

This forum is funny sometimes. You'll read through a long thread, someone will say google it, another will say don't trust random blogs and websites :?

Of course both answers can be correct depending on the circumstances, but for someone new to Linux already overwhelmed, obviously confusing.

As the beginners section says this:
Beginners Questions
New to Debian (Or Linux in general)? Ask your questions here!
...of course it could easily mislead overwhelmed new users into posting questions without a quick google search. Some people do better by learning, others experimenting/hands-on, some want an actual person to interact with...

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2015-05-01 19:22
by Head_on_a_Stick
^^ The "User Control Panel" link has a Front Page with links to:
Please Read.. What we expect you have already Done.
Forum Guidelines. Please read before first post

Of course this is dependent on the user checking their Control Panel before posting their query...

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2015-05-01 21:39
by mardybear
Of course this is dependent on the user checking their Control Panel before posting their query...
Of course... :wink:

Somone could potentially be a forum member for years without ever checking the Control Panel.

Still think there should be a more visible way, such as a quick checkbox agreement when creating the account. Not that it would be enforced anyway but at least the information was presented - no excuses.

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2015-05-01 22:46
by electrovalent
Hi,
For me there are only two answers for this question:
1) The question is already answered and the questioner was bored to search.
2) The responder don't know the answer and he is bored to help.

What is really bothering me is why so many questions? The root of this "problem" i think, is that there is no clear definition for new users what the OS he/she is using is able to do and what level of experience is required to make use of it. I know many will disagree but i sometimes hope that if someone before years had answered me to better use a different OS to do my job instead of google it, it would saved me a lot of time. Many answers out there are not applicable for single users. In the end we will see answers like "become a developer and do it your self".

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2015-05-18 10:19
by pylkko
On some forums it happens that a quite austere general culture forms around the "you should search first moralizing". Rapidly the situtation develops to where people start to feel that their own respect and prestige increases the more rapidly and more viciously they tell off lazy people. Most human beings simply cannot be told that they have not done something well, even if it is the truth, so you quickly get a quarrel. It's not very nice to read this kind of stuff, and I would like it much personally if such posts were just ignored.

Here is an example of what can happen when you do not ignore people out to use you:

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=122184

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2024-01-04 10:29
by filliphey
johnc0123456789 wrote: 2015-04-23 06:03 Hi all. Maybe somebody can fill me in on forum etiquette here, because I hardly ever use these things. What do people hope to accomplish by responding to a question by saying "just google it" or "I found 18 million hits when I searched this"? Every single day I google something I want to know, find a nice forum or yahoo answers or something where somebody has asked my exact question, and the only responses are 1337 geniuses telling n00bzorz to google it. I understand that people asking the same questions over and over clogs up the forum with duplicates, but if you really want to make that point to somebody asking an old question, tell them what your search term is, show them a link to the previous thread, anything constructive.

If you really want to prove how snarky and obnoxious you are, post the url of a useful search at lmgtfy.com. Everybody knows about google, every forum has a sticky about what kind of research you're supposed to do before posting a question. News flash: it takes way longer to register at a forum and create a new thread than it does to search for something, and everybody knows that too. If you are really really annoyed by that umpteenth post about why little Timmy's wifi dongle doesn't work, just don't say anything! If you don't say anything, the stupid easily googleable question slides right off the bottom of the page. I promise.

Let me tell you guys a little SEO wisdom. When you do post non-answers, guess what that does... It makes the google crawlers see the page changing, lots of activity, so the algorithm assumes something useful is happening and it bumps up the pagerank. So by actively contributing to "google it" culture, you are actively making it harder to google it.

Anyway, I thought I'd post this rant here because this site is one of the least offensive in that category. There is a great community here and I hope things stay that way, but I keep seeing room for improvement. Maybe the administrators could follow the lead of e.g. askbuntu and mark questions "closed because previously answered" with a link to the original thread. (Maybe this is already happening and I haven't seen it because I lurk so seldom)
It's great that you're reaching out to get a grasp on forum etiquette. You're correct that responding with "just google it" or similar non-constructive comments doesn't add value to a discussion and can come off as dismissive or elitist. It's a behavior that many forum communities actively discourage. Here are some common courtesy guidelines that can apply to most forums:

1. **Be Respectful**: Understand that everyone was a beginner at some point and that the question that seems trivial to you might not be so for someone else.

2. **Search Before Posting**: It's a good practice to search for your question within the forum or on a search engine to see if it has already been answered. Doing this reduces redundancy and keeps forums clean.

3. **Provide Constructive Feedback**: If a question has been asked before, rather than telling someone to simply Google it, you can kindly direct them to the specific thread where it has been discussed, or suggest search terms that might yield better results.

4. **Stay On Topic**: Try to provide answers that are relevant to the questions being asked. If you don't have anything constructive to add, it may indeed be better to say nothing.

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2024-01-04 10:33
by arochester
@filliphey

Do you know you are answering a thread from 2015?

Re: Why do people respond to questions with "google it"?

Posted: 2024-01-04 10:38
by steve_v
Goddamn ninjas :P
Users posts are pretty much all necros, this one is just especially ridiculous... And a little ironic considering it's a treatise on nettiquite.