[FirstAuthor]

Thanks! This needed to be said.

Saying "Google it!" tells me the person probably has no source, no idea how unreliable the information floating around on the web can be, and no understanding of how to find and appraise a good source.

Even on searching in Google Scholar, we sometimes find that the research literature often includes papers that offer divergent estimates and opinions.

[pvaldes]

90% of the time when people is unable to find trivial things in google and refusing to check well known facts is because they are sealioning you.

This behavior shouldn't be rewarded.

[vharuck]

For others that don't know "sealioning", it's unreasonable harassment under the guise of a civil debate. The term comes from a webcomic:

http://wondermark.com/1k62/

[finnthehuman]

The "sealioning" concept seems invented solely to soothe the ego of people who always have to have the last word. Those who can't stand to let a conversation end without looking and feeling like the winner.

If something's not worth your energy, just walk away. Don't stew so hard that you need a webcomic to reassure you that you're a well adjusted person that's obviously in the right and your opponent is a grotesque sea creature that doesn't any social etiquette.

[pen2l]

Maybe, maybe not.

But there's something really cool you could do that would educate the person you're talking to (both in terms of instructing them how to google, and communicating to them the key thing you've found out) -- all the while being polite and formal! --

Say something like "I used this search query [foo bar] to discover [result-x&y]." Do that enough times and you'll make the whole world a better place. :)

[salawat]

Except you have to be careful, because if they do personalization of search results, Google is so ad skewed these days you don't know 100% what results they'll get.

That is why it's best to just give a domain name AND describe a suitably qualified query.

[amadeuspagel]

It's just incredible how some people voluntarily participate in debates on the internet, and then compare people that try to engage them to sealions harrassing them. No one forces you to make any claims on the internet, but if you choose to do that it's on you to provide sources. That comic should have shown someone lecturing a bunch of sealions, and then being offended that they ask questions.

[_y5hn]

Do you have a citation for that to back you up?

[benchaney]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24962295

[_y5hn]

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TpTZnI53IF8/maxresdefault.jpg

[stmfreak]

I don’t spend my life chronicling every source of information I come across so I can provide a complete bibliography for every statement in conversation.

When I make a claim, I’m not writing a thesis or going for my PhD. I’m just reciting some blurry memory that such and such may be so. People that challenge me to provide peer reviewed citations of such claim are not engaging in civil conversation.