Your reaction to "google" questions?

not encouraging flaming these posts.

we don't do that here

I have no problems with such questions. Different people have different googling abilities.

I do have a problem with people that respond with telling the person to go google. If you don’t think a question is worthy, just ignore it.

I agree. And that's why I appreciate the courteous vibe we have through moderation and just the culture the boards have.

But I'm really asking if I'm the only one who occasionally thinks "what's going on here with this question?"

I take no issue with someone asking "what is the weather in Rome in August". Most people spend a lot of time in artificial environments, running from their house to their car to the store. One that spends much of their day inside is going to have a different view of the weather than someone spending their day outside. Googling the answer gives one the averages, but not necessarily the immediate local reality. To ask the question is seeking more than a websearch will provide.

It may be the hundredth time you've heard the question, but their first time asking.

Why fret about the question? It's no skin off your back and if an issue just pass it on by.

But I'm really asking if I'm the only one who occasionally thinks
"what's going on here with this question?"

I think the same thing, but try to take Elsa's advice and let it go, life is too short. I don't envy the webmaster's job trying to sort out bots from real people who simply don't have polite social skills. And FWIW even long time posters sometimes ask some "eh?" questions and you just have to assume they're having a bad day.

My thought is usually that they have a more nuanced question in mind, but haven't phrased it in that way.

Such as,

I see rain in the forecasts in Rome. Is it brief showers that amount to nothing, or should I bring my fancy raincoat?

Or

Is it crazy humid in Rome in August and I need to bring twice as many tops because they won't dry overnight?

If I can guess what their more nuanced question might be - because maybe my clothes didn't dry overnight in Rome - then I might offer that up as weather information to help with their packing.

If that's not what they were after, they'll clarify. And perhaps pack an extra top or two.

I once got severely beat up on this forum (figuratively speaking) for suggesting that it can be more helpful to guide people to the resources where they can find answers to their questions than to give the answers. So tell them to google it at your own risk. I've learned to skip to the next post unless I can answer a question in a way that's genuinely helpful.

To give you an idea about how everyone's skill and information level is different, I had to Google the Elsa and Let it Go reference. Those of you with kids might gasp, because the song has burned a deep rut in your brain.

I've never seen it. I don't have kids or the Disney Channel.

Although to the OPs point, I just googled it, rather than asking here.

ETA: my first reaction was, who the heck is Elsa? I actually went back through the thread looking for a post from someone named Elsa.

Been a Forum member for decades. Learned early on that in general people have intelligence and are knowledgeable about travel.

Then there are others that haven’t a clue. Life is waaay to short to waste energy fretting over others laziness.

I had to Google the Elsa and Let it Go reference.

Same here. I guess we could've experimented and posted Who's Elsa? to see if we got "flamed"

people have intelligence and are knowledgeable about travel.

Did they always have that knowledge? Wasn't there a time when they were clueless?

laziness?

My thought is usually that they have a more nuanced question in mind,
but haven't phrased it in that way.

CWsocial beat me to it. For example during my planning for my recent Trip to Mexico City I noticed that due to elevation the temperature drops drastically overnight, i.e., one day it was a high if 29 and the next morning it was 7. I didn't ask the question, but if I had it would have needed a carefully thought out one.

count me in as having no idea who Elsa is. Should I Google it?
*I just did and I still don't know. Google says Elsa is the character from Frozen. I'm pretty sure we're not asking her.

I can't say these questions ever bother me. I joined this forum because I love talking about travel and helping people enjoy their time in the UK (and elsewhere in Europe). If I were to find a question annoying, I would just skip it. I agree with those who have said they suspect usually people are asking for more nuance than they would get with a Google search. Also we can acknowledge that Google isn't as helpful as it used to be- it can be a lot harder these days to find what you are looking for, particularly info that isn't somehow sponsored or being used to game the SEO.

Ok, my kids are grown and I have no grandchildren. But CWsocial, you made me laugh out loud. Now you are going to start seeing (or recognizing) Frozen references everywhere. LOL. It’s worth watching when you want something relaxing.

I admit to some of the same thoughts as Chris from time to time. I have seen a couple of questions recently that, because of how they were phrased, first-time poster, etc. I feel pretty sure were not a real person. However I read the kind replies and went my own way. (And occasionally I report with a question, just so the webmaster can take a look and decide - because that’s as much as we are supposed to do.)

I’ve also decided I am not so important that I need to answer every question, even if I might know - so only answer something if I have time and it makes me happy to do so. So if it doesn’t make me happy to remember my travel experience and answer, I “let it go”.

I do often provide not the specific answer but the means to answer it—the teach a man to fish model. For example, “consult a weather website” or a transit website, and many don’t realize that airport websites often include transit info. After all, they’ll need to answer a question for themself at some point!
But do I worry, deeply, about the ability of others to find accurate information, especially with the influx of AI, yes I do!

I have noticed that in response to weather questions acraven often tells people how to look up the historical data. It seems to me that is a good examole of a polite and helpful way of sharing a resource that can be googled but is not obvious.

I appreciate these varied responses. Keep 'em coming.

It’s worth watching

I'd probably start with the Harry Potter movies🤭!

For one week every year, as part of my volunteer job, I work at the info desk at a very large event (maybe 10,000 people?). I can assure you that real, live people ask exactly the same kind of questions, and it's my job to answer them. Cheerfully. But, here, I can ignore them if I don't feel like answering.

I have NO idea who or what Elsa is, and why it is important to the temperature in Romer that she is frozen.

not taking the effort to look them up either.

historical averages are not always as helpful as they used to be since climate change started going off the wall.

I get more bent over the answers.

Q: Whats the weather like in Germany in March?
A: I was in Germany last March and it was perfect.

Q: Great, then I will go.

I don't think it matters.

If/when the AI bots get a little better you (most people) won't be able to tell the difference. Which will then produce all the people claiming every post is AI. Welcome to the future.

As some others have said, if I don't have anything to contribute, then I just ignore the question. There is no point to be mean.
At the end of the day, most questions here (including the ones I ask) can be found on a search engine or AI platforms. But there is nothing like listening from those with real life experience or who has traveled to the place recently.
When I was planning my trip to Japan years ago, I learned from a previous traveler that there was a better weather forecast website for the region (I forgot the name!). As I was planning a hike and wanted to time it with good weather. It was a Japanese based site that worked really well.

Edited to add: I had to chime in on the Elsa and Frozen reference. I'm happy we are beyond that in my house, but I do still have a young child and when COVID hit and she was stuck at home while we were trying to work from home, I had the movie on repeat. I still have the Let it Go song engraved in my brain.

Two problems with "consult a transit website":

1) Many transit websites are still only available in the local language, especially in more rural areas without major international tourist destinations.
2) The growing, unfortunate trend for transit websites to only provide "journey planners" responding to enquiries about specific start and end points, without providing actual transit maps which make it much easier for tourists who want to know roughly where they can go by public transit and how dense the network is.

At the end of the day, most questions here (including the ones I ask) can be found on a search engine or AI platforms. But there is nothing like listening from those with real life experience or who has traveled to the place recently.

Thank you, JoyNyc.

Oh, and I watched "Frozen" on a flight to Europe once, just to see what the fuss was all about. Highly recommended. It's funny and sweet, and manages to overcome a number of "princess movie" stereotypes. I especially recommend it to anyone who has a sister. Or is one.

Chris, you’re not alone. When I see a super basic question I wonder if the person has done even a cursory check online first. But, I tell myself to give them a break. I don’t usually think it’s a bot. I try to keep patient and not be judgy (which I also need to work on in other aspects of my life). If I have some info to share, I’ll do so and also share a relevant link or two.

I've often wondered if seemingly simple questions are more like an invitation to talk about the OP's trip.

Then there are others that haven’t a clue. Life is waaay to short to waste energy fretting over others laziness.

I would never say that someone who is asking a simple question that could easily be googled is lazy. As others have pointed out, there are degrees of knowledge about tech and even just googling. Some people may not trust Google or may not know how to get the best use of it. There are a lot of people (usually older) who would prefer to have a real person answer their question.

If you don't like the question, move on. Or if you are suspicious of it, report it so the tech team can review it. No need to post. 😊

I think the same way about someone asking about a hotel…the prices, etc. I use to suggest booking.com for an idea of what’s available for their dates but now just do a “let it go” and figure someone else will go all out. I do feel like Lane, instead of just providing their information, shouldn’t we at least also teach them how to obtain that information?

Good that questions are being asked, eg, those pertaining to the weather and hopefully they continue to be. You don't want the weather to be surprised and have the day trip marring the potential enjoyment expected in your day's outing , let alone being defeated by the weather factor where your day trip ends up almost a total waste.

No problems with one asking other types of simple questions either.

Chris, you're not alone. I've had similar reactions. In fact, I'm often amazed at the time that some very kind posters spend on responding to what I consider basic questions. I tend to move on from these because otherwise it'll drive me nuts. I realize, though, that others may enjoy answering the questions.

I also suffer from question fatigue at times. Sure, I can suggest London hotels, but the question has been asked how many times. I don't need to weigh in every time, so I don't always reply unless it's a neighborhood I know fairly well. (Although I chuckle at how many times I've read "Premier Inn County Hall" on this forum. I'm wondering if some of you all own stock in the company? ;)

There was a question recently where I wondered if the poster, who'd signed up for a Rick Steves tour, had even read the itinerary. Le sigh. That's a "moving along" post for me. My other "read and move on" questions tend to be when posters wonder what else to do in Bamberg/Toulouse/Aberdeen/FillintheBlank when guidebooks, tourism websites, and YouTube have plenty of ideas. Plus, my interests may not be the same as the poster's. No, I'm not interested in the thread museum, but you may not be interested in Jane Austen's 2nd cousin's house even though it's at the top of my list. For that reason, I hesitate to suggest and hesitate to ask unless I've already done my base research and am asking a very specific question about a sight, city, or hotel.

I very much want this forum to stay active and have people engaged. I've been a long-time user of Trip Advisor and the forums are dwindling down to almost nothing in the area of my expertise. Before Covid and the advent of many FB location specific travel sites we'd have 2-3 pages of new posts per day in the run up to summer. Now we are down to a couple of questions a day and it's dismal.

So, I'm all for any question anyone wants to ask. If I think it's irrelevant or I don't have an answer I move on to the next post.

I also want people to feel welcome here which has always been a hallmark of this forum. If they are not very able with tech things or are just new to travel they may not know how to ask better questions to elicit better responses. At the beginning, sometimes you don't know what you don't know.

CWsocial, you made my day as I’m trapped in a long car ride home from my husband’s deer camp, (the things we do for love). Laugh out loud funny. Who’s Elsa?

I have granddaughters at the absolute prime age for that movie and even though they live in Alaska I had that song as an ear worm way too often.

take Elsa's advice and let it go

Now you are going to start seeing (or recognizing) Frozen references everywhere. LOL. It’s worth watching when you want something relaxing.

I'm someone who sees much to recommend Frozen to young people, especially young girls, who are struggling with self-image and self-confidence. With that said, I could no more relax when forced to view it than I could kiss my own feet while standing up. It makes me cringe.

Jphbucks, that also made me laugh. But I do see your viewpoint.

TTM, you can come see the stage version at the Madách Színház, but you will have to read the English sub-titles.

I tried to watch "Frozen" on a flight, and I fell asleep while they were still singing about building a snowman.

On this forum, I have been told to "google it" when asking about hotels in Berlin, and BBQ joints in KC, among other things. I do a lot of research when planning my travels, and I don't think it's necessary to share how much I've researched when I'm asking what could be considered a basic question. The answers I received to my basic Berlin and KC questions from the posters I hoped would respond confirmed my own choices.

Sometimes I will just post a link in response to a basic question.

This conversation begs the question: Have you ever "googled it" in order to respond to someone's question?

I have.

I have also.

Lane, even if I think I know something 9 out of 10 times I will google it or otherwise chcek my memory before I post.

me too, sometimes, unless I know it backwards. Usually use the original source rather than a search.

Actually I never use G**gle, I use Startpage or DuckDuckGo. But sometimes I'll do a search before posting just to be sure I don't mis-spell a European city name or railroad, or whatever (for example, I didn't know what the heck NIN was, so I just searched for it, and now I know).

And I think the OP's real question was, "is it a bot, trying to increase it's post count?". I think mostly it is a real person asking a real question, so why not give a general answer to an overly general question. Not a problem IMHO.

Mr. E, how have I missed this venue? I guess I didn’t google enough….

While I am fairly new to RS Forum, I usually try to search if my question has been asked/answered before in the forum. But I do find it harder to do the search by country-specific forum.
And very often I found my question indeed had been asked and answered, but maybe last response was a year ago so the thread was now closed for inactivity. I couldn't reply to the same thread to get a more recent update. So I had to start a new question.
And no, it was not asking about the weather or very basic question.

I am one of those that has no trouble with asking the same question over again. Things change and the people contributing change. there are no dumb questions, just dumb .... any way. I did a post a few days ago sort of about this topic. It does no good to ask a question if you dont provide enough background to answer it correctly. We had one recently that dealt with timing of an activity because of a conflict with another activity but he didnt bother to say what the time of the conflicting activity was ... so a few made a wild stab at it and it turned out not to be the most productive use of time.

TTM it is in the travel notes

Yup, the message board SEARCH is not great. The admin explained that a more robust search function would involve a lot more time and money than they are willing to spend right now. Maybe some point in the future but they have other priorities.

the message board SEARCH is not great

You can craft a great query using Google that will search just the forum - even just a forum sub group.

Did I just tell you to Google it? I think so!

I don't want to derail this thread, but an example Google search term is:

"https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports" "Romania"

You can get as sophisticated as you like. I will let you Google that. With those search capabilities, it would be an expensive redundancy to build it into the forum search.

Google Questions…….Junk Mail that I ignore.

I just do a Google search on the words, like: rick steves forum romania

Nancys8, that's so simple, why didn't I think of that. I just did that search with Startpage, got a very useful listing of RS forum threads. Thank you all for that idea!

It's a great question- why do people ask questions on a forum like this when they can get an answer instantly from Google?

I've thought about it, and other than just not knowing how to google something, which seems very unlikely in this day and age, I have come to the conclusion that people just like to talk to other people.

I've done it myself. Not "what's the weather in Rome in August" type questions, but many questions like "If I take a trip to Sicily, and here are my interests, and here is my preferred style of travel, so what should I do?" AI can give a great answer to such a question, and I use AI all the time for such questions. So why do I post questions on this forum? Because I want to be in contact with other humans. We all want human interaction.

why do people ask questions on a forum like this when they can get an answer instantly from Google?

Good question. Because, if you average out the answers you see on a thread here, the results are better and more accurate, and more relevant. If I ask, "whats a good b&b in Dingle", I can almost always believe what I read here. If I do it on G**gle, I get heavily biased info. Biased toward what B&B's have the most internet presence. I get some information that's too old to be relevant, but not identified as old info. I get some results that are there because a company literally paid money to be in the listing. I definitely get results which are there because the vendor paid a company to do SEO (search engine optimization) for them.

If I ask AI about safe travel in Turkiye, I want to hear recent news from someone who's just been there. I don't want stock info from years ago, or a summary from a travel agency.

So yeah, I get better info here (and I do like conversing with everyone).

For those that use AI, this is fun. Ask AI about yourself.

I asked the Google AI who Mr. E on the RS forum was. According to AI my real name is James Easley. But AI does update and correct. For a while AI was saying that I, James Easley, was born 1858 and a formerly enslaved man who joined the U.S. Army as a Buffalo Soldier in 1880. I served for five years before being honorably discharged at Fort Reno in 1885. At least that is gone. It also says that I am from the Republic of Texas. Literally “The Republic of Texas”.

What is hilarious is that the Google AI does provide the basis of some of the assumptions. At one time, 4 years ago, I used “James E” and at one time someone wrote “I have known James E Easley since elementary school. So, the typo on "easily" became my real name. This is what happens when there is no human mind in the process. Some of the other comments are equally as “interesting”.

On another topic, the locking luggage to the racks in the train, the AI used the RS forum as the source for saying that you could be arrested by the conductor for doing it. That has since been updated and gone away.

If I ask, "whats a good b&b in Dingle", I can almost always believe what I read here. If I do it on G**gle, I get heavily biased info. Biased toward what B&B's have the most internet presence. I get some information that's too old to be relevant, but not identified as old info.

Umm... isn't the information posted here also heavily biased information? And when asking "whats a good b&b in Dingle" and the first person that answers last visited their recommendation 10 years ago, isn't that information also too old to be relevant?

"What's a good b&b in Dingle" is asking for an opinion.

But the original post was referring to questions like "what's the weather like in Rome in August." That's the example he gave. That's just asking for a simple fact. Google will give you the average temperature, rainfall, etc. And it'll give you the answer in 10 seconds. You don't have to wait 2 days for a few people to give their opinion.

Personally, I think AI gives much better answers to almost any question than you can get on a forum like this. "I'm going to be in Valencia for 17 days and here are my interests and my style of travel. Give me an itinerary." Gemini gave me a detailed day by day itinerary. It took 20 seconds. I can't get that answer from a forum.

But there are times you want to toss a question in here and get some random human opinions. We all enjoy that. So I think the answer to the original question, "Why do people ask questions like what is the weather like in Rome in August," is that people just like to talk and interact with other people. Otherwise, it makes no sense to ask such a question on a forum like this.

It's not a criticism but I think this forum is hugely biased.

By it's very nature, being associated to a man and a company that promotes a particular style of travel, to a particular section of society most answers you will see on here do skew towards particular themes and opinions.
Travelling to the UK? visit London, York and Edinburgh.
Looking for a hotel in London? - Premier Inn County Hall
London restaurant? - Dishoom
Trip out of London? - the Cotswolds ( but with a variety of spellings :-) )
And heaven forbid you say you aren't going to pack light!

Answers on this forum may not be shaped by payment to be listed or included but they are shaped by the rules and management of the forum which does affect what is posted here.

There is nothing wrong with any of this if it matches your style of travel and opinions. If it does you probably won't see the bias anyway.

I have no problem with 'google' questions, but I do usually ignore them unless i think i can contribute something particularly helpful.
If you don't like the question just move on.

Just to be clear, what I wrote is not a criticism it was in response to a posts further up the chain.
It would be really weird if there WASN'T bias on a forum like this. Maybe people would prefer it if it was called group think? But what ever you want to call it, like minded people group together and tend to have like minded thoughts.

There is nothing wrong with that as long as you at least partially aware of it.

Does rick steves forum give better travel answers than google

Here's what AI says when I asked;

*Whether the Rick Steves Travel Forum gives "better" answers than Google depends on the complexity of your question. While Google excels at instant facts, the forum provides nuanced, experience-based advice that search engines often struggle to match.
Why the Forum Can Be Better
Trust and Reliability: Many users prefer the forum because they trust the established reputation of long-term members over Google's results, which can be cluttered with sponsored content or SEO-driven articles.
Nuance and Detail: For complex dilemmas like choosing between two specific itineraries, forum members offer personal stories and practical tips that a general search often misses.
Curated Expertise: The community is known for being thoughtful and less "snarky" than other major travel sites, making it a strong starting point for European travel planning.
Practical Specifics: It is a unique source for niche details, such as finding local laundromats or specific parking instructions that are rarely found in mainstream guides.

Why Google is Still Necessary
Fact-Checking: Forums can contain outdated or biased information. It is recommended to use the internet to verify current opening times, admission costs, and train schedules.
Broader Scope: Rick Steves' advice is famously selective, focusing heavily on specific "truly worth it" destinations in Europe. For locations outside his coverage, general web searches or other guides are essential.
Dynamic Data: Google is better for real-time information, such as current traffic on Google Maps or up-to-date hotel reviews from platforms like TripAdvisor.*

(Please avoid providing all-AI answers in the forum. We consider that the same as using Google to provide your answer. While you are being entirely up front about it, we have banned people in the past upon discovering that they were only googling the answers. If you'd like to excerpt part of an AI or Google result along with your reply, that's all good).

If I may personally answer the OP, using the "weather in Rome" example, I think that this sort of question can come from experienced travelers and Googlers. Aka don't assume they are a bot or newbie. They may not just be asking for a generic forecast, though perhaps they could have worded the question to say as much. It can be hard to know exactly what you're asking for, though.

My reason is certain parts of the world have specific weather patterns that won't be revealed in a general weather forecast/search. E.g. when I was in Zihuatanejo in August years ago, there were these lightning storms every late afternoon that would form immediately off the coast. Sometimes that system would move over the town and bring some rain and other times it was just a cool view. In Costa Rica, on both coasts, I was frequently told not to trust the weather forecast and just kinda be prepared for sun/rain, etc. They were right. In central France you might want to know what Le Mistral is. Etc etc.

It has never crossed my mind to think such posters are bots or are lazy. (On the other hand, Google and AI ARE bots, in a way.)

People come to forums because they want to hear from others who have been there, done that.

Also, online searches don't always show the best or most accurate results, but will show paid results first or use some algorithm based on number of hits.

And, maybe they have searched for answers and want to verify those answers with people who have actual experience.