I don’t want to stomp on Opalcats chance to respond but I think she assumes someone here already knows the answer not that they are going off to google it for her.
I like google and I use it a lot to find quick answers but once in a while it is nice to be able to have the option to ask questions and get a detailed response and more interaction.
Exactly. I don’t expect that everyone will go Google it, I figure somebody probably has the answer or at least some information that would help me Google it more effectively or that through the discussion I will gain a better ability to pick through Google results, etc. Perhaps somebody knows a specific site about that topic. Perhaps somebody can say “well there is a lot of misinformation about that such as x and y” and then I know that results claiming x or y should be viewed skeptically, etc.
Derleth do not tell me what I assume.
Google is like having access to a library full of books.
The Straight Dope Message Board is like having access to researchers that have worked in the library for 20 years.
When you feel the question is wasting your time you should just skip it then.
Google lets you ask stupid questions.
The SDMB lets you know that your question/theory is stupid, and gives you all the practical, theoretical and philosophical reasons WHY.
And then the thread degenerates into puns and witticisms (if you’re lucky) or calls for you to burn in vats of boiling fat and/or be retroactively aborted (if you’re not so lucky).
Hey, what more can you ask for??? 
Then write with more precision so I don’t have to guess.
I know it is the pit, but it was a pretty savage reply to Opalcat. And in saying that I will also guess what Opalcat was saying- Google can give you some direct facts but the replies at SMDB finesse around the exact question you ask- there are experts on everything. (The one about Scrabble got me).
Are you fucking serious? This may be a foreign concept to you, but I’ve always felt that if I don’t feel like answering a question, I don’t have to answer it.
I can go eat a sammich or pet a kitty or take a nap or watch TV - or even go look at some other thread!
You should try it.
Google is a computer
The SDMB is people.
And there is a world of difference.
Its sort of fun browsing the boards for a while, getting to know what sort of person Quadgop is and then one day, when you have a medical query thinking to yourself “Google it, no, wait! Quadgop!”.
Better yet when such things present themselves to you in the “ask the…” threads.
I just got a bad flash of Charleton Heston running through the streets screaming “THE SDMB IS PEOPLE!!!”
Okay … you may go back to your regularly scheduled thread now.
Wait…there’s a column?
:rolleyes:Sorry, I just didn’t expect anyone on this board to reach such a stupid conclusion based on what I said. Nobody else did.
I’m now reminded why people on this board often feel they have to spend as much time writing qualifiers for everything in their post as they do on the post itself. It’s because there are people like you who will come in and attempt to read a post in the worst possible light and then think the worst of the person who wrote it and spew a bunch of hate. This is a lot of the reason why I don’t spend anywhere near as much time here as I used to.
Where else are you going to get in-depth “Planes on a treadmill” discussions?
This message board is also, like Seinfeld, “about nothing.” You can discuss any crazy mundane pointless in my humble opinion thing you want there. As long as it’s legal and doesn’t involve copyright violation.
Oh, and what’s Google?
Whoever met their wife on Google?
Dude.
And a few of the homeless people that are sleeping in the bathroom most of the time too. Represent!
There are many places on the Internet with in-depth discussions about this question. The SDMB, however, is the only place you’ll get not just one correct answer but twelve correct answers.
The great thing about it is… you’re all right! Ye gods, I love the Dope.
I just (as in thirty seconds ago) figured out how the damn plane could take off. :smack:
I agree completely with this.