Just curious.
Certainly. When I was an IMHO mod, I did it once in a while, and it’s been done by others too. It may not be the most common move on the board, but it happens.
That LMGTFY gets annoying after you’ve seen it a few thousand times, so here’s a direct link: site:boards.straightdope.com "moved to general questions" - Google Search
Why not just post the link? Was there really a need for that? :rolleyes:
It has not been a rare occasion for someone to post a question with a factual answer in Great Debates. If the answer did not appear to be one that would automatically generate controversy, I have moved it to General Questions so that it would attract responses from posters more likely to answer the question than argue about it.
I don’t have any statistics on how often this has happened; a search on “general AND questions” in General Questions with username tomndebb turns up fifty hits, in some of which the phrase was used in a different context, but in several it was my post indicating that the thread had been moved.
A few recent examples:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12130658#post12130658
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12326716#post12326716
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12599927#post12599927
And of course, there have been cases where the OP just had multiple browser windows opened and clicked the wrong one, or the like. A thread called “Explain this celestial mechanics phenomenon” or the like in the Pit probably wasn’t ever meant to be there.
Here’s one from just a few days ago that got moved from MPSIMS to GQ.
I’ve moved some threads to GQ also. Usually it’s because the OP started his or her thread one forum too low by mistake.
I have a vague recollection of seeing the rarest of all thread moves once, from the Pit to GQ.
Lots of PC building/troubleshooting threads turn up in the Game Room and gets moved to GQ.
A link would be static. A dynamic inquiry thru Google might turn up more recent items that weren’t around when the static link was made. Yes, there was a need for that.
I think the question was, “Was there a need for a LMGTFY link versus a straight Google search link?”
It may be a little snarky, but when the search is that simple and obvious… :shrug: If you don’t like it, it can be easily avoided by not asking questions that are answered by a quick Google search. And if you want other people to do your Googling for you, I don’t think you get to complain about the medium for transmitting an accurate answer.
There are two sides to this coin. We have some guidelines on the subject in the General Questions Rules that would probably be useful to employ elsewhere on the board.
Bolding mine.
In this case, I suspect that the OP may have been interested in input from moderators on the circumstances of such moves, rather than a simple yes/no answer. I would say that Munch’s response here was both unnecessary and unhelpful.
**Munch ***did *post the answer, though. He just did it in a way that gives a gentle poke that says, “Hey, maybe you could do this search yourself next time.” And if the OP *were *“interested in input from moderators on the circumstances of such moves, rather than a simple yes/no answer,” I would think they’d have expanded more on that post. You know, rather than the two-word body they have to follow up the simple question that’s the title. 
Like I said, it was unnecessary and not particularly helpful. It would have been better not to have made that post. I think that posters should refrain from that here, just as we ask them to GQ.
Previous ATMB discussion of LMGTFY, including mod and admin assessments:
Is LMGTFY unacceptable snark? - About This Message Board - Straight Dope Message Board
No, you said “unnecessary and unhelpful”. My post provided the answer to the fucking OP - how is that unhelpful or unnecessary? If someone wants to spare their delicate sensibilities from suffering through a LMGTFY performance, I even included the exact language for the search for you to cut and paste into the search engine of your choosing. The snark itself is unhelpful and unnecessary for those with considerable bugs up up their asses, though - that I’m aware of. But providing both the answer and the exact search to perform on Google is a two-fold answer to a one-fold question. If you don’t like the manner or tone of the (correct and helpful) message, then I can’t help you.
You didn’t really “help” anybody. The purpose of ATMB is not to snark at other posters. It would be preferable if you would refrain from this kind of so-called “help” in ATMB in the future.
If providing answers isn’t “helpful” maybe you should just shut down General Questions. As for the rest of your post, if I’m breaking any rules, please point them out. Otherwise, your critique of my posting style is neither helpful nor necessary, and will receive all the consideration it deserves.