Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

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The entire showerthought must be in the title
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- 3.1) NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
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The "just google it" mantra has probably held back quite a lot of interesting conversations and debate (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've always been a "lurker" on all platforms and communities because when I do have a question or would like to contribute my first thought has become:

Actually, let me google it first

In which case I'll usually have some answer. Usually it isn't a complete answer but enough for me to not want to share my question anymore.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That second scenario you've described is why I loathe this "just fucking google it" mantra.

Searching for stuff needs some amount of information to begin with. You need to know what search terms to use, which means you have to know something about the problem you're trying to solve. And a lot of times, that is precisely the problem: not knowing what even to include in the search query. With a human on the other side of the tube, it's something that could easily be remedied with a few follow-up questions, but a search engine can't do that--nor do you want for it to do that.

EDIT: Clarified things.

Changed "And a lot of times, that is precisely the problem: not knowing how to formulate the search query" to "And a lot of times, that is precisely the problem: not knowing what even to include in the search query."