# Is GQ still needed? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 17, 2007, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297 "2007-01-17T04:09:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/21 "2007-01-17T16:36:28Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] I’ve several times asked GQ’s that I couldn’t answer by Googling. Nice people on GQ helped me find the answers. Try and find the answer to these questions by searching google … - People who can’t see are blind, people who cant hear are deaf, what are people with no sense of smell called? … - Was there ever a real Sloop John B.? … - any number divided by itself is 1, any number divided by zero is undefined, zero divided by any number is zero, what is zero/zero … Betcha can’t find the answer to those, just by using google. GQ is the best place I ever found for when I have a question like this. [/QUOTE] You’d lose your bet rather quickly for the three that I left in your quote above. I googled “no smell”, “sloop john b” and “zero” and got the answers quite quickly. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/22 "2007-01-17T16:44:23Z")
[QUOTE=TubaDiva] I wasn’t being testy, far from it. Wasn’t in my attitude, wasn’t even in my mind. Was certainly not my intention. And I advocated treating people – even the clueless – with kindness. What’s testy in that? [/QUOTE] Um, Tuba, dear, you’ve been in the music rumpus room too long again. I wasn’t calling _your_ response testy. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/23 "2007-01-17T17:05:36Z")
I wasn’t being testy either. What particular phrase did I use that gave you that idea? While I don’t expect you to do a frequency analysis I have a feeling that you have nostalgia tinged memories, even if I only joined in 2000. Though, maybe you’re right and everything was better on AOL. ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/24 "2007-01-17T17:15:18Z")
GQ was how I found the SDMB (asking about twist-off versus pop-off beer caps, in fact). I think it remains the most “valuable” part of the board and I say “pshaw” to the OP. Pshaw, I say. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/25 "2007-01-17T17:25:35Z")
I think the OP is right that telling someone to go google is pointless and rude. Do they think people are unaware of google? How odd. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/26 "2007-01-17T17:31:33Z")
Or… there was in actual fact a tribal culture (name reminiscent of Sangria, IIRC) that ensured a stable two-parent marriage for every child by insisting that its adolescents **not** desire but not engage in heterosexual sex, but instead join in fully-accepted casual same-sex oral sex for relief pending reaching marriage age. Try Googling for the answer to that culture and its taboos and attitudes without getting into a God-awful mess about pedophilia, etc. But I could ask that question in GQ and get an intelligent answer, with some background on their attitudes on homosexuality, etc. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/27 "2007-01-17T17:59:38Z")
[QUOTE=According to Pliny] Do they think people are unaware of google? How odd. [/QUOTE] Hard to believe, but many people are indeed unaware of google, or at least how useful it is, or even the concept of a search engine or how to use it. In the circles I often frequent (mostly old farts), it would not be surprising, if I tell someone to “google it”, for them to whip out a pencil and paper and say, “how do you spell that?” And they have their address line hidden in their browser, so telling them to type in [google.com](http://google.com) gets nowhere. They’ve never typed in any URL (what’s a URL?). ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/28 "2007-01-17T18:21:28Z")
[QUOTE=Birdmonster] GQ was how I found the SDMB (asking about twist-off versus pop-off beer caps, in fact). I think it remains the most “valuable” part of the board and I say “pshaw” to the OP. [/QUOTE] Me too. GQ is the only part of the SDMB that I visit. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/29 "2007-01-17T18:42:01Z")
[QUOTE=anson2995] Me too. GQ is the only part of the SDMB that I visit. [/QUOTE] Er… except for ATMB, of course. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/30 "2007-01-17T19:26:16Z")
Of course responses of “Google it” or “According to Wikipedia…” are a lot more common now than they were back on the AOL board. There were no questions at all on the AOL board that could be answered just by Googling or Wiki-ing, for the simple reason that Google and Wikipedia didn’t _exist_ back then. Am I missing something obvious? ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/31 "2007-01-17T20:30:26Z")
I was banned from Google for seeking too many answers. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/32 "2007-01-17T21:18:31Z")
I sometimes think GQ’s underused. There are threads every now and then that get posted to MPSIMS or CS that would actually better serve the OP in GQ. I don’t know if the OPs are intimidated by GQ or just don’t know any better. > [@](#): > > I’m also curious about tolerance for questions about sociological and anthropological subjects that may incite the “offenderati” - those regarding race, class, ethnicity, subcultures, body type/obesity, and so on. Having grown up in and lived in changing, ethnically diverse communities, I am sincerely interested in such subjects, but I’m afraid to ask about them now, for fear that I’ll look like a bigot or troll for being too curious. Such subjects were not off-limits in the Straight Dope books. How does one approach such sensitive subjects in GQ? Should they be as off-limits as asking about the third word that ends in “-gry”? IMO, the discomfort that comes with asking sensitive questions is part of learning. If everyone adopted the position of not asking things we weren’t comfortable asking, then 1) no one would ever learn about those things, and 2) the subject would always remain uncomfortable. There are tactful ways of asking delicate questions. I remember a GQ thread about how severely obese people maintain their personal hygiene. It was an interesting thread. The question was phrased in a way that didn’t mock obese people, and the answers were straightforward. On a less mature board, or if the OP was phrased differently, it could have been an incredible shitstorm. But it wasn’t. Ask your question. If the offenderati stop by and piss all over you and your thread, then that behavior reflects more poorly on them that your question does on you. Besides, I trust we have an anti-offenderati squad here anyway that would be quick to slap them down. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/33 "2007-01-17T22:28:25Z")
😛🙂 [QUOTE=Chronos] Of course responses of “Google it” or “According to Wikipedia…” are a lot more common now than they were back on the AOL board. There were no questions at all on the AOL board that could be answered just by Googling or Wiki-ing, for the simple reason that Google and Wikipedia didn’t _exist_ back then. Am I missing something obvious? [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![scottkris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@scottkris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scottkris)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/34 "2007-01-17T23:17:12Z")
[QUOTE=zut] Agreed, with the added comment that sometimes Wikipedia articles and easily-Googled information is just plain _wrong_–I’ve occasionally seen this on subjects in my area of expertise. The Web in general and Wiki in particular is a fine place to look for information, but you need to approach it with a bit of caution. [/QUOTE] However, one could also argue that the answers you get when you ask a question on a message board are also going to be plain wrong at times as well. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/35 "2007-01-17T23:28:16Z")
[QUOTE=scottkris] However, one could also argue that the answers you get when you ask a question on a message board are also going to be plain wrong at times as well. [/QUOTE] On a board like this? A wrong answer will bring a dozen other members out to point out why the response is wrong. That usually results in a right, if modified, answer. ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/36 "2007-01-17T23:53:46Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] In recent months, I’m seeing a rise in “Why post your stupid question here, when you can find an answer with thirty seconds of a good Google search?” responses to General Questions threads. With Google and Wikipedia close at hand, is there still a reason for the General Questions subforum to exist? Are “Just do a Google search durrr” or “Why didn’t you do a Google search durrrr” responses considered good SDMB etiquette? [/QUOTE] I think the best reply to “Why didn’t you Google it?” is [“TSOPDA”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=318691) (especially point (3)) ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/37 "2007-01-18T01:18:10Z")
If we only keep one forum, I’d want it to be GQ. It’s the only must-read forum for me. Yeah, sometimes the questions are mundane and uninteresting, but the answers are often more than expected and the discussions spirited. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/38 "2007-01-18T01:55:59Z")
As others have said, there are a lot of great questions in GQ that I might not have thought to ask. Fun questions. I don’t know why people have to post the _Google is Your Friend_ thing. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/39 "2007-01-18T01:59:55Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] Hard to believe, but many people are indeed unaware of google, or at least how useful it is, . . . [/QUOTE] More to the point, the ability to look something up on Google is not intuitively obvious. Oh, it is to those of us who have been doing searches on web engines for years and years or using actual printed books before that, but even those are skills. A person who types an entry to Google and gets eight pages of useless reponses can come here, ask something with a bit of an explanation about what they’re seeking, (or respond to some pointed questions from us as we figure out what they are seeking), and get an answer. There are times that it takes me four or five queries to pry something out of Google’s clutches and I used to dig out books from the _Subject Guide_ of Books in Print after the rest of the staff had assured a customer that the book they sought did not exist, so I am pretty sure that I am not lacking in search skills. Tell the typical human who has not been using search engines to “just look it up on Google” when “it” is a complex topic (or, worse, the less well known of two topics with similar descriptions), and they are going to be lost. And smart-assed replies are part of our charm [_::: dimpling :::_]. I think they should be shot down only if they overwhelm a thread so that legitimate replies are buried. [QUOTE=TubaDiva] That would be like coming to the end of the internet and that’s not happening any time soon either. [/QUOTE] [Sooner than you think!](http://www.shibumi.org/eoti.htm) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297/40 "2007-01-18T04:09:09Z")
GQ is why the SDMD exists, it’s the best part. “Google it”? Sure, a few questions are that simple. But I have spent almost an hour on Google \*Scholar \*doing research for my answer to a GQ question. And I am fairly good at reading scientific papers and distilling the needed facts out of them, and a complete layperson could spend ten times as much times and get less. So, _no_ GQ is hardly obsolete. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-gq-still-needed/388297.md?page=3)