While the “Google is your friend” comments can be irritating, you can usually head them off by saying something like, "I tried googling this, and here’s what I found out, but I’d like to hear about your personal experiences / I couldn’t make heads or tails out of it / I wasn’t able to find anything about this aspect . . . " Or even, “I’ve read a couple books on this subject, but I’m still wondering . . .”
In general, when asking a question amongst strangers, it’s a really good idea to let people know what you already know.
I answer questions for an “Ask the Expert” site, and we ask people to give their level of expertise, and many don’t give any information. They often ask a very terse question, and you’re left wondering, is this an elementary school kid? A high school kid? A college student? Someone who already knows a little about the topic? Someone who’s just asking a random question out of left field? You don’t know if you need to use very simple vocabulary, which is necessary for younger kids but would come across as very condescending to an adult. You don’t know how much background you need to explain. And so on.
Here’s my two cents worth…with this disclaimer: after reading the postings of our professions, using the SDMB Exchange Rate my two cents may be only worth one cent
Sometimes IRL I will tell coworkers or my staff to look something up or google it if I think they are just being lazy, a lot like expecting me or someone else to be their walking Policy and Procedure manual or do their thinking for them. This helps no one. One of my best memories of my dad is that he would never tell me how to spell a word when I was a kid…he would just hand me the dictionary and help me only if I looked and could not find it for myself.
That being said, I don’t think it is much of a wild ass guess to think that most, if not all, of the people who post here know how to google and know how to do a more extensive search for information if needed. I know I do. But I come here because I want to know first hand information from people I feel like I have come to know and respect (or not), hear opinions I may or may not agree with and sometimes hear things I may not want to hear or accept…but always with a nice little dose of wit and sarcasm to help it go down.
Sharing a link you find is great. But we DO all know how to google. :rolleyes:
and I meant to add…where else would you have a nitpicker nitpicking the second nitpicker’s nitpick of the first nitpicker? I have NEVER noticed that in a google search!
If a poster has a question and doesn’t want the simple answer, then I think it behooves the poster to explain why a simple Google search would not answer the question.
I have seen many questions here that can be and are answered via a simple internet search. In that case, telling the poster that it’s possible to find the answer via a search engine could save the poster a lot of time in the future.
If someone telling you “try Google first” really irritates you, I would suggest first trying not to be so easily irritated, and secondly to avoid those posts I would suggest, as other posters have said, to phrase your question like “I did a search and found this site and this other site but I need more information such as …”.
e.g. A question “What is XML?” can be easily answered with the technical definition of XML, but if what one really wants to know is “how is XML used in the real world, and should I use it?” then one should phrase the question that way - e.g. “I searched for XML and all I found were official specifications and what-not. What I really want to know is how do you use it in the real world?”
