LMGTFY is harmful.

[mmol_6453]

Before you say "LMGTFY" in response to a public query, here are four things you should consider:

Search engines tend to return results similar to things you've clicked on in the past, so if your previous searches have been fruitless, your future searches become more likely to be fruitless as well, as the search engine favors resources it's seen you

Comments

[engineerpoet]

This is also an indictment of "personalized" search results.

I miss Scroogle.

[navilor]

Have you tried DuckDuckGo before?

[engineerpoet]

It's my default search engine.  I still miss Scroogle.  I wish someone would re-write it as a plug-in that uses Tor routing to get around Google's blocking and makes DDOS impossible (it is beyond me even if I had the Scroogle code).

[navilor]

I don't have those skills. :(

I'll assume that you are also familiar with Dogpile. They probably do tracking but they were the first meta search engine that I ever used.

[eno2001]

1000 times yes! Nearly every time I've seen someone use that or it's been directed at me I've already tried a Google search with useless results. In my case it tends to be that I've bumped up against a problem so difficult that no one seems to know the answer.

I then spend another few hours trying every possible related search I can think of and in in some cases find an answer in something so different from my problem that you could almost call it unrelated.

What I usually do then, is go back to the forum and post what I found with a snide indictment of the useless and hostile nature of LMGTFY. Partially to troll the unhelpful comment poster, but also to share what I've found for others. That's what you're SUPPOSED to do: share your knowledge.

Ditto

[ext_1685921]

LMGTFY is lazy and "smart ass", it servers no purpose but to grunge up list archives - which are themseleves, hopefully, valuable information repositories; at least once was has filter out all the link-less RTFM replies and now the LMGTFY replies.

Of course "searching" is really a crappy approach, I try to disuade people from it at every opportunity. Typically just going to the document is much better, or the appropriate forum. Searching mostly results in time-wasting bunny trails.

If you don't know what you are doing [regarding some topic] you won't be able to pick through search results efficiently. If you do know what you are doing then, SERIOUSLY, you know a better way or place to find information.

Re: Ditto

[mmol_6453]

If you don't know what you are doing [regarding some topic] you won't be able to pick through search results efficiently.

No kidding. As I described to Dagny, I can either spend $250 of a client's money (or mine, if I don't charge for the research portion of troubleshooting!), or I can spend ten minutes asking an IRC channel full of bored techies.

Re: Ditto

[ext_1685921]

or I can spend ten minutes asking an IRC channel full of bored techies.
HEY NOW! I'm not bored! Just overly anxious to do something other than PCI compliance crap!

Snide and Rude?

[morosopher]

Bah!

[fireflythegreat]

Yeah, this is exactly what I find whenever I try and search for anything even vaguely technical.