# Just @#!\*-ing Google It! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 17, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205 "2004-08-17T04:44:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/21 "2004-08-18T06:57:36Z")
> [@fighting ignorant](#): > > Well no, it’s just that this board is for fighting ignorants since 1973. I was born in 1973, so I guess that means I belong here. Not unless you can direct people to knowledge that helps them and others with the same problem. FYI alerting people to certain usages of google _is fighting ignorance_. You certainly do not belong here if your only resource is Google, unless you have a specific expertise, Fuck Off! Prove your worth, before you claim that we have none. “Fighting Ignorant” might be construed as an agressive retarded person, but to call you that would be an offense to retarded people. Wait a second, I forgot that you have some divine wisdom to impart to us, what was it? Feel free to google a good lie in order to save face. Jackass. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/22 "2004-08-18T12:31:53Z")
> [@JohnBckWLD](#): > > [Self-Righteous Asshole] > We surely wouldn’t want to impede these highly ‘thought provoking’ queries from being pondered: > [/Self-Righteous Asshole] > > How many packets of duck sauce are wasted each year? > What exactly were the “Dark Ages” > What are 401(k) plans? > Any Oriental boxers? > How long could a human being survive on beer? > Why does this watch cost $52,800??? > If we all exercised daily, ate perfectly, and didn’t smoke would we die of nothing? > Do breadboxes work? > How do I aim a shotgun? > What do prostitutes do during their period? > What’s a Continental Divide? > Are Germans, Swedes, and the Dutch noticeably different from each other looks-wise? > Does anyone still make overalls for adults? > Eating boogers – cannibalism? > What do dreams mean? > Why do Germans sometimes pronounce “V” as “W”? I just want to toss out there that these are the exact sort of questions that made Cecil’s success possible. Plus, I hate the ‘google is your friend’ elves. Part of the joy of GQ is the discussion of the answers. ---
**Author:** ![fighting\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ac8455/32.png) [@fighting\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fighting_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/23 "2004-08-18T13:07:37Z")
For the record, I just thought it was a funny URL. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/24 "2004-08-18T14:14:52Z")
> [@fighting ignorant](#): > > For the record, I just thought it was a funny URL. I thought so too, but Sweet Jesus, there sure are a lot of people who like to pontificate on which questions are worthy of GQ, and which are not! ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/25 "2004-08-18T14:20:24Z")
I really don’t get this. This board is partly for answering questions. Why is it so much higher or better to use a search engine than to ask here? If you’re so annoyed by questions, what are you doing in GQ to start with? If you don’t want to answer, just _don’t_. Where is the big problem here? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/26 "2004-08-18T14:43:50Z")
> [@fighting ignorant](#): > > Well no, it’s just that this board is for fighting ignorants since 1973. I was born in 1973, so I guess that means I belong here. > [@dnooman](#): > > Not unless you can direct people to knowledge that helps them and others with the same problem. FYI alerting people to certain usages of google _is fighting ignorance_. I think you just got whooshed. I _hope_ you just got whooshed. ---
**Author:** ![fighting\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ac8455/32.png) [@fighting\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fighting_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/27 "2004-08-19T05:08:17Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I think you just got whooshed. I _hope_ you just got whooshed. roger that ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/28 "2004-08-19T05:38:25Z")
> [@Jurph](#): > > So next time you tell someone to “Just fucking Google it,” be aware that maybe they’re not as practiced with the tool as you are, and that using Google – as amazingly intuitive as it may be for you – might actually be something of a frustrating effort for them. Show a little compassion. And wow 'em with your badass Googlery. Man that’s me. Google doesn’t usually kick my ass, but when I use databases like Ebsco and Proquest, it takes FOREVER. I once needed to find a lit crit on **Dracula** , went to the proper date base and spent about an hour before i even found one. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/29 "2004-08-19T20:37:43Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Are you one of those self-righteous assholes who’s been hanging around in GQ lately, the ones who contribute nothing to a thread beyond a snide “google is your friend”? If so, just stay out of the fucking thread in the first place. The world already has enough jerks without your contribution. AMEN to that, **Squink**! God, that drives me up the wall! ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/30 "2004-08-19T21:04:40Z")
There is one good reason for asking a GQ question that could be Googled – and that is when one wants to get the Straight Dope (in the original sense) on the subject. I can think of a wide variety of topics on which the truth is out there on the Internet – and so are the theorizings and ravings of a wide variety of folks whose lunacy is not so far advanced as to keep them from using MS Front Page to spread their bizarreries to whoever unwarily clicks on their site. If for example I have a question on ethnolinguistics, there are several folks here that I know I can rely on the answers to: **Jomo Mojo** and **Wendell Wagner** come quickly to mind, and there are several experts on regions. **Eva Luna** for some strange reason seems to have a handle on the complex of cultures that is the Caucasus – if I need to know something about Ossetians or Circassians, she’s reliable. How far to trust the language superphyla theory is something I’m not going to find a good answer to outside the expertise of people whose insights I’ve come to trust. Substitute in the intricacies of economics, the mysteries of Christian doctrine, what the _heck_ Kant was talking about in his metaphysics, etc. – someone in GQ has a handle on it, and can explain it, usually being able to give competing theories and how to judge between them. Google (and its siblings) are wonderful tools for retrieving knowledge – but not for **evaluating** it. And that’s where GQ (and sometimes other forums) come in wonderfully handy. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/31 "2004-08-19T21:33:15Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > As much as I hate easily-googled questions, I wish people would still give proper answers or links to useful sites. Because people who _do_ use Google to find the same information will find that thread. I really hate it when I use Google and all the hits are message board threads with the exact question I had, followed by a bunch of posts saying “just google it!.” That might be a concern on other message boards, but not here. The SDMB is excluded from Google searches by a robots.txt file. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/32 "2004-08-20T13:49:35Z")
> [@fighting ignorant](#): > > roger that I thought you were a fighter, not a rogerer ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/33 "2004-08-21T14:11:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Think of Google as a tool like a handsaw or a phone book. With practice, you can use one easily; without practice, you’re liable to injure yourself. I’m sure it is possible but how do you injury yourself with a phone book? And how will practice help prevent those phone book related injuries? Just asking cause I got a big phone book ominously sitting on the shelf and I want to find out if I should be worried. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/34 "2004-08-21T17:23:39Z")
Well, you could start by trying to look up Party Planning Services and end up connected to the Donner Party. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/35 "2004-08-21T18:37:01Z")
> [@Number](#): > > The SDMB is excluded from Google searches by a robots.txt file. I don’t understand this. Could you expand on it a little? ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/36 "2004-08-21T18:48:27Z")
Google uses automated programs to browse websites and index their content. There is a [standard method](http://www.google.com/webmasters/3.html#B3) for webmasters to exclude part or all of their sites from these searches. For whatever reason, the SDMB admins have chosen to use this to make threads here unavailable to Google and other standards-compliant search engines. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/37 "2004-08-22T00:33:56Z")
I ask a lot of stupid questions because I have been banned from GOOGLE. I am told that many of my words are very common and they are not included in my search. To add insult to injury, I am told that the ‘AND’ operator is unnecessary. On the day they banned me, they asked a parting question, to wit.’.have you heard of the SDMB?’ :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/38 "2004-08-22T04:43:35Z")
There’s nothing wrong with asking a question on the straight dope, no matter how easy it is to find the answer elsewhere. EVERY question could be answered elsewhere if one is willing to dig hard enough - the Straight Dope has no monopoly on information. People like to use this place to ask their questions, even people who know how to use Google just fine, because they like the way their questions get answered. You don’t just get facts, you get background info, opposing viewpoints, debunking of erroneous answers, etc. Things you don’t get on Google without a lot of work. People should just lighten up about being the question police. There are no bad questions - just bad answers. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/39 "2004-08-22T04:46:35Z")
And here’s a good idea - If you don’t like a question, _don’t answer it_. In fact, you might just consider ignoring the whole thread. There are plenty of others. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205/40 "2004-08-23T02:51:49Z")
> [@Number](#): > > Google uses automated programs to browse websites and index their content. There is a [standard method](http://www.google.com/webmasters/3.html#B3) for webmasters to exclude part or all of their sites from these searches. For whatever reason, the SDMB admins have chosen to use this to make threads here unavailable to Google and other standards-compliant search engines. Since when? I run across SDMB threads on Google all the time. In fact I have used Google before when doing a search for something discussed on the SDMB. Especially when the search engine is down at the Dope. But not recently! I will go now and see if I can pull up some SDMB threads via [Google.com](http://Google.com) ~later t/k [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-ing-google-it/260205.md?page=3)