Doesn’t this seem like something that could be googled in 4 seconds?
It’s not technically against the rules but it bugs me. So your kid did something cute. That’s awesome. If you want to talk about it, we have forums like MPSIMS. But don’t pose mathematical problems in GQ that can be solved with google and a calculator and 4 seconds.
I know I sound like an asshole but GQ is in my opinion one of the most interesting boards on the Internet and I hate seeing something so interesting watered down by crap like this.
Oh hold on, a kitten says she loves me and wants to know the population of New Brunswick, NJ. I better post about it on a message board instead of looking it up on Wikipedia which will take 1.03 seconds.
Seemed harmless enough to me, and since it had a fixed answer it seemed like the right forum. Not everyone is as good with math (or, for that matter, with google), so I don’t see the harm in asking folks who are and who are willing to take the time to find the answers questions such as that.
You could always petition a Mod to move it, if you think it’s in the wrong forum.
“General questions” is a forum for posting questions which have factual answers. Nowhere does it say the questions have to be hard, easy, googliabbble, interesting or anything you can think of. From the forum header;
“Got a factual question for the Teeming Millions (and possibly Cecil) to consider? Post it here.”
IMO, there can never be too many questions posted to GQ, the more questions, the stronger a forum it is. And who the hell is the arbiter of how easy a question is? You? Get a blog.
Telling people to just google things instead really chaps my ass. Every fucking question ever asked in GQ was googlyable, so hey everybody, lets all stop asking questions. Remember, google is your friend, use that instead. No need to post here. Who the hell needs GQ anyway.
What numpties like the OP dont get is that a forum such as GQ can offer more than just easy answers to questions. Lets try a hypothetical.
Poster A asks which is further, 17000 times around the earth or the distance to Jupiter.
Poster B answers question.
Poster C adds an interesting point about relative distances or something.
Poster D gets a memory jog and ask a related question about the size of Jupiter
Poster E doesnt have anything to add but now knows which is further, Jupiter or 17000 times around the earth. Interesting.
That damn simple question could generate page views, content, discussion, tangents, all those silly things that people come to fucking message boards for. And all not happening because some cretin thinks, “Duh, thats easy, just google it”. Talk about missing the point.
What do I type here? Nothing apparently. Type it in google.
Indeed. It’s more fun this way, we’re creating content that thousands of people find entertaining and informative, and we’re giving know-it-alls the opportunity to show off.
First of all, the thread linked by the OP is not completely straightforward, especially for someone who might not know much about planetary orbits. If you are unaware of things like perihelion and aphelion, you might not realize that the “closest” distance to Jupiter can vary considerably from year to year.
Still, i sort of agree with the OP in principle. While there is something to be said for bucketybuck’s argument, there have been a few people on this board who make a habit of posting remedial, easily-Googled questions. Check out some of the GQ threads started by Jinx, if you want some examples. Jinx even received a personal pitting for it a couple of years ago.
Also, as Colibri notes in that thread, the GQ rules specifically say to give a search engine a shot before posting the question. Some question really are very easily answered by a simple Google search.
I wasn’t making a judgement about your particular question. I was just countering the claim that there is nothing in the rules saying you should google first.
Yours might not have been answered by a simple google search, but there are lots of thread started in GQ where the answer is in wikipedia, or can be found with a simple search.