ChatterBank0 min ago
search engine usage!!!!!!
20 Answers
This is no more than an empassioned plea, from someone who has been treated with contempt and antibiotics, but still tries to raise a half smile. I beg of you good people please, when i or another ABer. posts a Q. do not immediately log onto Google and find the answer with accompanying web site, and paste it onto the AB. Well OK. do it if you want, but it is not in the spirit of the question, well not mine anyway, more so if you are the first one to answer. I personally put up questions not because i don't know the answer, but because it may be entertaining, intriguing and likely to start a debate etc. this i enjoy and hopefully others do the same. a few days ago i asked what a strange phrase meant, straight away someone Googled it, end of story.
Am i alone in feeling this way? Or are others angered by this lack of ettiquette?
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Providing answers is what this site is all about, so there can be no lack of etiquette involved if that is what someone here does. Perhaps you should introduce your questions (or non-questions) with a proviso to the desired effect. Whether the Editor allows them to remain is then up to him/her, but there is no way individual members would be aware of what you require in particular if you don't tell them.
I just assume that if someone posts a question here it is because they are stuck.
That's what I do, after I have Franklined, Googled, OneLooked, and wandered around muttering a lot.
(Occasionally words come to me at odd times - stopping dead in the middle of the market place and yelling "theodolite" gets you some really funny looks, I can tell you!)
I think it depends on the question to be honest.
Some questions posted here are very subjective and couldn't really be answered satisfactorily by Googling anyway. However, some do warrant a nudge towards the relevant website. For example, someone asked about "One Foot in the Grave" the other day - they wanted to know the names of the episodes where Victor did this, Margaret did that, etc. ..... there were, I seem to recall, 4 or 5 episodes being queried. I posted a link to a OFITG website which had an episode synopsis guide and I feel this approach would have been perfectly acceptable and indeed, more interesting to the questionner than me rattling off " ....well, the episode where Victor did this that and the other was called xyz ...... "
However, when I have resorted to Google to check what I think I already know, I do then take the time to explain the answer in plain English, only posting links if I think the websites may be of additional interest. Obviously, some people are better at Googling than others & we all have individual approaches ...... I've often seen questions beginning "I've looked everywhere to try and find xyz but .....", yet when I Google, using a bit of logical (or not so logical) thinking I find the answer !
I certainly don't mind answering subjective, and/or debatable questions, but it does bother me when people post stuff like "what is the capital of so and so" when it would be far quicker to conduct a bit of simple research themselves. Methinks a lot of "O level" (oops, not called that anymore are they ? GCSEs or whatever ...) students are at fault !!!!
Going back to the original question Mr Piper, maybe what you should have done in posing your question re: the phrase was to yourself phrase it slightly differently and instead of asking what it meant, ask other readers what it conveyed to them personally, thus kicking off the hoped-for debate ??!!
Well Mr Piper - you certainly got a debate this time!! Although perhaps a little one-sided against you. I admit I do paste a link for some answers. And at times I cannot resist adding "I found this by doing a simple google search". This is because some people really should search on google first. For example, if I ask "What is the speed limit on motorways in France", I
- Should have tried google first
- May not speak french so a simple answer in English would be handy
- Do not expect a debate on the merits or otherwise of setting the speed limit so.
- Moreover I do not want my inbox full of email alerting me to "answers" when what is really on offer is "2d worth from every tom, dick and harry"
I don't think it's lack of ettiquette. Especially when the ABE can remove questions and answers for being too chatty. A good debate in "news" for example, is great frun though. But for that you need to ask for peoples' subjective opinions, not objective answers.
Seems like people who know exactly what my argument is, are trying to make out that they think googling is an ok thing knowing full well that this section is not a "Who can type to google the fastest" section. There would be no point in having an answerbank if everything you wanted to know was available on google. I think that you should ask for someone to answer this: would someone type into google, the question "IS BLACK WHITE?" and then return with the answer please?
Thankyou
my point is that although you are correct in saying if you ask a question, it is because you need the answer, it is also because you can't find the answer. it doesn't take much imagination to assume that most people would have tried google etc. so why do it for them? do you think everyone else is thick?
And by the way, will you all stop paraphrasing me please? It is surely the lowest form of wit!
Now I'm feeling rather confused ........
Mr Piper, you originally said " I personally put up questions not because I don't know the answer, but because it may ......... start a debate etc." (my bold)
However, you then contradicted yourself in your second post by saying " My point is that although you are correct in saying that if you ask a question, it is because you need the answer, it is also because you can't find the answer ....." (my bold again)
I have already explained why, on some occasions, I personally post website links - obviously I can't speak for everyone else but I am confident in speculating that the majority of people who post to the AnswerBank boards do so because it is rewarding (in a small way) to help other people - even if their question seems trivial - and because it is also quite good fun !
As I pointed out, having access to Google (and other search engines) is one thing, but using it successfully is another. By posting a website which I feel will be of interest to someone else, I do not mean to imply I think they are thick, but hope I will have helped.
(part 2 !!!)
I've done a lot of web based research both personally, academically and professionally and time and again, have found that two people both using Google to look for the same thing can have wildly differing results. This is not necessarily a reflection on their respective intelligence but the outcome of different approaches.
I sincerely hope I've never been condescending in any of my replies ....... I may be being naiive here, but simply believe it's nice to share knowledge with others, and find the challenge of solving others' problems stimulating. I also enjoy picking up lots of useful and useless information from everyone else's replies.
Finally, bear in mind, that there are a minority of people who post (apparently) "obvious" questions ..... whether through laziness, devilment or sheer thickness I don't know. Whatever the reason, a very small number of such questions probably do merit a short sharp response. I have to say that I have rarely read any response which I'd consider to be rude here ..... by and large, most AB users seem to be pretty friendly, polite folk !
I hadn't realised it was a breach of etiquette to google and post a link to a site answering the question. If I have upset anyone, my apologies. Will it stop me? No.
It all depends on the question. If the question is straightforward, such as "What does phrase xxx mean?", then I think a link to the site of a professional etymologist is more use than multiple users' guesswork or recycling of linguistic myths. If the correct answer is the first and last, then so be it.
I have enjoyed many discussions on this site, but I have also appreciated some straight answers. And I have bookmarked for future reference many of the sites provided as links. I think if you want a discussion - which is fine by me - you need to phrase the question differently.
oh dear, i seem to have upset the holier than thou element, sad really. Still if my request is too much to bear then Google away. I just can't see why we have a section called quizzes and puzzles, as far as i knew it was, as is any puzzle book, for the enjoyment of doing the puzzle and not particularly finding the answer or we would just go to the back of the book and fill in the answers.I think most people that use this section don't use it as it was intended and just want to argue to cover up the fact.
-- answer removed --
ask and ye shall receive. Ask the wrong thing and ye shall receive the wrong answer. Word your question properly, is the answer.
Is that holy enough?
(I see this question has been moved here from Quizzes & Puzzles, wisely. In Q&P all anyone wants is the answers, so they can win the prizes. Most of the questions do not come from books that have backs.)
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