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Please stop it with MRoogle...

I've found it very helpful to provide a link with the answer quoted from the corresponding thread (but only when that thread is recent, and the advice is still applicable). Otherwise, I'm a fan of just answering the question. Links to other threads without explanation and links to Mroogle could be very confusing, especially for newcomers to the site.
 
-aggie- said:
That's what I usually do, unless they keep repeatedly making new threads. Telling someone to search is just lazy and rude. If you have enough time to post, you have enough time to help, while also showing them they can learn to help themselves.
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Agreed. The combination is the most useful and inviting.
 
MRoogle actually works very well, though the default date range needs to be fixed. If you make no modifications, it returns threads from 3-4 years ago at the top of the results.

In any case:
 

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It's fine to encourage people to search as long as it's done politely, and I'm sure some people are happy to be made aware of MRoogle.

But it's also worth mentioning here that we delete replies telling the OP to search, when the post doesn't include any other answer or at least a link to a concrete post/site that answers the question.

Like SilentPanda says, for some posters MR IS the result of their search. :p
 
You also have the consider the alternatives. For myself, when I post links to preexisting solutions, it's because I had to search for the answer myself because I don't have the problems others do (I have 7K+ posts and I only need one hand to count the threads I created for a problem). While I could transcribe the solutions I find into a reply, I don't always have the time to go into that level of detail. Also, since it's not a solution I've ever used, I don't want to give the impression that I "know" it will work.

Would the OP prefer me giving them link(s) to the answer, or just not posting at all leaving them with potentially no answer for hours, days, or ever?
 
I always try to answer the question and maybe support my answer by linking an old thread. Personally, I don't like the idea of linking stuff if I can answer the question by myself in the same amount of time. It's just my opinion and I don't have anything against the people who do it. I am looking at you, GGJstudios and Spinnerlys ;):D
 
*sigh*
OP, if you had used MRoogle, you would have realised that there are at least 5 threads like this in existence.



I love irony
 
Hellhammer said:
I always try to answer the question and maybe support my answer by linking an old thread. Personally, I don't like the idea of linking stuff if I can answer the question by myself in the same amount of time.
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That's just it. It takes a LOT longer to compose the same answer, especially as slow as I type! It doesn't help my CTS, either. It's MUCH faster to copy and paste a link to a thread where the question has already been answered. It's also a method recommended in the Forum Rules, as I pointed out earlier.
 
GGJstudios said:
That's just it. It takes a LOT longer to compose the same answer, especially as slow as I type! It doesn't help my CTS, either. It's MUCH faster to copy and paste a link to a thread where the question has already been answered. It's also a method recommended in the Forum Rules, as I pointed out earlier.
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Mm, I understand. As I said, I have nothing against it but I prefer typing :) It doesn't matter how the question is answered as long as it's answered and you always do so.
 
GGJ: the context menu part does not seem to be working, despite the "on" button being checked.
 
Iv'e got better uses for my sig thank you very much :) But it doesn't bother me what other decide to do at all...
MRoogle it all night long!
 
andrew086 said:
Am I the only one who goes insane after seeing about 50% of the topics in some forums have replies saying too MRoogle it before posting?
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Let me be the first to tell you something completely different.

Why don't you stick your head in a blender. If you are insane, seems like something worth trying. ;) :p
 
I usually begin each thread with "I've searched for this on MR but haven't found an answer" just to fend off any "MRooglers". They certainly are annoying.

PS I always DO look it up first. Often I get my answer along with a link to a previous post. Of course, the words you use are the difference between finding a story and not.
 
Sometimes people don't feel like searching. Plain and simple. Why not post a question to this board where you know many people will have the answer you are looking for, go about your day, and check back later. Saves a lot of time. I'm always surprised when someone posts Why Are Wasting Our Time By Asking Instead Of Searching? Well, why are you wasting your own time by posting that?

P.S. My personal favorite was the response to a guy posting about if he should buy a certain product, forget which. Anyway, the response was WHY ARE YOU ASKING US? DO SOME RESEARCH! GET AN OPINION!!! Uh....isn't that what he was doing? Seeing if people who already bought the product would recommend it or not....
 
Duff-Man says...I can be somewhat forgiving of posts that are asking about some semi-obscure thing but it's the really common stuff that people do not bother to search for that annoys me the most - that's just being lazy. Do you really think you are the first to ask about viruses on the Mac, or Parallels vs Fusion, or "best browser" just to name a few?

Bottom line for me is that this is a moderated forum and that being there are rules, one being that you're supposed to search before opening a new thread. Take a few minutes and read the rules and save yourself some hassle later.....oh yeah!
 
I do wish MR wasn't so adverse to sticky threads.

There are plenty of threads that are worthy of being stickied, just so that folks can see that the topic has been discussed, sometimes to death.

What I've taken to do in my usual haunt of Windows on Mac is try to abstract common issues into MR guides and then place them at the top of the forum. Still doesn't stop folks from asking questions that are answered right in front of their faces, but gives a way to highlight these common issues.

B
 
Duff-Man said:
Take a few minutes and read the rules and save yourself some hassle later.....oh yeah!
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Can you honestly say that you read them before you joined or right after you joined? I can admit I did not :D I'm quite sure that most of us didn't read them before we first posted.

balamw said:
There are plenty of threads that are worthy of being stickied, just so that folks can see that the topic has been discussed, sometimes to death.
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In my experience, people tend to ignore stickies and similar stuff. They can't see anything else but the
newthread.gif
button. Besides, there would be so many threads that are worth to be sticked so... I do agree that guides need more attention since there is a lot knowledge lying on those threads. The guide site is just horrible though, very hard to find anything.

After all, if everyone used search, what would be our purpose here? Most of the threads are started by newbies so if they disappeared, this forum would be more or less dead. We should be flattered that someone joins this site and asks a question because he trusts in our knowledge.

The last sentence is already so syrupy so it's time for me to stop :p
 
I've typed a post to this thread like three times, and each time I've not posted it.

While answers can be found by searching, but this forum is not a wikipedia where people just search and leave, its a forum for dialog.

All too often we see answers telling people to search and the person stating that doesn't even read the post. That is the mroogle answers does not pertain to the OP.

On one side we have people who don't search and ask the same questions over and over.

On the other side we have people who don't want new threads or the blindly post a link to mroogle.

Personally, I try to answer the question, and while I have recommended mroogle for those questions that seem to crop up over and over. like how do I install windows on a mac.

For me this forum is about discussions, not searches and I think it detracts from the discussions and forum quality when we have some mroogle nazis just telling people to use mroogle.
 
Yep. The MRoogle posters are annoying and rarely, if ever, engage a poster. I honestly think there's merit in updated/new threads, and I find the whole "search for it" attitude to be snotty.

If 95% of your posts are mroogle linkages, you're going too far with it. Forum members should be more than bots who post the same copied garbage over and over. Contribute to the discussion or beat it.

maflynn said:
I've typed a post to this thread like three times, and each time I've not posted it.

While answers can be found by searching, but this forum is not a wikipedia where people just search and leave, its a forum for dialog.

All too often we see answers telling people to search and the person stating that doesn't even read the post. That is the mroogle answers does not pertain to the OP.

On one side we have people who don't search and ask the same questions over and over.

On the other side we have people who don't want new threads or the blindly post a link to mroogle.

Personally, I try to answer the question, and while I have recommended mroogle for those questions that seem to crop up over and over. like how do I install windows on a mac.

For me this forum is about discussions, not searches and I think it detracts from the discussions and forum quality when we have some mroogle nazis just telling people to use mroogle.
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