• Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    54
    arrow-down
    8
    ·
    1 day ago

    Is it considered normal to type out a normal question format when using search engines?

    If I were looking for an answer instead of making a funny meme, I’d search “heat movie cast Angelina Jolie” if I didn’t feel like putting any effort in.

    Then again, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I’ve seen someone use their phone to search google “what is 87÷167?” instead of doing “87/167” or like… Opening the calculator…

    People do things in different, sometimes weird ways.

    • LePoisson@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      14 hours ago

      This is like the difference between normal and right. Like I know a ton of people normally search for answers by putting full questions in. With the advent of LLMs and AI being thrown into everything asking full questions starts to make more sense.

      For actual good results using a search engine, for sure what you said is better.

    • ArchRecord@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      27
      ·
      edit-2
      24 hours ago

      It depends on the person in my experience.

      For instance, I’ll often use a question format, but usually because I’m looking for similar results from a forum, in which I’d expect to find a post with a similar question as the title. This sometimes produces better results than just plain old keywords.

      Other times though, I’m just throwing keywords out and adding "" to select the ones I require be included.

      But I do know some people who only ever ask in question format no matter the actual query. (e.g. “What is 2+2” instead of just typing “2+2” and getting the calculator dialogue, like you said in your post too.)

    • 0range@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      23 hours ago

      Yeah, the way that i would do it is to look up the Wikipedia page for the movie Heat and go to the cast section.

      This is how i always look for information and it can actually be to my detriment. Like that time i went to Reddit to ask them what that movie was where time is a currency, and somebody pointed out that i could have just googled “time is money movie” and it would have immediately shown me In Time (2011).

      Also, when i want something from an app or website i will consult the alphabetical list or look for a link to click, instead of just using the search bar.

      I don’t know, somehow it never entered my brain that search bars are smart and can figure out what you meant if you use natural language. Even though they’ve been programmed that way since before i was born

    • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      24 hours ago

      I sometimes ask questions, and sometimes I’m forced to because the original answer somehow misinterpreted my query. I also do searches like you mentioned, but I don’t exclusively do one of the other.