Google-able questions?

Portraying an attitude that yells “I did not even try to get an answer on my own” might seem a bit inappropriate to some people.

If they tried to google it and did not come to a worthy conclusion and then come here to discuss their recent results then it is fine and deserves to be treated with respect otherwise smite them.

http://www.fluther.com/faq/#guidelines

“If your question is an attempt to connect with people (as opposed to an attempt to figure something out), like “Where is everyone from?” or “How old is everyone?” or “Are the Jonas Brothers lame?”, or it’s a yes-or-no, this-or-that question, it will probably be moderated — those questions are better suited for the chatroom. ”

Some questions are easily researched online..

Others are not. For instance, someone recently asked “How do I remove a pedal with a stripped bolt?”

That’s harder to find, as well as troubleshoot.

I mean, yeah, do your own research. But sometimes, plain old experience that people have to bring to the table is most valuable.

I see this as a community of people making themselves and each other smarter and better rounded.

You might get smacked with something like:
http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=when+is+the+next+episode+of+Burn+Notice%3F

@barumonkey I love that site.

Easily Google-able Qs are permitted. Mods have begun to remove quips that snark at people for asking Google-able Qs, including the use of “lmgtfy”.

Experienced internauts may groan when they see Qs like these, but Fluther should be a resource for people who’d rather get a more personalized answer, or aren’t adept at searches.

The best way to ask these question is to show that you’ve put in effort—since what people don’t appreciate about them is that many of them beg to have other people do their work.

A little disclaimer goes a long way.

Also, to reiterate what I said on the blog, you can easily add google links into your responses: just type :google after your quotes and you’ll get a google link, like this:
andrew mcclain best actor ever.

me personally? I try not too, it clutters up the site and in the time it’d take you to type it into fluther and wait for a response you could just as easily just google it in the first place.

@barumonkey buahaha that’s awesome.

Relaxing googleable guidelines a bit makes Fluther a friendlier place. Sure the super easy questions might be modded but not everyone is a master at Internet searches. It is nice that we are allowing some leeway and removing snipes.

I say ask whatever you want, if people would just look on Google for all their answers this site would be useless. Q&A sites are essentially just search engines with people doing all the work.

@J0E: Q&A sites are useful for when answers are nuanced or subjective.

If you can put the keywords of your question in the Google search box and find the answer in the first three links Google comes up with, it’s not a question worthy of Fluther time.

If you post a question that’s easily Googleable, be prepared to be met with snide remarks and links that make fun of you. But you will likely get an answer, so if that’s your intention and you don’t mind taking any approach, by all means do so.

Personally, I don’t think it’s too hard to put some text in your description such as “I googled but couldn’t find any information” or “I found some info on Google but was more interested in personal responses”.

@dynamicduo Mods are now removing snide remarks however the text is a great idea and will produce more effort on the part of the answerers.

I go with: “Google first. Ask questions later!”

Why not google it and find out?

So despite the fact that my Lurve clearly shows that i’m not exactly a Flutheroholic, if you will.. I’ve been using Fluther pretty much since there was a Fluther, and i’ve always felt that one of this sites main strengths is the diversity of those that use the site.

Specifically, the diversity in the level of internet-attuned-ness; of computer-savvy; of know-what-the-hell-google-is-or-how-to-use-it-ness.

There are a lot of Q and A sites on the web. But Fluther has a) community b) a diverse knowledge base, and c) openness to all comers. The fact that one can ask nearly any question, almost regardless of how simplistic or stupid-seeming that questions is, and not get sniped at by elitist-seeming computer-knowing-types, is one of the most outstanding things about Fluther, and likely one of the main reasons that it’s membership continues to grow.

@andrew Re: Your example. Just another proof that the internet isn’t infallible! :-) JK