[sestep]

Genuine question: why do people sometimes write comments like this instead of Googling? Two guesses I have:

- HN responses might contain more first-hand experience and thus be richer than what one could find via Google or an LLM.

- Some terms are contextual so Google might not give the right answer, and an LLM could give a more contextual answer but might still just be wrong.

Are those usually the reason, or are there other reasons as well?

[emih]

I used to get annoyed by these kinds of questions, but honestly I love talking about things I'm passionate about anyway and I want to get more people interested in the subject. So, I'm happy to answer questions like this and simultaneously sneak in some of my own personal experiences.

[mcyc]

This is a nice attitude. I think HN is overall pretty nice for geeking out and also hearing other people geek out, but there is still a strain of elitism (not like StackExchange thankfully) and so I'm happy to see comments like this.

[stronglikedan]

> there is still a strain of elitism

Those types can't help themselves so patterns emerge and usernames become recognizable after a while. There are some people who I just don't bother engaging with any more. Of course, those experiences are my own and maybe not the same experience as others.

[shrx]

Thanks, replies like yours are exactly why I prefer asking it here instead of googling.

[NooneAtAll3]

1) locality of knowledge - people ask questions to clear the context of the discussion, not to learn stuff in the vacuum

2) sense of community - people ask questions because it's in human nature to teach others and learn within our groups. Programming culture is even more about joy of teaching others, so I don't understand your complaint

[sestep]

Could you explain why you interpreted my question as a complaint? I clearly indicated that I was asking in good faith by even providing two possible explanations that seem reasonable.

[NooneAtAll3]

if I'm being honest... combination of grandparent comment I sympathize with being downvoted, your comment being positive, while "just google it" stance I've parsed as disapproval of people it's directed towards