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We want more questions, but I know we want good ones.

I am someone that look for a lot of information in the net.

Sometimes I have a question related with Earth Science, and I find an explanation. But sometimes the source is not official, sometimes it answers my question too briefly.

Can I ask those questions or not because the answer would be google it?

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  • $\begingroup$ I recall reading something recently that specifically addressed or at least mentioned the "google it!" type comment. I'll continue to look for it. I can't remember if it was in a SO blog or a meta post... $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Feb 19, 2020 at 11:45
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    $\begingroup$ In this case are you describing a situation where you have a question and you've found some explanation but the source is not official or too brief? If so, then I think that question might be well received. If you have done some independent research and you are including that as part of the question, explaining why you need something further, that sounds like it could be a great question! Maybe you can post an example question, and link to it here and leave a comment there pointing to this meta post for feedback. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Feb 19, 2020 at 11:48
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    $\begingroup$ @uhoh yes, I sometimes have a question where I found the short answer, but from a blog or so. I want a more complete explanation. $\endgroup$
    – user18590
    Commented Feb 20, 2020 at 6:39
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    $\begingroup$ @uhoh: That sounds like a lot of my questions over at Aviation.SE, which do indeed tend to be well-received (at least, they are when there's at least one Stacker who's able to answer them!). $\endgroup$
    – Vikki
    Commented Feb 29, 2020 at 19:02

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I'll repost my comment as an answer to get the ball rolling, perhaps others will have some feedback as well.

In this case are you describing a situation where you have a question and you've found some explanation but the source is not official or too brief? If so, then I think that question might be well received. If you have done some independent research and you are including that as part of the question, explaining why you need something further, that sounds like it could be a great question! Maybe you can post an example question, and link to it here and leave a comment there pointing to this meta post for feedback.

fyi I think the next question that you asked in the main site after this meta question went very nicely! (How are stratigraphic limits defined before the Phanerozoic?) We got a nice @DavidHammen answer and found out (once again) that we can't believe everything that's written in Wikipedia ;-)

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I would say that at least 90% of questions in the whole SE can be answered by a google search - with a significantly different degree of effort, of course. And yet, that is not a reason for not having them on the network. The value added of SE, imo, is to transform information into a Q&A style. But not all information. The key criteria to me is this: is the answer unequivocally and trivially available in a accessible way through a fairly quick web search? If yes, I would not have it on SE. If no, then there is value added in systematising it in SE.

For example, it makes no sense to ask something like "which are Earth continents?" because this is trivial to answer through a web search.

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