AskMe becoming New Google

December 16, 2006 9:49 AM

and to the google guy--I was buzzed and didn't care too google this... Seems like a dangerous precedent, or is askme the new google?
posted by justgary to Etiquette/Policy at 9:49 AM (35 comments total)

That's pretty lame and lazy, yeah. The posting page clearly tells the user to use Google first and foremost, then search the site for previous similar questions, then post if they still can't find their answer.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:53 AM on December 16, 2006

Does that mean we get to burn him?
posted by cillit bang at 10:09 AM on December 16, 2006

Only if by doing so you can form a shapely and appealing smoke ring.
posted by ardgedee at 10:12 AM on December 16, 2006 [1 favorite]

I'm sure I've posted questions that can be solved with google (as many others have), but I try not to.

I commented in the thread about this same thing and it was deleted (which it should have been, bad me), but as the site gets even bigger it seems dangerous to have members basically saying they know it could be googled but they don't give a damn, and I was surprised not to see a message in the thread by an admin on that topic.

On preview, matt answered my question.
posted by justgary at 10:15 AM on December 16, 2006

I concur with Matt. We've been clear that you should at least take a stab at answering your question yourself. There are a lot of questions that search engines are no good at helping with, this was not one of them. We'll occasionally remove totally Googleable questions.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:26 AM on December 16, 2006

There is a discussion here about the merits of first hand answers for questions that can be answered via google and the actual google results, as such. Which is better, which more relevant, and what situation calls for an Ask entry, etc . But this question is not that question.
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 10:34 AM on December 16, 2006

There is a discussion here about the merits of first hand answers for questions that can be answered via google and the actual google results, as such. Which is better, which more relevant, and what situation calls for an Ask entry, etc . But this question is not that question.

Agreed. I know there's a fine line. I wouldn't have blinked if he had said he tried and found the answers lacking, or that he hadn't realized google would have done the job. It was the not caring to even try that prompted my first metatalk post EVER.
posted by justgary at 10:41 AM on December 16, 2006

For what it's worth the first page of google answers presents a lot of bad answers (not that this is any different from the thread). It's bad to not google before asking something dumb, but it's worse to google something to answer a question you know nothing about and do not do yourself.
posted by shownomercy at 11:03 AM on December 16, 2006

Smoke rings are only cool if you're a character in a 1947 film noir. The poster didn't mention whether or not he was.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 11:12 AM on December 16, 2006

I think we should ban him for not knowing the difference between to and too. Or not capitalizing Google. Or for using "ppl" when he clearly could type complete words. Anything. This pitchfork ain't getting any lighter, you know.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:27 AM on December 16, 2006

Yes, I regret providing an answer in that thread.

*lights cigar with torch*
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:01 PM on December 16, 2006

This seems so puritan to me: "We'll only answer your question if you've done x amount of work to answer it yourself."

Why should we care? Doesn't answering an "easily Googlable" question make the answer even easier to find for the next person who looks for it? What's the harm?
posted by timeistight at 12:15 PM on December 16, 2006

The site is a community resource, timeistight. And a limited resource. It stands to reason that askers reach a minimum threshold of their own research before asking questions here.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 12:17 PM on December 16, 2006

I just want to say it here because it can't be said there: If a dude in a bar was giving me the eye whilst puffing on a cigar I'd find it jokeworthy with my friends. If said dude made eye contact whilst blowing a smoke ring my drink would come out my nose.
posted by loiseau at 12:22 PM on December 16, 2006 [1 favorite]

(the hotter you are, the hotter doing a smoke ring becomes. The more skeevy you are, the less hot it becomes) This is good advice from the ask thread though. The great thing about it is that it's true for pretty much everything you could possibly do.
posted by econous at 12:32 PM on December 16, 2006

She won't be impressed.

Next question?
posted by The God Complex at 12:36 PM on December 16, 2006

"This seems so puritan to me: "We'll only answer your question if you've done x amount of work to answer it yourself."

Why should we care? Doesn't answering an "easily Googlable" question make the answer even easier to find for the next person who looks for it? What's the harm?"

Look at Yahoo Answers for the solution to this query.
Part of the appeal of AskMe is smart people helping each other out. Not smart people helping lazy dumbasses.
posted by klangklangston at 12:43 PM on December 16, 2006

This seems so puritan to me: "We'll only answer your question if you've done x amount of work to answer it yourself."

I guess if people are suckers enough to do other peoples menial tasks for 'em like run simple google queries, sure, why not? Seems like a good way to get things done, good time management.
posted by scheptech at 12:59 PM on December 16, 2006

FILL HIM WITH ANGRY BEES
posted by loquacious at 1:00 PM on December 16, 2006

FILL HIM WITH ANGRY BEES
This is a good solution to any problem.
posted by luftmensch at 1:51 PM on December 16, 2006

Being buzzed is so an excuse.
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 1:52 PM on December 16, 2006

If the question had been worded, "I've already searched through Google, but I wanted to hear any personal advice you had on how to blow smoke-rings" this wouldn't be a problem.

So apparently, it's not the fact that a question is easily Google-able, but that the poster was honest about their laziness in seeking an answer.

Hmph. There's already a limit on posting AskMe questions. If you want a longer time limit on them, that's fine, but culling them left and right because they're "chatfilter" or "too easy" seems like a bad idea to me. Plenty of questions might have answers scattered across the 'net, but the questioner wants to hear what Metafilter members have to say on the issue. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:31 PM on December 16, 2006

If a dude in a bar was giving me the eye whilst puffing on a cigar I'd find it jokeworthy with my friends. If said dude made eye contact whilst blowing a smoke ring my drink would come out my nose.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:51 PM on December 16, 2006 [1 favorite]

If only there was still a <big> tag and italics were somehow cumulative.
posted by Plutor at 3:21 PM on December 16, 2006

> Doesn't answering an "easily Googlable" question make the answer even easier to find for the next person who looks for it?

No, since Google's right there already. So to speak.

Fundamentally, it's discourteous to expect somebody to do more work on your behalf than you're willing to put in, unless you are compensating them in some other way. Warm fuzzies and good will doesn't count.
posted by ardgedee at 4:30 PM on December 16, 2006

the man paid his five dollars, he wants some answers. I don't see where the problem is.
posted by matteo at 4:30 PM on December 16, 2006

Man, I garbled that. Read the above as, "No, since Google's easily findable answers are right there already."
posted by ardgedee at 4:32 PM on December 16, 2006

dangerous precedent

That is one of the great overused hyperbolic expressions of our age (everywhere, not just mefi).
posted by peacay at 4:55 PM on December 16, 2006 [1 favorite]

That is one of the great overused hyperbolic expressions of our age (everywhere, not just mefi).

Hmmm. I dunno Peacay. One time, I asked a Googleable™ question and lost my job, got hit by a car and my girlfriend left me. I've learned not to fuck with AskMe; she's a cruel one.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 5:26 PM on December 16, 2006

We'll occasionally remove totally Googleable questions.

So, um, why is that one still up?
posted by mediareport at 8:25 PM on December 16, 2006

Because a lot of people gave good answers even after the fact that it was a somewhat asinine question and deleting the question at this point is more punitive to them than to the OP.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:38 PM on December 16, 2006

Look at Yahoo Answers for the solution to this query.

Amen. I'm guessing most against any standards on askmefi would be quite upset if it turned into yahoo answers (except for matteo, who would enjoy a site in anarchy).

Plenty of questions might have answers scattered across the 'net, but the questioner wants to hear what Metafilter members have to say on the issue. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
posted by Civil_Disobedient

Are you reading the same thread? He didn't say he wanted "metafilter members" to answer. He was too buzzed and couldn't be bothered. If you don't think it's a problem then get the faq changed.
posted by justgary at 8:49 PM on December 16, 2006

That is one of the great overused hyperbolic expressions of our age (everywhere, not just mefi).

Overused, yeah. Hyperbolic, nope.
posted by justgary at 8:54 PM on December 16, 2006

On that note, the first Google result for the guy who wants to know how to skin a rabbit is a step-by-step guide for doing so, with photos.

AND, the question-asker ruined the most obvious derail of a jolly discussion on eating the tasty, tasty rabbits, since he's a vegetarian. Boooo.
posted by desuetude at 10:58 AM on December 17, 2006

also he could have asked his parents, as they both smoke. I'm sure his mother's blown a few in her time.
posted by johnny novak at 12:13 PM on December 17, 2006