this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2024
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It is clear that the signal to noise ratio of the WWW is getting worse. It's much harder to find good content when using a good old search engine. And if it's good it is usually hosted on Reddit or Stackexchange.

So remember, even if it's easy too Google something (well, it isn't nowadays), we want to create a fediverse of good content that helps people (I hope). So, it's always better to write a real answer if you have the time and energy. Please help boost the SNR and reverse the AI fueled information degradation loop.

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[–] hono4kami@slrpnk.net 225 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (17 children)

As a software engineer...

Don't just say "just Google it". Guide them to the documentation. Ask them about the detail of the question. If it's an bug, try asking them if they can reproduce the bug.


This reminded me of the time I'm looking for how to do certain things in a software. I found a reddit post asking about the same issue and this is the reply OP got:

screenshot of a reddit thread where OP got a rude reply to search it themselves

Here is the link: https://old.reddit.com/r/i3wm/comments/mupjsf/how_to_showhide_i3status_bar_taskbar/

Imagine. You search the issue you have. Found the ONLY reddit thread that talks about this, and the ONLY thread that talks about the issue have NO USEFUL ANSWER and, worse, the only reply is TELLING YOU TO SEARCH IT YOURSELF. This got upvoted too 😭😭😭.

Luckily, I found the solution (tbh the solution was there in the docs, but the wording wasn't clear and it makes it hard to search) and I end up replying the OP the actual answer.

So, this is a PSA for the fediverse: be nice. It's free.

While we're still young, we have a chance to become a better forum.

Also possibly an unpopular opinion: you shouldn't downvote a question, even if it was asked multiple times. Guide them to the answer instead

[–] TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 45 points 2 weeks ago

Wow that is infuriating.

[–] otacon239@lemmy.world 40 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] CrayonRosary@lemmy.world 33 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Even worse is when they edit their post to add "Never mind, figured it out."

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

These people should be unable to reproduce. Just as soon as they edit the post, a shriek of agony can be heard for miles.

I ran across an example of this recently, on fucking Github. Bitch it's your goddamn issue ticket, on a fucking dev site, and you returned to say you figured it out but can't be fucked to explain how? GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

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[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 14 points 2 weeks ago

Also Google results differ since like a decade. It may show for you in California, but its nowhere to be found for me in Iran

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[–] jg1i@lemmy.world 124 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Not sure if everyone knows this, but: if you don't want to answer the question—you don't have to post a reply! Crazy idea, I know.

[–] affiliate@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

what if i want to answer the question but i have none of the relevant knowledge and also don’t really understand the question itself?

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[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 92 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

So many times I google something obscure, the top result is the same question asked on some forum with a single reply, "just google it"

[–] pezhore@infosec.pub 57 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

The only thing worse than someone saying just Google it is an op replying to their own post saying, never mind fixed it! (Without actually saying the solution).

[–] ech@lemm.ee 32 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

"What did you see, DenverCoder9?!?!"

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[–] Snowpix@lemmy.ca 18 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

and worse, it's a thread from 17 years ago and apparently nobody else except you has had the issue since.

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[–] IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 69 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

"Google It"

I google

finds 1 link

its a link to a fourm post with the same question

only 1 answer found

answer says "Google It"

🙃

[–] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 33 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

Old Reddit threads where the answer giver deleted their account & all their comments.

[–] hono4kami@slrpnk.net 38 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

That's why when I left reddit I don't delete my posts (even if those posts suck)

Bonus:

a screenshot of deleted reddit comment with a reply thanking the parent commenter

[–] ubergeek@lemmy.today 20 points 2 weeks ago (12 children)

I did, bc reddit locked up my content, and wanted to use it to train a LLM.

Let people ask again, here, in the fediverse.

[–] hono4kami@slrpnk.net 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

(already had a feeling that someone will say this)

I won't delete my posts/comments because I want to be helpful, that's it.

But if I prefer deleting my posts/comments, I will archive it instead.

I respect what r/ArtFundamentals did, and it should be an example: After reddit's APIpocalypse, they don't support reddit and decided to close the subreddit. But the advices from the subreddit wasn't gone--in fact they actually archive it in their own website:

https://drawabox.com/r/artfundamentals/

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[–] Ookami38@sh.itjust.works 64 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

"just Google it" has always been a shitty reply. People are asking for your opinion because they want opinions from people, not some nameless site/author/whatever. Even if you're just regurgitating information, it's coming from a PERSON not a random article. Never mind the reliability of the source. Heavens forbid that we social creatures social about a thing for a bit.

[–] sad_detective_man@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

"I'm not responsible for educating you"

cool, then stfu and let somebody else or nut up and do the work if you want it done right

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[–] rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 53 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

The amount of times I've googled a problem, and the first result is a forum post of someone just being told to google it then locking the thread is way too high.

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[–] brygphilomena@lemmy.world 42 points 2 weeks ago (10 children)

I'm starting to give up on Google. I've literally copy and pasted the same error message in Google, DuckDuckGo, and Kagl.

Google will respond with "no results found" while the others will actually give me a response.

[–] 2001aCentenaryofFederation@fedia.io 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

okay so it's not just me then! I've been seeing that zero matches page more and more. It used to be the other way around, if I couldnt find something on DDG or startpage it would be on google. how did they fuck up their indexing so badly

[–] Rogue@feddit.uk 21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I think zero matches means "we weren't able to find any suitable ads so we don't give a fuck about you"

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[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 13 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, I ditched Google as my default search engine a while ago. It's next to useless and they're a horrible company.

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[–] CubitOom@infosec.pub 38 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Also, fuck Google. I've been removing the word from my lexicon. I say, let me search (or research) that instead

[–] Chee_Koala@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

IRL i'll say 'online search' or 'internet search' now, and no one ever asks me about that or tries to clarify with 'google?', so the message seems to be coming across just fine.

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[–] Clent@lemmy.world 35 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)
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[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 32 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (13 children)

“Check the documentation” should absolutely be a retort though.

One of my least favorite things about the fediverse (and especially Discord and Reddit) is members asking the same simple question hundreds of times because they didn’t bother to do a simple search and didn’t bother to check obvious documentation.

They didn’t know the documentation exists? OK, I will happily show you, and show you how to find it in general. Question only partially novel? Great, I will link an old answer and explain the rest… But I am kinda fed up with how “ephemeral” social media is, which is by design, as that repetitiveness increases engagement dramatically. Many forums should be structured more like a wiki, and its users should reflect that.

[–] sith@lemmy.zip 25 points 2 weeks ago (11 children)

That kind of behavior can also be a sign that the documentation is hard to find or hard to comprehend. Or that something isn't documented at all, but the seniors imagine it is, because the answer is obvious to them.

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[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Maybe they read the documentation and the documentation doesn't clearly answer their question.

You can always just ignore their question if you don't want to answer. Let someone else do it.

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

Rtfm and LMGTFY by themselves aren't useful. They're the equivalent of posting "me too".

If you think that the answer is in the manual and they haven't read it, post a link to the manual. Double helpful if you reference the section.

If you think the answer is on Google, I think we can assume everyone knows to try that first, so then no reply is needed. If it's a particularly tricky search to phrase, maybe help with a link with a searchable phrase in it.

But not replying is always a useful thing to do if you're not adding to the conversation.

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[–] Zementid@feddit.nl 26 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I feel like it’s 2000 all over again on the Internet. The bloat has made pages borderline unusable, and using AdBlock or NoScript reverts any so-called "design progress" back to the good old HTML days.

Google is only semi-useful now, while pages like DuckDuckGo are starting to deliver results reminiscent of the old Yahoo or Lycos days.

It feels like my trusty, old-school Internet skills are helping me navigate this mess. The reemergence of usenet / groups feels inevitable.

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[–] MITM0@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

Noooooo don't Just Google it try, Use a Search Engine or just WebSearch it

Dont't make Google an integral part of internet culture

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[–] Mikina@programming.dev 21 points 2 weeks ago (12 children)

I've never had issues with looking anything up. By downranking Reddit and using a search engine with a good indexer that downranks bullshit and generated websites, which mine is really good at, I haven't noticed much change from how it was before.

But I agree with the second part. That's something that never occured to me, and it makes sense. I was usually trying to answer questions I knew, and never had the urge to reply "just google it", so it doesn't change much for me, but it's a really good point I never realized.

[–] sith@lemmy.zip 37 points 2 weeks ago

Remember that most people don't even know there is something called "rankings" or "indexer" in this context.

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[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Search engines are mega sucky these days, but Wikipedia has never been better. I find myself going straight to wiki any time I need a quick fact or basic info.

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[–] Draegur@lemm.ee 19 points 2 weeks ago

When I ask someone for clarification via their expertise, I usually reflexively indicate that I cannot trust google because of the incursion of AI slop, and even if it shows THEM accurate results, it is no guarantee that it will show ME those same results.

[–] Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The most useful thing about interacting with another human mind is that it can see when the question needs to be updated in order to get a correct answer.

A crude example would be:

Q1: how many screws should I use to join these pieces of wood?

A1: It's more relevant to use screws which are long enough.

Q2: Which screws should I use?

A2: This size.

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[–] richieadler@lemmy.myserv.one 16 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

If you don't show me that you at least made some effort to investigate: No.

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[–] Philosofuel 15 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

I've noticed that a lot of people are just really bad in using the right searching terms, and then quickly shifting through all the info to find the right information. Googling well truly is a skill. Though be it a strange one.

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[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 weeks ago

Yes please don't do this. Google doesn't need more support either from search activity or inclusion into the vernacular. If someone is asking in the fediverse which is still a relatively small community, they are expressing a degree of patience with their answer that suggests they've already tried search and came up dissapointed or they are really lacidasical about their question and won't really mind if you just ignore it and move on. Taking the time to tell someone to websearch something is even more pathetic than a "this" reply.

[–] RQG@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago

While I don't think we can beat AI driven content degradation by outposting them, I still agree posting 'just Google it' does any good either.

Post an answer or link a topic which covered the same question in detail. But directing people to Google isn't something I'd advocate. Maybe tell them to Ecosiate it if you really have to.

Also it's just rude and creates an uninviting admosphere around here Imo.

But the AI issue can't be solved by users alone. It's moderation and maybe regulation which is needed here.

[–] ted@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Even if you want to be snarky, at least do something like:

I [googled it](searchresult.com) for you.

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 weeks ago

Alternatively

I googled it for you

> Copy pasted answer in case the source disappears

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[–] TheGiantKorean@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

"Just ChatGPT it" is going to become a thing.

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