4 ms·

Googling something does not mean you don't know what it is. Very often I google things that I know quite a bit about. Sometimes to see if there is any news abo

by Buge 10y ago

Googling something does not mean you don't know what it is. Very often I google things that I know quite a bit about. Sometimes to see if there is any news about it, or just to get to the wikipedia page, and brush up on a few facts.

CM30 10y ago
Or in some cases, to 'confirm' that what you think about something is correct or popular. How many of the people searching for the EU stuff were those in both sides looking to validate their own decisions? But yeah, Googling stuff can mean a lot of things, and its ridiculous to assume it purely means someone doesn't know about something.
- ghayes 10y ago
  To back this up, I often try to Google in non-biased ways. If you search for "Is paleo unhealthy," you're going to get very different results than "health benefits of Paleo."
TeMPOraL 10y ago
Google is indeed rightfully called "the Address Bar of the Internet" in the article. Few of the searches I did today[0]: - russian letters - because I needed to copy-paste a glyph - ramen - because I wanted to double-check this word for one of my today's HN comments - polyvalent - because "wtf does that word in today's HN link mean?" - sabaton prague - to get the name of a song I wanted to listen to - list polecający - to double-check that's a right name in Polish for "recommendation letter" - shield logo - to quickly find an image URL I could post to office chat so that the person who stole my mug can know which mug I'm talking about etc. I could call only one of these (the "polyvalent") a case of not knowing something. Rest were mostly "utility searches". [0] - I'd post more, but for the typical weird Googly reason, they completely fucked up the search history interface - it's now mixed with sites visited with Chrome, of which I have significantly more than distinct Google queries. And there is no way to filter the list. Why Google keeps making interfaces dumber and less usable is beyond me, but I'm started to get sick of it.
- throwanem 10y ago
  Firefox has gotten a lot more usable in the last few versions, and Chrome-style tab isolation should be here a few versions from now. If they're still screwing up in any major way, it's in the ever-closer approximation of the terrible Chrome UI, but there's an extension [1] which solves that quite handily. [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/classicthemerestorer/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/classicthemer...
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    Thanks for the extension link. In my comment though, I didn't mean Chrome interface, I meant the UI of https://history.google.com/ https://history.google.com/. It's now made Inbox-style, but with zero functionality.
    - kbenson 10y ago
      I just searched for that and used it for the first time to look to prior searches to use in another comment, and found the interface to be pretty bad. But in writing this comment, I found that it has a "go to date" option at the top and a search box that searches your history. It's actually far better than I thought on first use (but I'm not sure it qualifies as good).
- kbenson 10y ago
  I often google the things I'm discussing on HN as well, to make sure my facts are straight, and to define words that sounds right to use, but I want to be precise[1]. What I google probably has little relevance to what I "know" or not. Also, I try to google my own position in some arguments to see if I can find the talking points of the other side, and how well my views fare in their light. 1: There's a fine line between using language that some percentage of people won't necessarily know the correct definition of but is precise to your meaning, and using less precise terminology that requires more words and sentences to arrive at what may be equivalent. In my experience, people generally have a mostly correct idea of the meaning of most of the less common words in English, but through remembering prior uses in context, not through necessarily remembering the definition. I like to skirt this line (at least, where it is for me, as it's different for different people), and rely on readers that care to look up the definition of a word that they aren't sure if it implies something specific (as I try to).
Sir_Cmpwn 10y ago
How often do you google "who is mitt romney?" as opposed to just "mitt romney"?

by Buge 10y ago

CM30 10y ago

Or in some cases, to 'confirm' that what you think about something is correct or popular. How many of the people searching for the EU stuff were those in both sides looking to validate their own decisions? But yeah, Googling stuff can mean a lot of things, and its ridiculous to assume it purely means someone doesn't know about something.

ghayes 10y ago
To back this up, I often try to Google in non-biased ways. If you search for "Is paleo unhealthy," you're going to get very different results than "health benefits of Paleo."

TeMPOraL 10y ago

Google is indeed rightfully called "the Address Bar of the Internet" in the article. Few of the searches I did today[0]: - russian letters - because I needed to copy-paste a glyph - ramen - because I wanted to double-check this word for one of my today's HN comments - polyvalent - because "wtf does that word in today's HN link mean?" - sabaton prague - to get the name of a song I wanted to listen to - list polecający - to double-check that's a right name in Polish for "recommendation letter" - shield logo - to quickly find an image URL I could post to office chat so that the person who stole my mug can know which mug I'm talking about etc. I could call only one of these (the "polyvalent") a case of not knowing something. Rest were mostly "utility searches". [0] - I'd post more, but for the typical weird Googly reason, they completely fucked up the search history interface - it's now mixed with sites visited with Chrome, of which I have significantly more than distinct Google queries. And there is no way to filter the list. Why Google keeps making interfaces dumber and less usable is beyond me, but I'm started to get sick of it.

throwanem 10y ago
Firefox has gotten a lot more usable in the last few versions, and Chrome-style tab isolation should be here a few versions from now. If they're still screwing up in any major way, it's in the ever-closer approximation of the terrible Chrome UI, but there's an extension [1] which solves that quite handily. [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/classicthemerestorer/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/classicthemer...
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  Thanks for the extension link. In my comment though, I didn't mean Chrome interface, I meant the UI of https://history.google.com/ https://history.google.com/. It's now made Inbox-style, but with zero functionality.
  - kbenson 10y ago
    I just searched for that and used it for the first time to look to prior searches to use in another comment, and found the interface to be pretty bad. But in writing this comment, I found that it has a "go to date" option at the top and a search box that searches your history. It's actually far better than I thought on first use (but I'm not sure it qualifies as good).
kbenson 10y ago
I often google the things I'm discussing on HN as well, to make sure my facts are straight, and to define words that sounds right to use, but I want to be precise[1]. What I google probably has little relevance to what I "know" or not. Also, I try to google my own position in some arguments to see if I can find the talking points of the other side, and how well my views fare in their light. 1: There's a fine line between using language that some percentage of people won't necessarily know the correct definition of but is precise to your meaning, and using less precise terminology that requires more words and sentences to arrive at what may be equivalent. In my experience, people generally have a mostly correct idea of the meaning of most of the less common words in English, but through remembering prior uses in context, not through necessarily remembering the definition. I like to skirt this line (at least, where it is for me, as it's different for different people), and rely on readers that care to look up the definition of a word that they aren't sure if it implies something specific (as I try to).

Sir_Cmpwn 10y ago

How often do you google "who is mitt romney?" as opposed to just "mitt romney"?