Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2018 March 10

= March 10 =

How NOT to get redirected by google.
I'm trying to reach google.com, but, being based in Spain right now, this URL redirects me to google.es. I assume the same happens with all other country specific TLDs. How can I access google.com? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.46.155.110 (talk) 21:57, 10 March 2018 (UTC)
 * On google.co.uk, there's a link at the bottom right, labelled "Use google.com". Rojomoke (talk) 23:15, 10 March 2018 (UTC)
 * I'm in Canada. I used to see a link like that in maps.google.com (redirected to maps.google.ca), but not any more, and I am also unable to prevent being redirected. I think the link Rojomoke sees will be going away. --69.159.62.113 (talk) 01:47, 11 March 2018 (UTC)
 * You can try [//google.com/ncr google.com/ncr]. (For the main Google site only, I don't think this ever worked for maps etc.) Bear in mind thought that just because your domain is google.com doesn't mean there is any difference in the website. There is a fair chance it's still being served from the same server as google.es (or whatever), you will see the exact same content and the exact same search results. Google used to at least partially show you results that were to some extent from the domain of concern for country level domains (e.g. if you went to google.co.uk in NZ you would see partly UK inspired results, if you went to google.com.my in NZ you would see partly Malaysian inspired results) but this has ended; and the US ones were always a little tricky. Nil Einne (talk) 04:02, 11 March 2018 (UTC)
 * I made this comment on the talkpage before alighting here and seeing this discussion:

86.155.146.232 (talk) 11:19, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

Having called up the Google searchbox using a number of country codes I can confirm they all return the same display. 86.155.146.232 (talk) 11:33, 11 March 2018 (UTC)
 * I should clarify my server point. I don't know much about Google data centres but I'm guessing even small ones probably have enough computers that the chance of you being served by the same computer any two times is rare. My point was more that there's no difference between where the content comes from if you use .com as if you use .es or whatever. Nil Einne (talk) 05:13, 12 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Are you sure about that?  Did anybody outside the United Kingdom get a link to "Mother's Day 2018" yesterday?   In this country Google switches its anniversaries at midnight.   What happens in other countries, i.e. is there a master switch which changes all displays simultaneously or local switching?   While on Wikipedia page revision timestamps are GMT everywhere is the introduction of the next day's mainpage simultaneous for all users or does it vary by country? 86.152.81.89 (talk) 12:37, 12 March 2018 (UTC)
 * I'm fairly sure that Google uses local times for local Google doodles. (The local doodles you see will depend on what region your set to, this is normally the current region you're visiting from based on your IP.) I suspect for most semi or completely international ones use local time of whatever region your set to although it may get complicated with certain ones like olympics ones. M. I don't get the relevance of the rest of what you said to my point and actually I'm not even sure what you're asking me I'm sure of.  I'd note though that I'm fairly certain I could easily have gotten a Mother's Day 2018 by using a UK proxy. Or by using Republic of Ireland one or visiting it. (It looks like Google may have missed Nigeria, but I'm not totally sure.) I strongly suspect I could have also gotten it by changing by Google region setting to United Kingdom or Ireland which BTW also changes search results to be influences by the region. (Like visiting google.co.uk etc used to do.)  Amongst other things, I see a doodle for Mauritius 50th independence day if I change my region to Mauritius. And I can see a doodle for Sir William Henry Perkin if I change my region to UK or US or Singapore but don't see it for Malaysia or Australia or NZ. The one for Singapore disappeared around midnight Singapore time. (To be clear, I did check Malaysia the same time as Singapore i.e. before midnight actually before Singapore. Also I don't remember it ever showing for NZ, but maybe I just didn't notice.)  In case it's still not clear, what I am saying is the content Google serves you is largely or completely independent from whichever of their many many servers happens to serve you (and largely of its location although very legal reasons probably not completely) and this is largely independent from whichever domain you happen to visit.  There are probably ways to use the google.com domain from Spain, but all this is likely to mean is the domain you see in URLs is google.com. If this is all you want, you've achieved your goal. However if you are trying to achieve something else you should be clear on what you're trying to achieve since what you're doing may be the wrong way to go about it.  This applies for stuff beyond Google too. Do not assume accessing a .nz, .uk or .au or whatever domain for something automatically means you will receive the same content that people in the NZ, UK or Australia or whatever receive, or even that it will be any different from the .es one. Do not assume that the servers will be the same as people in the NZ, UK or Australia normally access, they could still be the same servers that you normally use in Spain (or whatever). The way the modern internet works means its not uncommon these things are all disconnected from each other.  Nil Einne (talk) 16:21, 12 March 2018 (UTC)
 * You can also try https://google.com/?gws_rd=cr. But if you are actually interested in the content and not the url then it may not do whatever you want. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:15, 13 March 2018 (UTC)