# Great message board...but... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 1, 2008, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347 "2008-06-01T14:20:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![greg1701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@greg1701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greg1701)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/1 "2008-06-01T14:20:05Z")
I ask this with only the deepest respect for Uncle C and the gang… In the 70s and 80s this column feature was truly remarkable and always sought out by our family to read… But doesn’t Google and the like sort of take away some of the purpose here now? Has this been brought up? I know I used to search the archive here for answers to things, but now it’s just as easy to Google the answer… No, I don’t use Wiki… I’m just wondering if this had been brought up or not… I still read the website weekly and all, but some of the “specialness” for me has been worn away by the Do-It-Yourself nature of the almighty “Internets”… just thinking out loud… have a good weekend all Greg ---
**Author:** ![puppygod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppygod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppygod)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/2 "2008-06-01T14:25:26Z")
Google is about information. Straightdope is about quality information. If you don’t know what is the difference, you might try searching for, for example, “homeopathy” here and in google. You’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/3 "2008-06-01T14:30:59Z")
You wouldn’t think it by all the twisted panties yelling “Google is your friend” to newbies in GQ. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/4 "2008-06-01T14:43:20Z")
[QUOTE=Biggirl] yelling “Google is your friend” to newbies in GQ. [/QUOTE] That is _so_ 2002! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/5 "2008-06-01T14:45:32Z")
Google has its uses. SDMB does, too. While they may overlap, they are not exact replacements. How would this thread exist on Google? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/6 "2008-06-01T15:24:40Z")
Also, keep in mind that this MB allows interaction between those seeking information and those giving it. You don’t always understand, or even agree with, everything you read on the internet. And much of what we discuss in GD has no exact answer-- we are specifically trying to bounce ideas off each other and learn something. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/7 "2008-06-01T16:32:39Z")
Are you talking about this message board or the Straight Dope column itself? I have to admit there might not be as much need for the Straight Dope column in the internet age. If you have some burning question, you can either Google it, or, if that’s not satisfactory, ask here and someone will know. I’ve never seriously considered sending a question in to Cecil since I discovered this message board. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/8 "2008-06-01T17:25:45Z")
This board is years and years past being about the column. Or Cecil. Or the Straight Dope. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/9 "2008-06-01T17:58:41Z")
… see below :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/10 "2008-06-01T17:59:15Z")
SDMB is a good place for asking very specific questions. Google isn’t human, so it doesn’t understand complicated and specific questions. Edit: Trying to ask Google a complicated question is like trying to get information out of someone with whom you don’t share a common language… but tries to guess what you want and hand you incorrect things on a plate. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/11 "2008-06-01T18:40:26Z")
Question: What was the movie I caught a few minutes of a few years ago on TV where some guy said something to this other guy, and that guy then went and hid in a bank vault and the whole town got blown up? Response when presented to Google: “Results 1 - 10 of about 15,510,000” Response when presented to Cafe Society: “_The Blue Iguana_, 1988” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/12 "2008-06-01T19:27:41Z")
Google doesn’t give you any actual information, it just helps you find it. If there were no sites with actual information (of which this is one), Google would be useless. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveroptic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiveroptic/32/8257_2.png) [@Fiveroptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveroptic)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/13 "2008-06-01T23:14:08Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Also, keep in mind that this MB allows interaction between those seeking information and those giving it. You don’t always understand, or even agree with, everything you read on the internet. And much of what we discuss in GD has no exact answer-- we are specifically trying to bounce ideas off each other and learn something. [/QUOTE] And this is why I often get irritated with people who respond to GQ OPs with “this answer can be found with a basic Google search” without even answering the question. Granted, sometimes that’s a legitimate response (“Who was the 17th Vice President?” can be answered in one search click) but I don’t read GQ to collect facts. I read GQ because people like **Stranger on a Train** and **Loach** combine intelligence and personality in a way that entertains and amuses me. Yeah, I can Google nearly everything that’s asked in GQ. But Google won’t tell me jack shit about basketballs and the Empire State Building. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/14 "2008-06-01T23:27:33Z")
[QUOTE=greg1701] I’m just wondering if this had been brought up or not… I still read the website weekly and all, but some of the “specialness” for me has been worn away by the Do-It-Yourself nature of the almighty “Internets”… [/QUOTE] [Yes](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=404385&highlight=books) [QUOTE=greg1701] But doesn’t Google and the like sort of take away some of the purpose here now? Has this been brought up? I know I used to search the archive here for answers to things, but now it’s just as easy to Google the answer… [/QUOTE] As I said in that linked thread: I have never understood the “_Google it j@ckass_” response to anything but the most rudimentary of questions in GQ. Google will bring up 100K hits on any question – and it is totally appropriate and understandable to have trouble discriminating among many different answers from seemingly intelligent (or reasonable sources) e.g. I see nothing wrong with saying “_I see 10,000 Websites that say Truman Capote and Harper Lee were Cousins and 10,000 that say they were merely neighbors and childhood friends – what’s’ the Straight Dope?_” and you can insert anything in there. I would add some Dopers clearly have (or know how to use) access to information that goes well beyond Google. **Samclem** on first mention in print and \*\*Walloon \*\*on Social Security/Death/Genealogical questions come to mind - but really it is like having access to the books owned by 50,000 people. Alot, but no real near all, of that is available on-line. There are very few places in life that you can hold peoples feet to the fire on controversial questions – IMHO and GD, while interesting to analysis and making sense/meaning of things, actually tend to naturally deform the basic facts behind these questions. GQ done right to me is asking a controversial question and getting someone some basic answers before joining the fray that an analysis of the question (As opposed to an analysis of the sources in GQ) entails. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/15 "2008-06-01T23:36:02Z")
Google lets you find the ingredients. SDMB creates the meal. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/16 "2008-06-02T03:18:05Z")
[QUOTE=puppygod] Google is about information. Straightdope is about quality information. If you don’t know what is the difference, you might try searching for, for example, “homeopathy” here and in google. You’ll see. [/QUOTE] This is the hard truth of it. My field of expertise is very narrow. I don’t offer my knowledge unless I know it is either fact or an establish opinion of many professionals in my field. Others may attempt to dispute it but unless it is someone I know has more actual field experience than myself I will either bow to their knowledge or say nothing for fear of offending those who have learned something from a relative. If I want to say something to piss someone off I just say it. But be sure knowledge is somthing I don’t play about with. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/17 "2008-06-02T03:24:32Z")
[QUOTE=Biggirl] You wouldn’t think it by all the twisted panties yelling “Google is your friend” to newbies in GQ. [/QUOTE] Hate to fire off posts like I’m holding down a thompson but I might as well burn them all down while I’m here. Piss off, snapperheads! Dont offend those seeking the truth. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/18 "2008-06-02T06:08:44Z")
[QUOTE=greg1701] But doesn’t Google and the like sort of take away some of the purpose here now? … I know I used to search the archive here for answers to things, but now it’s just as easy to Google the answer… [/QUOTE] I don’t think the Straight Dope SDSAB-and Cecil-advised column archives have as much anecdotal and sometimes more hands-on professional answers that the board members can contribute. (Not to besmirch our lovely Advisory Board, they are manifold and well-rounded I’ve seen. But can they tell someone what it’s like to be a prison doctor better than Quadgop? Or know the history of a Tucker like the rote of our Tuckerfan? etc, etc.) Unless you mean you’re searching the SDMB archives, that’s a whole other kettle of fish. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/19 "2008-06-02T07:26:13Z")
I agree with the dislike of those who dismiss every question with “Google” as their answer. There are times when I’ll ask a fairly straightforward question on here (i.e. the type of question that could be answered by Googling) because wading through the Google results would take me an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347/20 "2008-06-02T08:18:15Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] I agree with the dislike of those who dismiss every question with “Google” as their answer. There are times when I’ll ask a fairly straightforward question on here (i.e. the type of question that could be answered by Googling) because wading through the Google results would take me an hour. [/QUOTE] And you think it takes someone else less time? That’s why people get annoyed: You’re assuming the time of others has no value, and you’re assuming the forum has no value beyond “Waste your time for me” requests. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-message-board-but/451347.md?page=2)