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submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by sith@lemmy.zip to c/fediverse@lemmy.world

It is clear that the signal to noise ratio of the WWW is getting worse. It's much harder to find good content when using a good old search engine. And if it's good it is usually hosted on Reddit or Stackexchange.

So remember, even if it's easy too Google something (well, it isn't nowadays), we want to create a fediverse of good content that helps people (I hope). So, it's always better to write a real answer if you have the time and energy. Please help boost the SNR and reverse the AI fueled information degradation loop.

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[-] richieadler@lemmy.myserv.one 12 points 10 hours ago

If you don't show me that you at least made some effort to investigate: No.

[-] Merlin@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 8 hours ago

Its a bit annoying when i google something and search forums and cant find an answer and i go to ask reddit or a forum and someone says"just google it" like am i really expected to make a preamble every ask-post that I've searched already?

[-] richieadler@lemmy.myserv.one 2 points 2 hours ago

i really expected to make a preamble every ask-post that I’ve searched already?

Yes. You need to show your effort, otherwise your question will be considered lazy. This is specially true regarding technical issues in volunteer forums.

The seminal essay "How To Ask Questions the Smart Way" explains these and other finer points.

[-] Zementid@feddit.nl 20 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

I feel like it’s 2000 all over again on the Internet. The bloat has made pages borderline unusable, and using AdBlock or NoScript reverts any so-called "design progress" back to the good old HTML days.

Google is only semi-useful now, while pages like DuckDuckGo are starting to deliver results reminiscent of the old Yahoo or Lycos days.

It feels like my trusty, old-school Internet skills are helping me navigate this mess. The reemergence of usenet / groups feels inevitable.

[-] sheogorath@lemmy.world 3 points 9 hours ago

It's like a bouncing ball, social media starts small, and then it became bigger. It's trending on becoming small again. In the future (barring civilization ending war/calamity) it'll become big again due to some technological progress or shift in society.

[-] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 4 points 12 hours ago

Check on Ecosia!

[-] OmegaLemmy@discuss.online 4 points 16 hours ago

Never say just, and if you bother answering be proper about it

[-] Mio@feddit.nu 3 points 15 hours ago

Search for it on the Internet

[-] MITM0@lemmy.world 21 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Noooooo don't Just Google it try, Use a Search Engine or just WebSearch it

Dont't make Google an integral part of internet culture

[-] dezmd@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

Jokes on you, I google it using ddg!

[-] udon@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago

I wish I had the power to make google a not integral part of the internet just by calling it duckduckgoing.

On that note: If you talk about what you searched for last week, would that be "I duckduckgoed" or "I duckduckwent"?

[-] brian@programming.dev 5 points 18 hours ago

on one hand I agree. on the other, google has historically been afraid of the verb to google becoming generic, so of course I'd like to see that happen.

I think the middle ground is say google it, but make it clear you mean google it on an alternative search engine

[-] bluewing@lemm.ee 2 points 14 hours ago

Yep, just like Kleenex, or Xerox, (a faded term for mimeograph/photocopy), Google has become a generic verb/term for search in virtually every language now. To google something is synonymous with search. It no longer implies a specific search engine. (I use Ghostery private search myself). Google has lost the war on their name and "It's a Good Thing^tm^"

But there does seem to be a greater amount of "search entitlement" these days for even the easiest of problems. People as a very general rule don't seem to want to be bothered by the need to learn things on their own. They expect others to provide them all the answers in an effortless format.

I've even provided detailed answers to people on some 'life threat level' activities that were rejected because I didn't simply reaffirm their ignorant and misguided thoughts in looking for shortcut answers.

[-] BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 14 hours ago

Did you mean "Don't reply, just google it"? /s

[-] wicked_observer@lemm.ee 3 points 16 hours ago

I never say it like that. But I’ll tell people I found it by searching it. People really need to learn how to search first.

[-] Ookami38@sh.itjust.works 65 points 1 day ago

"just Google it" has always been a shitty reply. People are asking for your opinion because they want opinions from people, not some nameless site/author/whatever. Even if you're just regurgitating information, it's coming from a PERSON not a random article. Never mind the reliability of the source. Heavens forbid that we social creatures social about a thing for a bit.

"I'm not responsible for educating you"

cool, then stfu and let somebody else or nut up and do the work if you want it done right

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[-] Clent@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago
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[-] brygphilomena@lemmy.world 40 points 1 day ago

I'm starting to give up on Google. I've literally copy and pasted the same error message in Google, DuckDuckGo, and Kagl.

Google will respond with "no results found" while the others will actually give me a response.

[-] OmegaLemmy@discuss.online 4 points 16 hours ago

Test kagi too

[-] Cethin@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 day ago

Yeah, I ditched Google as my default search engine a while ago. It's next to useless and they're a horrible company.

[-] Laser@feddit.org 2 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

How do the results from ddg match the query? It doesn't look particularly helpful to me, and if not, why would I prefer to wade through a number of results that are ultimately unhelpful?

If there are no matches, I want to be told.

[-] brygphilomena@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

The issue I was having was getting a hyper-v host to connect to an iscsi array on a nimble. That first result was pretty much exactly what I needed. It didn't highlight it in the preview, but it was on the page once I opened it.

[-] Laser@feddit.org 3 points 14 hours ago

Ah, so that's definitely good. It wasn't clear from the screenshots, at least not for me

[-] MaxHardwood@lemmy.ca 1 points 15 hours ago

Even if the results aren't exactly what I'm looking for, getting something even tangentially related can be helpful in finding the ultimate solution.

[-] Laser@feddit.org 1 points 14 hours ago
[-] MaxHardwood@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 hours ago

I'd say so. It's a starting point for looking into LUN mounting issues with an incorrect host type. These results are better than nothing.

okay so it's not just me then! I've been seeing that zero matches page more and more. It used to be the other way around, if I couldnt find something on DDG or startpage it would be on google. how did they fuck up their indexing so badly

[-] Rogue@feddit.uk 21 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I think zero matches means "we weren't able to find any suitable ads so we don't give a fuck about you"

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[-] jg1i@lemmy.world 122 points 1 day ago

Not sure if everyone knows this, but: if you don't want to answer the question—you don't have to post a reply! Crazy idea, I know.

[-] bluewing@lemm.ee 1 points 14 hours ago

The issue I have is not that " You don't need to reply." I don't if I don't care about you and your ignorance. Experience will teach you soon enough. But I have more than once provided detailed answers on subjects that I'm well versed and experienced in. Only to be insulted because the answer I provided didn't fit what the person wanted to hear.

And when that answer pertains to a life threat level activity, then I can't help you if you reject the answer. So hey if you choose to put an unknown 200+ year old pipe bomb next to your head and pull the trigger, then Ok it's not my accident scene. And I'm no longer concerned if you live through the experience or not.

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[-] hono4kami@slrpnk.net 215 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

As a software engineer...

Don't just say "just Google it". Guide them to the documentation. Ask them about the detail of the question. If it's an bug, try asking them if they can reproduce the bug.


This reminded me of the time I'm looking for how to do certain things in a software. I found a reddit post asking about the same issue and this is the reply OP got:

screenshot of a reddit thread where OP got a rude reply to search it themselves

Here is the link: https://old.reddit.com/r/i3wm/comments/mupjsf/how_to_showhide_i3status_bar_taskbar/

Imagine. You search the issue you have. Found the ONLY reddit thread that talks about this, and the ONLY thread that talks about the issue have NO USEFUL ANSWER and, worse, the only reply is TELLING YOU TO SEARCH IT YOURSELF. This got upvoted too 😭😭😭.

Luckily, I found the solution (tbh the solution was there in the docs, but the wording wasn't clear and it makes it hard to search) and I end up replying the OP the actual answer.

So, this is a PSA for the fediverse: be nice. It's free.

While we're still young, we have a chance to become a better forum.

Also possibly an unpopular opinion: you shouldn't downvote a question, even if it was asked multiple times. Guide them to the answer instead

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 12 hours ago

Being nice isn't free. It takes energy and time. It's worth it though.

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[-] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 91 points 1 day ago

So many times I google something obscure, the top result is the same question asked on some forum with a single reply, "just google it"

[-] pezhore@infosec.pub 56 points 1 day ago

The only thing worse than someone saying just Google it is an op replying to their own post saying, never mind fixed it! (Without actually saying the solution).

[-] toddestan@lemm.ee 1 points 14 hours ago

The fun one that is at least a bit forgivable is "I found the solution! I just followed ". It's especially fun when you keep finding multiple postings that look hopeful at first but then end up just linking back to the same dead link.

The lesson here is that it can be helpful to future internet searchers (or even your future self) to copy the relevant information or briefly summarize it instead of just dropping a URL. Especially when linking to something like an company's official support forum or posting as many companies will pull that stuff down eventually.

[-] ech@lemm.ee 31 points 1 day ago

"What did you see, DenverCoder9?!?!"

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[-] rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 53 points 1 day ago

The amount of times I've googled a problem, and the first result is a forum post of someone just being told to google it then locking the thread is way too high.

[-] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 6 points 23 hours ago

These ones plus "this is a duplicate of <link to question that is only kinda related and doesn't address the specific problem being asked in the newer question>".

Fuck busy body moderators. The people you "have power" over can see how stupid and incompetent you are and being able to shut down forum conversations about it doesn't hide it, it just means people know not to bother saying it where you're looking.

[-] rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 1 points 10 hours ago

Github sucks.

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"Google It"

I google

finds 1 link

its a link to a fourm post with the same question

only 1 answer found

answer says "Google It"

🙃

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this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2024
764 points (94.1% liked)

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