telophase: (Default)
telophase ([personal profile] telophase) wrote2015-12-08 11:42 am

(no subject)

Man, I like Ask Metafilter but the problem with asking the internet for advice is that people answer the question they think you asked and not the one you actually asked. My very first AskMeFi question, back in 2009 or 2010, was asking for private tour guide recs and of course I got answers telling me I was doing my vacation all wrong. Bah.

In today's case, I was asking how to find someone who was qualified to answer an international tax question. It's partly my fault for adding in the actual question, but aside from one person who suggested the consul/embassy website and someone who suggested I Google for it, the rest have taken it upon themselves to answer the tax question. Even though my actual professional tax preparer does not know the answer to this question.

I'm actually 99% sure they're correct, but "someone on the internet told me it was OK not to pay or report taxes to your country" is not something I want to have to tell the country in question on the off chance that they're not.

(I have, actually, Googled for it using search terms suggested by that other questioner, and found an English-speaking tax person in said country who claims to reply to emails about that, so have sent off an email.)

[identity profile] wordsofastory.livejournal.com 2015-12-08 07:51 pm (UTC)(link)
It's not just the internet! I'm amazed/infuriated how often I see, when I'm watching someone else teach, them answer a question that's not really what the student asked, but just sort of vaguely adjacent to it. And to be fair, students aren't always great at asking clear questions, but I think one of the primary skills of a teacher should be the ability to suss out meaning from a confused student. It's so annoying how rarely people seem to actually listen to each other.

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2015-12-08 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Exactly! I should remember this the next time someone either says that librarianship is going away with the rise of Google or asks what librarians do that is so important. We know how to do reference interviews!

It's so annoying how rarely people seem to actually listen to each other.

I've posted a "Thanks but the question I'm asking is [blah]" to the thread, but haven't had the guts to go back and look at further answers yet. The mods are usually pretty good at reining people in to the actual question, and will delete stuff that starts arguing or goes too far off-topic but GAH.

[identity profile] rurounitriv.livejournal.com 2015-12-08 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, we're supposed to know how to do reference interviews. Some of us... not so much. LOL

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2015-12-08 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
This isn't under lock so I shall not say anything about current or former coworkers, but...I'm not arguing. :)

[identity profile] rurounitriv.livejournal.com 2015-12-09 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Understood. ;)

[identity profile] matildarose.livejournal.com 2015-12-08 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
I'll believe librarianship will go away when Google actually listens to what the heck i'm trying to search for, rather than what it thinks I'm searching for

i have had fights with google in trying to research things

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2015-12-09 03:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh god the "We thought you meant Y when you typed X so we helpfully showed you the results for Y." HATE. HAAAATE.