Poll: Am I the only one sick of being told ot "Google it." when asking about ANYTHING?

[Guitarmasterx7]

I'm assuming this is all in the context of asking about information that you CAN google? It depends. I mean if it's a conversation where you're talking to each other in real time then yeah its sort of rude, unless you're asking them something that either they themselves would have to google or is so detailed that they couldn't give you a timely and accurate synopsis of it.

In a scenario where they're typing to you, yeah you could google it just as easy, save them the effort, and get a more accurate presentation of the information. I wouldn't say telling you to do so is rude.

 

[michael87cn]

Seeing as google relies on information that other people have provided (or questions that have been answered) if nobody answered questions, google wouldn't have anything to pull up results from.

My point? Answering questions is good. In fact, it's beneficial. Telling someone to google something (taking the time to reply, but ignorning the chance to simply answer the question with the same time spent saying something obnoxious) is indeed rude. It's also harmful to the spread of information as a whole.

But in reality, who cares? Probably no one.

 

[geK0]

Ironically, there's been times where I have googled things only to find threads where the first response is "Google it".

It does seem a little rude to tell people this. People know what Google is, they know that they can find answers by typing the question into a Google search bar, but sometimes if you're looking for something you have to sift through a bunch of crap that isn't related to what you're looking for.

For example, I was looking up a song where the verse I remembered was

Iron will
Warrior skill
And how far away they fell
Set us free
Destiny
For tonight we dine in hell

Iron Will just happens to be a Warrior skill in World of Warcraft, and I was finding a ton of pages from WoW Wiki instead of what I was actually looking for; I was also seeing a lot of pictures from the movie 300 (maybe I'm not using proper search techniques).

The song turned out to be "Blood of Heroes" by "Tyr" (good song, Youtube it).

My point is that SOMETIMES it is easier to just ask somebody.

Also, some people just like to chat with other people, I don't see the problem with reaching out to another person for information rather than googling it. I get people telling me this in games a lot "What kind of loot does this dungeon boss drop?" "Google it." "Shit dude, I'm just making conversation!" (in this case Googling would have required me to alt-tab and hold up progression in the dungeon, so this guy was just dumb)

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Most of the time they're just telling you what they would have to do to get an answer for you, and it's simpler and faster to tell you to do it. Some of the time it's a reference to something that they don't want to spoil by explaining it poorly or briefly. I've rarely ever known someone to be asked a question and respond "Google it" when they know what the answer is and aren't making a reference.

 

[FancyNick]

Depends on the context and complexity of the topic. If it's someone pretty much telling me off, like a "I don't have time to explain it to a pleb like you" sort of deal than they can fuck right off. Other than that though I am not too offended by it. It's easy and usually the fastest way to continue the conversation

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

So... you link to the findings. You've clearly already done the research, it's inefficient to demand that that labour be duplicated. It's far easier to post a few links to information that you already know how to find than it is for them to find it.

In regard to the situation I described in my last post, it might have taken 20+ links to find it all. Everything that I wrote was off the top of my head because I volunteer for an organization that works exclusively in that field. Most of what you can find online is convoluted, piecemeal, and/or anecdotal. I just tried to put it in one post, explained in layman's terms (as in, not describing the implications of abnormalities in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalus).

Emphasis mine.

While I accept that in this case, it might be unreasonable to demand you repeat all that, it also shows how unreasonable it would be to expect that someone else put in all that work, without even the knowledge of where to start that you had. Furthermore, without at least a couple of links or points in the right direction, it is impossible to know whether your argument is based on lots of piecemeal anecdotal data sources, or on 'trustworthy' sources.

I appreciate it is difficult when your knowledge comes from experience or training or some other source that cannot be easily communicated, but in those cases it would be better to say that, than to abruptly tell someone to google it.


And again, I was more thinking a long the lines of "Well if you raise minimum wage, inflation goes up rendering it useless", " Do you have evidence for that?" "Google it". If in that case, they had explained the relevant economic theory predicting that, or described a historical event evidencing it, then it would be fine. If I wanted to know more, I could easily wiki that event/theory. If they just state it and expect be to go with it or start googling 'how does min wage affect inflation' and trawl through all the blogs and dross, then its not.

 

[DoPo]

For example, I was looking up a song where the verse I remembered was

Iron will
Warrior skill
And how far away they fell
Set us free
Destiny
For tonight we dine in hell

Iron Will just happens to be a Warrior skill in World of Warcraft, and I was finding a ton of pages from WoW Wiki instead of what I was actually looking for; I was also seeing a lot of pictures from the movie 300 (maybe I'm not using proper search techniques).

I searched for "lyrics Iron will Warrior skill And how far away they fell Set us free Destiny For tonight we dine in hell" and got the actual song as first result. I don't know what the issue was for you.

Just tried it again without "lyrics" and got the same results back. In fact, this very thread was now in them in fifth position.

And finally, I tried the two things you had problem with - "iron will" and "tonight we dine in hell". I searched for "lyrics iron will dine in hell" and again got the exact song as first result. proof [https://www.google.co.uk/search?output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=lyrics+iron+will+dine+in+hell&btnG=&oq=&gs_l=&pbx=1].

Same thing happens if I search for "lyrics iron will warrior skill".

And for a change of pace, I tried "lyrics destiny set us free" as that seems somewhat more generic-ish. It was first result.

I then tried to shorten the search parameters even more so it'd be easier to match more things - "lyrics destiny warrior skill" is the shortest possible thing to google which actually means what you want to search and then I got the song as the third result. The other shortest thing to google is, of course "lyrics destiny iron will" which yielded the song as sixth result. It's because Kreator have one called "Iron Destiny" which matches higher.

So, really, even if you have the two shortest lines of that verse, you can find the song - if you have more, you'd definitely find it even faster. Again, not sure what the issue is.

 

[ninjaRiv]

Depends on context. I've asked for some clarification on stuff that was already being discussed and was told to Google it. I dunno, I think, for the most part, it's rude. Surely asking questions promotes conversation and discussion and allows you to talk about something you're interested in? I mean, obviously some stuff should just be Googled. But there's no reason to just be lazy and not explain it. It only takes a few seconds to give a brief explanation.

 

[Madmonk12345]

snippity snip

Google bases it's searches based on previous searches that you've done, so if you've looked up lots of info on WoW on google, such a problem might pop up.
OP: google isn't always easy to search through, especially on issues where you are unaware of the official terms to search with, leading to many wrong results.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Ironically, there's been times where I have googled things only to find threads where the first response is "Google it".

It does seem a little rude to tell people this. People know what Google is, they know that they can find answers by typing the question into a Google search bar, but sometimes if you're looking for something you have to sift through a bunch of crap that isn't related to what you're looking for.

For example, I was looking up a song where the verse I remembered was

Iron will
Warrior skill
And how far away they fell
Set us free
Destiny
For tonight we dine in hell

Iron Will just happens to be a Warrior skill in World of Warcraft, and I was finding a ton of pages from WoW Wiki instead of what I was actually looking for; I was also seeing a lot of pictures from the movie 300 (maybe I'm not using proper search techniques).

The song turned out to be "Blood of Heroes" by "Tyr" (good song, Youtube it).

My point is that SOMETIMES it is easier to just ask somebody.

Also, some people just like to chat with other people, I don't see the problem with reaching out to another person for information rather than googling it. I get people telling me this in games a lot "What kind of loot does this dungeon boss drop?" "Google it." "Shit dude, I'm just making conversation!" (in this case Googling would have required me to alt-tab and hold up progression in the dungeon, so this guy was just dumb)

For that first one, knowing the lyrics made it easy to Google. Iron will is a warrior skill in WoW? Guess what happens when I Google "Iron will warrior skill and how?" First result is a link to the song you referred to.

As for the second, if you are chatting in the middle of a game, that's different, though "dunno, look it up later" might be warranted if you were in the middle of a dungeon. Otherwise, if you told me that you were making conversation, I'd tell you that I don't find infodumping to be very enjoyable conversation. If you want to make conversation, bring a conversation, not an inquiry into basic easily obtained information.

 

[DoPo]

But there's no reason to just be lazy and not explain it. It only takes a few seconds to give a brief explanation.

That argument works EXACTLY the same in reverse, though, doesn't it - there is no reason to just be lazy and not google it. It only takes a few seconds to do so. It is literally the same. I'd even class it as worse as in one case - one is asked about something and doesn't bother answering, but in the other, the asker doesn't even bother trying to answer it for himself beforehand. I do think that the one who wants others to do one's job for them is more lazy.

Surely asking questions promotes conversation and discussion and allows you to talk about something you're interested in?

Aren't you making a lot of assumptions here? Surely if you're asking something that should be discussed, then you...should discuss it. I mean, it is rather obvious and you are trying to pass the obvious for the obvious. Which is redundant. Yes, asking "Why do you like pie?" (for example) can promote discussion. Similarly, if people are interested in pie, they would (most probably) be happy to discuss it.

However, if the question is something that can be googled easily, there, by definition, is no point discussing it if it's not a matter of discussion. With the example slightly above your comment - asking "I have these lyrics, where are they from" is not something a debate, or a lengthy conversation would determine, it's is a single answer that is needed and any else is not needed. Also, I think it's a fair assumption to make that if somebody can't be bothered to explain something you can easily find on your own, then that is probably not one of their passions they are eager to talk about in length. Especially if, as you suggest, there is not much to explain.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Depends.

Is the conversation online, ie on a forum/chat service that can run in the background of a PC/smart device?

Is it a fact similar to [user]thaluikhain[/user]'s example?

Then it isn't rude.

If however it's via phone, real life etc it would be rude unless the person genuinely doesn't know and suggests google in an appropriate manner.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Well, to begin with another commonly used and completely appropriate statement: NO. You are NEVER the only one.

Although I completely disagree with you. Spoon feeding is one of the worst things a person can do on the net and if an answer can be googled in seconds, there is every reason to instruct people to do it.

Your real life analogy also makes little sense. The reason it's so prominent on the internet is that when someone tells you to google something, you can open a new tab and do it in under 10 seconds. The same cannot be said in real life.

Now, if you have already searched for a fair amount of time, told the person this and they still say google it, then it's a bit rude.

 

[McMullen]

Most of the times I've seen "Google it" used, the person in question is already talking about the subject as if they're knowledgeable about it, but really doesn't understand the first thing about what it is they're talking about. This usually happens in the R&P forum.

In those cases, "Google it" is a nice way of saying "Quit being full of shit, quit being too damn lazy to type a few characters on your keyboard to learn anything about what you're talking about, and quit wasting our time with your stupidity." While this may be something those people need to hear more often, it likely wouldn't do any good and is generally frowned upon by mods, so "Google it" is a good alternative.

 

[Someone Depressing]

In real life, if anyone tells me to "Google It" instead of saying, "Sorry, I don't know; try Google", or even Googling it themselves for me, then I find that a totally not childish reason to take my ball home.

Over the Internet, it's dickish, but it actually has ground.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

It really depends; if it's something integral to everyday life or deeply rooted in your country's past/present/future events, than it's really a no brainier and if they weren't aware, they should probably catch up.

If it's to make them feel inferior to you because they don't know something that you do, than it's really rude and tasteless.

I'm more on the front of "if you have it and need it, use it." That so called smartphone is there for more than just Facebook and Twitter, folks.

 

[geK0]

-snip- "I was able to find it easily"

-snip- "me to"

I tried searching it again and was able to find it quite easily this time. Apparently I was searching this song's lyrics before the album was actually released, this was in August.I heard the song on my friend's satellite radio and I guess this station plays some pre-release songs. The youtube video had under 5,000 views when I actually found it.

I was looking for something that at the time was quite obscure and simply "googling it" wasn't so easy.

As for the second, if you are chatting in the middle of a game, that's different, though "dunno, look it up later" might be warranted if you were in the middle of a dungeon. Otherwise, if you told me that you were making conversation, I'd tell you that I don't find infodumping to be very enjoyable conversation. If you want to make conversation, bring a conversation, not an inquiry into basic easily obtained information.

(forgot to respond to the second half of your post)
This guy just came off as rude to me because he had done the dungeon several times and knew what it dropped. "What kind of loot does this boss drop?" seemed like a pretty reasonable question which didn't deserve such a rude response.


Just to be clear, I usually DO Google things before I ask about them on the internet, and I usually don't have any issues finding an answer. I was just provided one example where I couldn't find an answer (because the song was obscure), and another example when I was peeved by the phrase "Just Google it" (Because all I did was say "oooo a dragon boss! Does it drop anything I'd use?). The first example was nearly a year ago and the second was over 5 years ago (a bit after WoW's Wrath of the Lich King expansion came out)

 

[chuckman1]

A lot of times it seems rude. Mainly it's just annoying.
Sometimes you just want a new answer. But I can see why people do it.

 

[Imat]

Totally know what you're talking about, OP. It's most rampant in online chats, and you're usually getting it from someone who is socially inept - but not introverted or isolated enough to keep they damn mouth shut. There's a LOT of projection involved; if you happen to be someone who doesn't see the inherent value in engaging other human beings, of course you're going to be flippant when someone has the audacity to reach out purely for the sake of reaching out.

Anyways, big pet peeve of mine.

Are you speaking ill of people who may have actual social disorders? As someone with mild SAD, and who knows someone with rather extreme SAD, I can say that that is somewhat rude.

On topic: I've actually never heard this first-hand. Could be I've gotten lucky in my associations, but more likely I've just never run into a situation where such a response make sense.

 

[NiPah]

If you've been told "just google it" enough that you've become sick of the phrase, then chances are you're asking too many questions that could easily be answered by Google.
Short descriptions are hard to come up with on the fly, if the other person has gone out of his way to give the initial information, is it so much to ask for the other person to look it up?

I maybe a bit biased, I often chat with a guy who will constantly ask for more detailed information on subjects that we're discussing, when I'm on the other end having to look up something to provide a correct answer then I normally just tell him to look it up.