# Inability to search for simple stuff online **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 30, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383 "2022-05-30T20:41:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383/61 "2022-05-31T22:29:55Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > “You are my google-servant.” Pretty much the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383/62 "2022-05-31T22:32:36Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > On another related note, has anyone else noticed that when smartphones first became ubiquitous, it became popular to use them to settle those little bar-trivia arguments you used to get into when out with your friends, which previously could never really be settled… I was an early adopter of the smartphone. My GF’s (at the time) dad lived in the neighborhood and would often go to the same bar we did. Totally fine. We all got along and had fun. But, one day he snapped at me to “put that fucking phone away” because he was annoyed I fact checked him. I put the phone away, was not worth the fight. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383/63 "2022-05-31T22:34:55Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > But, one day he snapped at me to “put that fucking phone away” because he was annoyed I fact checked him. Sounds like a Tuesday on the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383/64 "2022-05-31T22:41:58Z")
When one of my boys was in Scouts I heard the Scoutmaster admonishing a few of the kids who weren’t listening while an activity was being explained. He said; “There are two types of people in this world. There are the first group of people, who make it their business to know what is going on, and there are the second group who have to ask the first group what to do. To be a scout you need to be in the first group.” He was a great scout leader. Right up until he got caught sexting one of the boys. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383/65 "2022-05-31T23:55:11Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > the internet grew up until the vast majority of content is somebody trying to sell something > [@naita](#): > > get a long list of results and half of them look like they were written by a high schooler copying paragraphs from different sources without editing away repetition and contradictions The usefulness of Google and other search engines has gotten much worse in the last few years. Yeah, it’s great for lots of fairly straightforward searches, but for so many searches I’ve done lately the first two pages are polluted with computer generated copies of the same one or two real pages. Those computer generated pages often are clearly wrong, incomplete, or missing crucial pictures or something. Sometimes then it becomes a quest to find the original article (or a good enough copy), so that I can get what I want. Other times, I know the computer generated pages aren’t the right information, so finding the original won’t help, but refining my search terms just changes the order I get the computer generated pages. I assume the pages are full of ads that I don’t see. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383/66 "2022-06-01T01:07:36Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > “There are two types of people in this world. There are the first group of people, who make it their business to know what is going on, and there are the second group who have to ask the first group what to do. To be a scout you need to be in the first group.” When I was a Scout leader, I got frustrated with the complete lack of attention span (understandable; remember, these are middle schoolers released into the wild). So I announced a new merit badge: the _ **Awareness of What’s Going On Around You** _ badge. I had plans to get a cool patch embroidered, but in three years of wilderness camping, no kid qualified. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383/67 "2022-06-01T01:14:51Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Googling something is no substitute for being able to think. And hokey religions and ancient weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383/68 "2022-06-01T02:10:21Z")
> God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best. Voltaire, cited by Richard Sharpe ---
**Author:** ![dummygladhands71](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@dummygladhands71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dummygladhands71)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383/69 "2022-06-01T02:41:10Z")
And a lot of the so-called questions on FB, are actually humble brags. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383/70 "2022-06-02T14:18:39Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I think you are missing something. > They aren’t interested in finding the materials themselves. They want a servant to do it. Oh, I get that. My point is, the joke’s on them; they’re creating a trivial amount of work for me, while wasting a considerable amount of their own time filling out my request form over and over again, that again, I intentionally designed to be tedious and unpleasant to complete 😈. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383/71 "2022-06-02T14:43:51Z")
Maybe add a requirement for full fingerprints and/or a criminal records check from the local police department… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383/72 "2022-06-02T18:24:45Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I intentionally designed to be tedious and unpleasant to complete 😈. I used to _love_ creating forms like that. Especially for complaint forms or one we called the “request a refund for the hell of it”. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383/73 "2022-06-02T18:32:24Z")
Did you work [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS42yIDQX6s)? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inability-to-search-for-simple-stuff-online/965383.md?page=3)