> You shouldn't ask a question where the answer is trivially Googled.
So we're discouraging asking questions now? That's a troubling stance.
Google's general improvements at googling are making things easier to google. But the world keeps inventing better idiots, and it is a cat and mouse game. Which is not to say that anyone in this thread is an idiot; far from it. But we must recognize that some people are inherently bad at search. Are they intimidated? Are they inputting the wrong queries? Are they asking the right things but unable to find what they're seeking in their results? There are quite a lot of things that could go wrong with the search itself, before even addressing the individual and how they seek and learn.
Some people learn by reading. Some people learn by listening. Some people learn by doing. This is not a weakness or a laziness issue, this is a human behavior issue. You're not pacifying people by giving them the information they're seeking. We used to call that answering, because they asked a question. If, as posed in this scenario, the first poser provided incomplete information, and the second poster posted a question asking for clarification or more details, I really fail to see how this is laziness that needs to be pacified. That is a very negative view of someone who just wanted more details.
The person was seeking education, they asked a question. Negativity and arrogance on how it was so obvious and they should have just searched for it are not helping educate anyone. They have the opposite effect: next time the person may not even bother asking at all, now feeling alienated and perhaps it's best to not try to learn at all. That doesn't help anyone. Not the person, the community, you, or me. We are all left worse for it.
We disagree. You are encouraging a bad habit and teaching people they don't need to think at all if you continually respond to easily answered questions they could have found in 5 seconds with a Google search.
It is not negative to tell them to Google for themselves, it's teaching a man to fish. The answer to all simple questions is Google it yourself, that's a more valuable education than any other response.
So we're discouraging asking questions now? That's a troubling stance.
Google's general improvements at googling are making things easier to google. But the world keeps inventing better idiots, and it is a cat and mouse game. Which is not to say that anyone in this thread is an idiot; far from it. But we must recognize that some people are inherently bad at search. Are they intimidated? Are they inputting the wrong queries? Are they asking the right things but unable to find what they're seeking in their results? There are quite a lot of things that could go wrong with the search itself, before even addressing the individual and how they seek and learn.
Some people learn by reading. Some people learn by listening. Some people learn by doing. This is not a weakness or a laziness issue, this is a human behavior issue. You're not pacifying people by giving them the information they're seeking. We used to call that answering, because they asked a question. If, as posed in this scenario, the first poser provided incomplete information, and the second poster posted a question asking for clarification or more details, I really fail to see how this is laziness that needs to be pacified. That is a very negative view of someone who just wanted more details.
The person was seeking education, they asked a question. Negativity and arrogance on how it was so obvious and they should have just searched for it are not helping educate anyone. They have the opposite effect: next time the person may not even bother asking at all, now feeling alienated and perhaps it's best to not try to learn at all. That doesn't help anyone. Not the person, the community, you, or me. We are all left worse for it.