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Re:Ask HN: Why have a knowledge base when anything is easily... by byko3y on Sunday July 19, 2020 @03:53PM (#23891976)
>Why have a knowledge base when anything is easily googleable?

Because it isn't. It's not even close to "anything". Only superficial things are googlable, and even then google's NN algorithms sometimes manage to mess thing up, providing some useless links instead of a single correct one. That's why I tend to use google for quick search, but then I back it up with my own notes and articles/books/webpage archive. Of course, most of the times I will never use the things I store, but once in a while it saves me days. Knowing that I don't save regular stuff every kid can find in a minute even if the original resource is gone.

Re:Ask HN: Why have a knowledge base when anything is easily... by moonfleet on Monday July 20, 2020 @06:07AM (#23896362)
I'll give you an example to make my point clearer.

For the past month I have been reading Sylvia Plath's biography and works. I decided to document what I had learnt about her. I created a sort-of wiki page of her in my personal notes app. But then I went to the actual page and found the same information there.

This made me think that I needed to change my approach and I came here to ask this.

Re:Ask HN: Why have a knowledge base when anything is easily... by byko3y on Wednesday July 22, 2020 @12:08AM (#23913843)
>I created a sort-of wiki page of her in my personal notes app. But then I went to the actual page and found the same information there

Usually when I read wiki written by more than one man and need something more complex than "born xxxx, died xxxx", I feel like the page was written by schizophrenic with OCD i.e. the information is not consistent and writer is obsessed by formal correctness at the expense of clarity. Thus I cannot understand shit unless I'm already well familiar with the topic - but then what's the reason for me to read this article?

Re:Ask HN: Why have a knowledge base when anything is easily... by gt2 on Monday July 20, 2020 @12:20PM (#23899305)
I do similar things (and have came upon similar notes elsewhere) but my personal notes are still valuable because a) they are structured how I think, and b) I remember it better/it finds its way into my consciousness better by writing it.