Let's be clear here: When you post a "fact" and are

[JanMichael]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by MerryBlooms (a host of the General Discussion forum).

asked to "name your source," telling another DU'er to "google it" is NOT acceptable. Please be clear about your sources when you are making claims such as "more people died from kitchen knives than from guns in 2013."

[Skittles]

1. I wouldn't even bother questioning someone as stupid as THAT

waste of time

[JanMichael]

3. That was just an example

I am seeing stupid shit all over DU right now- I have been told to "google" twice.

Yeah. It's beyond ridiculous.

[Skittles]

9. I hear ya - I saw something as stupid as that a couple of days ago

I just put them on Ignore because I figure if they're that stupid I'm not really interested in what else they have to say

[LWolf]

2. In other words,

don't be lazy or duplicitous.

I agree.

[JanMichael]

5. Exactly

thank you

[shraby]

4. It used to be on DU if someone posted a "fact" and no link to it, the

first reply would be "link please".
Otherwise it wasn't a fact that could be trusted. For all we knew, it came from the worst of the dingleberry news online.

[JanMichael]

7. There are "new" DUers

that think that if they post a "fact" we should just accept it. Bullshit.

They need to get with the program. This isn't FB.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

11. Agree 100% n/t

[upaloopa]

21. You can link to lies and fasle hoods too

[Historic NY]

23. Were adults here for the most part...

we are more than able to winnow out bullshit..and crazy stuff from sites which are just not credible.

[NYC_SKP]

6. Not " more people died" that's silly.

The fact is that "more people were seriously injured by kichen knives", in the US in 2013, than by guns.
That is the fact so often mis-quoted.

[JanMichael]

8. That was ONLY an made up example

Thank you, but that's not the point of this thread. If a person makes a "factual claim," they need to be prepared to back it up other than to write "Google it."

[ManiacJoe]

10. Cool fact. But it, too, needs a verifiable source.

[JanMichael]

14. I think he or she "gets" that

This isn't about a made up scenario I posted. It's about not posting stupid shit, then telling other DUers to "google it."

[Fred Sanders]

30. Even if true, a cut finger is rather unlike being, you know,.....dead. Over 30,000 by firearms, a

few less deaths than by kitchen knives, I would think.

My link is called common sense.duh.

[Mr.Bill]

31. Link?

[gollygee]

12. I just typed a response and it got lost

But anyway, I think there are cases where it's fair to say, "Google it." Sometimes people say "give me a source" just to be obnoxious and argumentative. Like let's say I have a post where I say, "Well the bee population is declining." If someone says, "I don't believe that - give me a link" I'd be perfectly fine with telling them to Google it themselves. It's been all over the place. They aren't really wanting a link. I don't think I'm obligated to play that game.

On the other hand, if I'm making a claim that is not something of fairly general knowledge or something easily found a million places, then I should give a link to show I didn't get it from a biased source. And your example fits that IMO.

[JanMichael]

19. Thank you!

Yes- there is "general knowledge" (such as "damn! Traffic in DC is horrible!&quot and then there are other areas that require a "source" such as "Orange Cats are clearly meaner than gray cats."

[gollygee]

26. Yeah although I don't think I can throw stones here

Sometimes I feel people are being antagonistic and I can't promise every time I've told someone to google it themselves, that I followed my own advice. Maybe due to bad moods, I don't know.

I can think of one case pretty recently where I thought the person was being disengenuous and I said I didn't intend to be her personal Google assistant. Although actually I don't think I was making a claim - she started a thread questioning an overall concept or another. I don't remember specifically what but something about racism. I felt like if she really wanted to know the answers to her questions, she would have googled instead of starting a thread asking everyone else to google for her.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

13. Meh.

If I tell you the sky is blue, you challenge me, and I say 'Google it', I don't really care that you think it's 'unacceptable'.

In fact, I don't care if you don't believe me, and think it's chartreuse. You're not paying me to do your research for you.

If the information is easily accessible, via, say, a google search, then why should I waste my time doing your work for you because you're the one who doesn't believe it?

If I provide a source for something I write, it's because I JUST came across it, and still have it handy. If I read it 4 years ago, in contemporaneous blog postings during the last primary, I'll tell you what I saw, then tell you if you care, you can go find it yourself.

Lots of trolls waste the time of people posting in good faith by demanding they spend time trying to find some original post.

So believe it, don't believe it, I don't really care. Nobody is paying me to post, so I'm not giving professional class comments complete with footnotes and references.

[JanMichael]

16. my wife is a librarian- and is laughing her ass off at your

lazy answer. "Googling" is NOT "research." IF you are "wasting your time" posting on a website, then why are you upset because you think others should "waste their time" looking up what you wrote?

Give me a break. You sound like you need to stick to memes on FB.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

27. Again, I could care less.

I don't consider myself as wasting my time in general - I consider myself as wasting my time when I bother to respond to trolls who are simply trying to derail things by demanding I look up things they can look up every bit as easily.

And, btw, I actually worked a reference/info desk in the past at the local library, back pre-internet. Back then, yeah, it was a lot harder to find info for people. But most of what people actually want is available online these days, and doesn't require digging through books. Heck, if I gave the trolls a book reference, they still wouldn't be satisfied, because chances are, they couldn't get the book short of something like inter-library loan, and they're not going to bother, if they can't even be bothered to try a google search.

Let's face it, the person demanding I provide them everything spoon-fed is the lazy one.

[ChazII]

15. In regards to FB and the guns/knives story

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/jan/18/facebook-posts/facebook-post-says-more-people-were-murdered-knive/

I am not sure but it looks like politifact is somewhat like snopes. If it is a right wing rag then I apologize and will delete this post.

[JanMichael]

17. Chaz

Never met you- haven't seen any of your posts. This was an "imaginary" scenario based on several replies I have seen recently. Thanks for the answer, but no- This wasn't calling anyone out.

[ChazII]

28. JanMichael, thank you.

I have heard about this story on FB. When I saw your thread I decided to do a search. Thank you for understanding.

[EX500rider]

22. No, the St Pete Times (now TampaBayTimes) is not a right wing rag

[Cleita]

18. Sometimes I tell people to Google because I'm posting from a mobile

device and it's very hard to put up links. I do try to give as much info as I can to reach the links by Google. Also I get the impression that such demands at times are just affronts. The person demanding a link really isn't interested.

I do understand what you mean. Some assertions are totally made up facts with no substance.

[WinkyDink]

25. Then maybe you should first explain you are on a mobile device, because telling someone to Google

is a somewhat aggressive response (at least, it is when I say it).

[Cleita]

34. I always say I'm on a mobile first.

You are right it would be rude not to.

[noiretextatique]

20. water is wet

yahoo it

[WinkyDink]

24. Amen! I asked for support recently and was told "Google is your friend." I replied that the BURDEN

is on the original POSTER.

[CK_John]

29. This is a forum not a lecture hall, There is no need for any OP to be a research assistant.

If your interested you can bing or google yourself.

[Throd]

32. Google will give different people different results. If you make a claim, be prepared to back it up

[MineralMan]

33. Isn't this the same as the previously locked thread?

I'm sorry, but people will post as they post.

[aspirant]

35. The universal truth

I agree when someone says 2+2=4 that a link would be helpful to instill that belief, but could it be that 2+2=9 on the planet Vulcan?

Our life's journey has many grey zones within beliefs, opinions and facts and a simple IMO could unite us.

[MerryBlooms]

36. Locking. Host consensus- Disruptive Meta.

Statement of Purpose

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