Let’s be honest: good conversations rarely begin with questions you could’ve Googled.
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Let’s be honest: good conversations rarely begin with questions you could’ve Googled.
It’s not that people mind helping—it’s that they value effort. When someone sends an lmgtfy, it’s not meant to be rude—it’s a gentle reminder that the answer was always within reach.
If you can type it into social media, you can just as easily type it into a search bar. And sometimes, doing that first leads to a better conversation.
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Let’s be honest: good conversations rarely begin with questions you could’ve Googled.
It’s not that people mind helping—it’s that they value effort. When someone sends an lmgtfy, it’s not meant to be rude—it’s a gentle reminder that the answer was always within reach.
If you can type it into social media, you can just as easily type it into a search bar. And sometimes, doing that first leads to a better conversation.
@atomicpoet …so does this mean you *don’t* know how late the corner quickie mart in Fort Langley village is open ‘til?!
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@atomicpoet …so does this mean you *don’t* know how late the corner quickie mart in Fort Langley village is open ‘til?!
@calligraffiti It’s been a long time since I visited Fort Langley. -
Let’s be honest: good conversations rarely begin with questions you could’ve Googled.
It’s not that people mind helping—it’s that they value effort. When someone sends an lmgtfy, it’s not meant to be rude—it’s a gentle reminder that the answer was always within reach.
If you can type it into social media, you can just as easily type it into a search bar. And sometimes, doing that first leads to a better conversation.
@atomicpoet OTOH the number of things Google actually managers to respond to correctly is going down fast, and the AI slop on top of it added by Google itself is not doing anybody any favor, so …
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@atomicpoet OTOH the number of things Google actually managers to respond to correctly is going down fast, and the AI slop on top of it added by Google itself is not doing anybody any favor, so …
@oblomov Okay, so if even Google can’t find it, that just makes your search request worse—because now you’re asking me to do unpaid labour with zero reward, social or otherwise. -
Let’s be honest: good conversations rarely begin with questions you could’ve Googled.
It’s not that people mind helping—it’s that they value effort. When someone sends an lmgtfy, it’s not meant to be rude—it’s a gentle reminder that the answer was always within reach.
If you can type it into social media, you can just as easily type it into a search bar. And sometimes, doing that first leads to a better conversation.
When someone sends an lmgtfy, it’s not meant to be rude—it’s a gentle reminder that the answer was always within reach.
not meant to be ≠ is
It's condescending regardless of intent. It's also worth noting (as others have) that modern Google results are less useful than they were in the pre-LLM era.
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When someone sends an lmgtfy, it’s not meant to be rude—it’s a gentle reminder that the answer was always within reach.
not meant to be ≠ is
It's condescending regardless of intent. It's also worth noting (as others have) that modern Google results are less useful than they were in the pre-LLM era.
Jonathan Lamothe Here’s the bottom line: directly messaging someone to do your searching for you? That’s disrespectful. It shows a lack of basic effort and boundaries.
That kind of behavior deserves a firm pushback, not hand-holding or endless patience.
Using lmgtfy isn’t about being rude for the sake of it—it’s a clear, no-nonsense way to establish boundaries and remind people to respect others’ time. Sometimes that’s exactly what’s needed.
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Jonathan Lamothe Here’s the bottom line: directly messaging someone to do your searching for you? That’s disrespectful. It shows a lack of basic effort and boundaries.
That kind of behavior deserves a firm pushback, not hand-holding or endless patience.
Using lmgtfy isn’t about being rude for the sake of it—it’s a clear, no-nonsense way to establish boundaries and remind people to respect others’ time. Sometimes that’s exactly what’s needed.
@atomicpoet You have a valid point. If it's a direct message rather than a public post that's pretty definitely poor form. I did not get the impression from your initial post that this was what you meant.
IMHO, LMGTFY is unnecessarily passive aggressive though. A better response would probably be "you should probably try googling that."
As a bonus, it's an even lower effort response while still getting the same point across.
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@atomicpoet You have a valid point. If it's a direct message rather than a public post that's pretty definitely poor form. I did not get the impression from your initial post that this was what you meant.
IMHO, LMGTFY is unnecessarily passive aggressive though. A better response would probably be "you should probably try googling that."
As a bonus, it's an even lower effort response while still getting the same point across.
@me Fair point on the effort.
