fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2330 ]

[ SECRET POST #2330 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2330 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

__________________________________________________

02.

__________________________________________________

03.

__________________________________________________

04.

__________________________________________________

05.

__________________________________________________

06.

__________________________________________________

07.

__________________________________________________

08.

__________________________________________________

09.

__________________________________________________

10.

__________________________________________________

11.

__________________________________________________

12.

__________________________________________________

13.

__________________________________________________

14.

__________________________________________________

15.

__________________________________________________

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 068 secrets from Secret Submission Post #333.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

whenever someone inevitably replies to "what is xyz, I see it all the time and don't understand it, can someone explain?" with "Learn how to Google!"

I mean, yes, I see where they're coming from - it is annoying to clog up forum space with inane questions - but on the other hand, whenever I ask a question like that, I usually also want to discuss it with people. If I'm asking you for an explanation, I don't want what Wikipedia or Urban Dictionary can tell me, I want to know what the group's opinions are - I'm not just asking for a three-word sentence, I'd like to know some of the context behind it.

What are your thoughts on this? Does no one else do this? Are the "learn how to Google" people making a good point or are they just assholes?

I link people to google when it's something really obvious and when they just say "What is this?" It doesn't occur to me that they want discussion/opinions unless they say "What do you think of this? Let's have a discussion!"

I find that pretty annoying too.

Along the same lines, if you reply with a link with no text or anything. I don't know why, it just bugs me. Couldn't you just copy/paste or idk not reply?

What's the point of having a fandom-related comm if no one actually wants to discuss and explain anything that they know? "Learn how to google" just kills a bunch of really cool discussions and opportunities for waxing lyrical about and reccing shows and stuff we like.

Also, information gotten through google isn't quite the same as information from fandom acquaintances.

For me it depends, if it is something that is a fact (states in the US, France's Capital, currency in Italy) then I don't get why you just don't google it.

If it is along the lines of: why does America have 50 states? When and why did Paris become France's capital, and why is the Euro Italy's currency, when it used to be the Lire? Even if you can google all of this and get answers, sometimes it is good to have someone actually explain it to you, and you can ask questions to better understand why, and I will try to answer if I know what they are asking.

I agree with this and am giving skeptical internet looks at everyone else in this thread who thinks it's always mean and wrong and unnecessary. Have they seen the kinds of questions that get asked in certain places? If something is asking for a fact and it's easily able to be googled, like "what does OTP stand for?" you're basically expecting someone else to google for you and wasting everyone's time.

If it's a more complex question that asks for more than a definition or a fact, that's one thing. If they're expecting other people to be Google for them because they're lazy assholes, that's another.

A lot of times when I end up asking a question and people tell me to learn how to google, I usually already have googled and couldn't get an answer I found satisfying.

Most of the time I think it's just the lazy persons come back and ten to ignore anyone who says it or mark them down as assholes.

It depends, I've been know to "let me google this for you" (which is the passive aggressive version of "learn how to google"). If you are asking the meaning of "PWP" or what rule 34 is, google is probably better because you'll find more information like history. People typically answer the question posed. If you asking, for example, a question with a personal element like "What's OTP mean exactly and how do you define," then you'll probably get more discussion.

Yeah, basic definitions are kind of the exception to the whole "let's discuss stuff!" idea. Though if whoever introduced you to the phrase "rule 34" is at all a decent person, they won't just let you Google it without any context....

(reply from suspended user)

Sorry for the infodump?

(reply from suspended user)

Re: I find it kind of annoying

(Anonymous) - 2013-05-21 00:51 (UTC) - Expand

Actually your post is how come I actually had the wherewithal to remember my own post today. I couldn't get to the post yesterday so I ended up checking about an hour ago, thought of this, and wrote it down.

/cool story bro

yeah and truthfully clickables are a hella confusing thing to anyone who doesn't play, and even if you google you may still not have a clue.

Some need to be actually clicked some you don't have to do anything but see the clickables thread and it registers as a view.

SO yeah just google it for that made no sense.

i hate it too

like everyone else above said, people asking have likely already googled and found it insufficient, and it also kills conversations and opinions and all that

http://bash.org/?6460

Yeah, sometimes I don't want textbook definitions - usually I want to see what people think of xyz, what's so good and bad about it etc. especially if it's something that's not purely factual.

I think the issue is that most people just ask "What x means!?" and it gets annoying since they could get the answer in some seconds if they just "Learn how to Google".

If they mentioned they already searched and still don't understand or, like you say, they just want to know some opinions/context, it'll be different.

This.

Mostly just assholes.

It depends. If someone uses an abbreviation in a comment and the person the comment was aimed at asks what it means, it doesn't bother me because nobody would mind if someone they are talking to in real life asks what a word means. Googling might still result in a quicker answer.

Other than that, I do tend to get annoyed if people don't simply google things. I have friends that insist on asking me to explain every little thing, even though they are often sitting right in front of the Internet! Or they try to make me google things for them because they are just so damn lazy. And that's just really annoying.

If people are aiming for something more than a quick definition (or they couldn't find the answer by googling), they should try to make that clear in the question.

I find "google it" to be more obnoxious than inane questions.

Heh, a couple times I've just made a STATEMENT that I don't know about XYZ, and thus have no idea why someone is going on about such-and-such, and have had people reply with the Googling stuff. Which I would already have done if I wanted to know about XYZ, but what I actually was doing was stating that I have no interest or inclination of spending time on XYZ enough to understand whatever they were assuming everyone already knew about. I was doing precisely the opposite of asking for an explanation.

It only really bothers me when the community is discussing an advanced topic with the assumption of everyone involved having certain background knowledge, and a newbie wanders in with questions that are literally answered in the FAQ or recommended sources.

"Learn how to Google" is a perfectly appropriate response if a question is "What is ________?" because that's not a discussion question. It's the difference between asking, "Hey, what do you guys think about the women's roles on BBC Sherlock, especially Irene Adler?" and asking, "Hey, who's that actress who plays Irene Adler on BBC Sherlock?"

If something is straightforward and easily searchable, then just Google it, ffs. That way you don't waste peoples' time AND you get your answer a lot faster. Everybody wins!

Re: I find it kind of annoying

(Anonymous) - 2013-05-21 09:35 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only