From my friend @BeatMe in chat asked "So a question that is easily googleable (top 5 links for the exact question give a huge selection of answers) shouldn't be answered?"

Right after commenting on my question Who are the two witnesses in the book of Revelation?

My question is the same, where do we draw the line with questions and google?

  • 1
    I don't think this has so much to do with googleability as it does with the value added content aspect of this site. Se here for revelation discussion: Answers copied from an external source – Caleb Sep 1 '11 at 20:32
  • 3
    I told my fingers to type "relevant" but then my brain got distracted reading the copy of the question again and they parroted "revelation". – Caleb Sep 1 '11 at 20:34

The canonical flowchart for whether a question should be answered or closed as off-topic is featured in the blog post "Are Some Questions Too Simple?":

Too Simple Flowchart

If you do a web search for the question is the answer in the first few results?

Yes, it is.

Is the answer too slow to load, too hard to parse, or otherwise in need of improvement?

The first hit, while not from a canonical source, was quick to load and provided a great, easy to read overview of the possible candidates. If you don't like that answer, the Wikipedia article on the subject is the 4th hit, and is what was quoted as an answer.

Is the question basic, trivial, or is it complex and interesting for experts?

This is a toss-up. While it's an interesting question for experts (and there is no shortage of writings about the subject), if it's wholly answered by an excerpt from Wikipedia, I would consider it to be trivial.

So I'd consider this question borderline, and one of the cases where the answers, not the question content, determine if the question is viable here. If I had to choose, I'd say the answer quoting Wikipedia should be deleted and see what answers come in.


After googling ( :D ) about "stackexchange, google and easy question", I found this blogpost of Jeff Atwood that indicates: "it depends".

So I answered the mentioned question with a quote.

  • Answered it with a quote and got your butt handed to you with downvotes. – Kalamane Sep 2 '11 at 1:43
  • It's still the single best answer we got ;) – Sven Sep 2 '11 at 4:48
  • That's certainly true! – Kalamane Sep 2 '11 at 5:22

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