On Sun, 28 Dec 2014 13:31:37 -0800, "Sasquatch Jones"
wrote:

No. Repeating the same questions means people are taking part.
For example, if my heater is working fine, I won't be checking threads
about how to fix a heater. Telling someone "google is your friend" or
"that was discussed last month" with no constructive advice will only
turn people off. 1 on 1 discussion with someone familiar with a topic
is many times better than googling.


---

Google continues to get worse. Over half the search results are either
advertising, have nothing to do with the topic, or are sites that no
longer exist. Those that do pertain, are more often than not, some blog
or discussion forum, which is nothing but jibber jabber and
inconsistant. Google was never perfect, but it continues to get worse.
It appears they'd rather support their advertisers than give useful
search results. I often wonder if Google sleeps with Ebay, because Ebay
stuff seems to come up first.

A while back, I was searching for some info for the carburetor for an
older Chevy truck, and all I got were results for other vehicle brands,
when I specifically put "Chevy Truck" in the search line.

I finally went to an "automotive" newsgroup and got a lot more help.

It'll be a sad day when the newsgroups are all dead. Most of them are
dead and gone already, but thankfully, alt.home.repair remains active.
But I do see some posts on here that at one time would have been better
suited for an automotive or computer related newsgroup, but those groups
are dead or dying. So, it seems alt.home.repair is becoming more of a
"catchall" for a lot of topics, which are repair related, but not
necessarily "home" related.

If you ask me, I think the whole internet is going to the ****ter. Back
in the 90's and early 2000's it was fun. Now it's swamped by
advertising, too restrictive, and dominated by that repulsive Facebook!
(I wont say EXACTLY what I think about Facebook, because I'd have to use
very vulgar language). The internet is no longer fun, but at times it's
useful for researching a topic. But even that is getting worse. Not
too long ago, I had a sick pet, and before calling a vet, (after hours),
I wanted to see if I could do something. I went to a site that has that
sort of information. After reading a few paragraphs, I clicked "next
page" and was told I had to both REGISTER and PAY to read the rest of
the article. I used some of my worst vocabulary, and later, I blocked
that website so I never go to it again.