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.

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.worldEnglish
      65·
      1 month ago

      Found the guy who grew up listening to rage against the machine, who now uses machines to rage against the humans who want him to rage against the machine…but fuck you I won’t do what ya tell me! Fuck you I won’t do what ya tell me! Fuck you I won’t do what ya tell me! Fuck you I won’t do what ya tell me! (UGH!) guitar solo

  • magikmw@lemm.eeEnglish
    104·
    1 month ago

    Just googlw it is unfortunate shorthand for “learn it by doing research and troubleshooting”, a skill sadly very scarce. I agree it’s toxic and unhelpful. Guiding people to be better at finding information on their own is the way.

  • wicked_observer@lemm.eeEnglish
    74·
    1 month 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.

    • Ashelyn@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      3·
      1 month ago

      Just ask them to answer your question in the style of a know-it-all Redditor because you need the dialog for a compelling narrative or something

  • Churbleyimyam@lemm.eeEnglish
    191·
    1 month ago

    The most useful thing about interacting with another human mind is that it can see when the question needs to be updated in order to get a correct answer.

    A crude example would be:

    Q1: how many screws should I use to join these pieces of wood?

    A1: It’s more relevant to use screws which are long enough.

    Q2: Which screws should I use?

    A2: This size.

  • jagged_circle@feddit.nlEnglish
    54·
    1 month ago

    Jesus thank you. And also dont post screenshots of web pages. We’ve gotten much worse since the reddit exodus.

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.worldEnglish
      52·
      1 month ago

      I will occasionally post a screenshot of an excerpt of a web site, specifically for the purpose of showing it to whoever I’m responding to who is continuing to bleat rather than visit the link I provided and use their eyes, or is attempting to argue with me about the presence of content that is, in fact, right there as plain as the nose on your face. Extra bonus points if whatever they need to click on to get what they want is right there in the header or sidebar menu, without even having to scroll or anything.

      I maintain that this method of saying, “look, dumbass” is perfectly valid.

    • fishbone@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      4·
      1 month ago

      If it’s for textual information, I’m personally a fan of covering all bases. Screenshot, link to site, and quoted relevant text.

      Webpages can change, but screenshots can stop being hosted with no warning and any text in screenshot form can’t easily be copy and pasted. Quoted text is essentially the longterm accessible failsafe. Text in comments tends to last much longer than images or links.

      • jagged_circle@feddit.nlEnglish
        23·
        1 month ago

        Yes, its only a problem when folks include an image of text without copying the text and linking to the source.

        I’m not anti-image. I’m anti-ablism and anti-misinformation

        • fishbone@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          2·
          1 month ago

          Great point honestly. I was only writing that comment from the perspective of answering troubleshooting centric questions. Not everyone who browses the internet has the same ability to see though, and while I imagine screen readers have some ability to process images (I’ve never used one so I don’t know specifically), I can only assume that actual text is much easier.

          I know that text for me is much easier than screenshots, cause I’ve adjusted the font size and type in my browser to suit my preferences. Can’t do that for an image.

          • jagged_circle@feddit.nlEnglish
            2·
            1 month ago

            Its surprisingly rare to have someone as level headed and empathetic as you are on Lemmy.

            Thank you for reminding me that we’re not all 12-year-old, snot-nosed reddiors here.

    • ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.netEnglish
      31·
      1 month ago

      Only if they include the link.

      I prefer the screenshot to a webpage because

      1. If it’s a shit site, I don’t want to give it clicks and revenue

      2. News sites have a history of manipulating the title over and more to maximize views

      3. Images are easy to scan within the Lemmy app. Versus kicking me to a browser that has to fetch data somewhere.

      • jagged_circle@feddit.nlEnglish
        42·
        1 month ago

        Posting screenshots of webpages isn’t disallowed.

        But posting screenshots of webpages without a link to the source is temp-ban-worthy

  • ted@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    141·
    1 month ago

    Even if you want to be snarky, at least do something like:

    I [googled it](searchresult.com) for you.

    • Otter@lemmy.caEnglish
      13·
      1 month ago

      Alternatively

      I googled it for you

> Copy pasted answer in case the source disappears
    • Couldbealeotard@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      1 month ago

      I’m not kidding, one time I saw that and the first result was back to that thread where the only answer was to Google it.

    • cytokine0724@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      41·
      1 month ago

      I understand the temptation for snark, but if you’re going to snark, I suggest that “here is how I googled it for you” is a better response, wherein you explain the terms you chose and how you selected the most pertinent result.

      Definitely more work, but even if the OP is infuriating, there are people who will find the answer in the future, and who would benefit from the explanation of something that might be obvious to us but not them.

  • jg1i@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1305·
    1 month 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.

    • BeigeAgenda@lemmy.caEnglish
      39·
      1 month ago

      Ah come now my dear sir/madam/xir, who can’t resist a bit of trolling here and a google-it there.

    • bluewing@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      1 month 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.

    • affiliate@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      1 month ago

      what if i want to answer the question but i have none of the relevant knowledge and also don’t really understand the question itself?

      • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
        23·
        1 month ago

        ChatGPT, while it deserves almost all the hate it gets, is actually pretty good for that use case.

          • IninewCrow@lemmy.caEnglish
            3·
            1 month ago

            lol … ChatGPT suggests you ask ChatGPT … then the two ChatGPT start conversing with one another and you in a three way conversation … a few minutes go by and they decide to log you off

    • GreenKnight23@lemmy.worldEnglish
      71·
      1 month ago

      I don’t actually own this, but I saw it used once 10 years by my fathers aunts best friend. I guess it would work for what you need it for.

  • Zement@feddit.nlEnglish
    26·
    1 month 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.worldEnglish
      4·
      1 month 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.

  • Cyrus Draegur@lemm.eeEnglish
    201·
    1 month ago

    When I ask someone for clarification via their expertise, I usually reflexively indicate that I cannot trust google because of the incursion of AI slop, and even if it shows THEM accurate results, it is no guarantee that it will show ME those same results.