a whack with the cluestick
June 13, 2004 10:24 AM Subscribe
I sense very bad shit coming down on AskMefi soon, thanks to this (frankly lethal) link
posted by matteo at 10:38 AM on June 13, 2004
posted by matteo at 10:38 AM on June 13, 2004
It's not the Google-able questions that are AskMefi's worst, it's the "I'm going to leave my bed, how do I do that, any thoughts?"-questions.
But it's a good link, reklaw, and a sure bookmark.
posted by mr.marx at 10:46 AM on June 13, 2004
But it's a good link, reklaw, and a sure bookmark.
posted by mr.marx at 10:46 AM on June 13, 2004
Google's a great first place to check when looking for some pretty simple facts; for anything more in-depth it can give you interesting results but it's no substitute for asking a knowledgeable human being. Why? Because it returns bullshit as readily as fact, lunacy as easily as scholarship, misquotes and distortion as often as citation, rants as often as reportage. In short, Google can only return what's on the web, almost indiscriminately and certainly without any direct metric for the actual quality of the information. In many topics the best information is in books, and books generally aren't on the web. Having someone who's made your subject their area of study to ask can save you going down some very misleading paths indeed.
That said, this page would be a lot more clever if it acutally took parameterized arguments and passed them to Google, listing the results below the chalkboard. As it is it's just a very cheap way to be snide.
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:55 AM on June 13, 2004
That said, this page would be a lot more clever if it acutally took parameterized arguments and passed them to Google, listing the results below the chalkboard. As it is it's just a very cheap way to be snide.
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:55 AM on June 13, 2004
http://www.RTFM.net
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 11:54 AM on June 13, 2004
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 11:54 AM on June 13, 2004
As it is it's just a very cheap way to be snide.
Well, maybe you don't care how much you pay to be snide, Mr. Moneybags, but some of us are grateful for the savings.
Oh, and you're absolutely right about books. I despair of people who think "It's all on the internet."
posted by languagehat at 12:08 PM on June 13, 2004
Well, maybe you don't care how much you pay to be snide, Mr. Moneybags, but some of us are grateful for the savings.
Oh, and you're absolutely right about books. I despair of people who think "It's all on the internet."
posted by languagehat at 12:08 PM on June 13, 2004
I can't decide if that is more rude, sad, or passive-aggressive. I suppose it could be all three.
posted by Hildago at 12:37 PM on June 13, 2004
posted by Hildago at 12:37 PM on June 13, 2004
When I want the same answer as everyone else will get, I go to Google. When I want something off the beaten path, I go to a9, bananaslug (google twisted) or all the web. Google is a fantastic search engine, but if the answers to all questions are coming from the same algorithm, it leads to a reduction in the diversity of information found vs. information available.
posted by holycola at 1:17 PM on June 13, 2004
posted by holycola at 1:17 PM on June 13, 2004
So Recklaw, who told you to ... um... use this site?
posted by billsaysthis at 1:27 PM on June 13, 2004
posted by billsaysthis at 1:27 PM on June 13, 2004
holycola, doesn't a9 somehow piggyback off google? Their results for coffee are almost exactly the same
posted by elwoodwiles at 1:38 PM on June 13, 2004
posted by elwoodwiles at 1:38 PM on June 13, 2004
Oh, and you're absolutely right about books. I despair of people who think "It's all on the internet."
Two years ago, I applied to be one of those ask google researchers. I was pretty thorough about my answers, but got rejected, and I'm still pretty much convinced the thing that shot me is that on some of the questions, I went to the library and grabbed answers from books.
posted by weston at 9:33 AM on June 14, 2004
Two years ago, I applied to be one of those ask google researchers. I was pretty thorough about my answers, but got rejected, and I'm still pretty much convinced the thing that shot me is that on some of the questions, I went to the library and grabbed answers from books.
posted by weston at 9:33 AM on June 14, 2004
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I don't understand people who DON'T use Google to learn things.
posted by davidmsc at 10:37 AM on June 13, 2004