Author Topic: Inadvertent Googling in Spanish (Read 24,202 times)

cranioscopical · « **on:** January 14, 2008, 02:02 AM »

Hi everyone.

I just noticed that my Google searches take me to Google España.
Also, if I explicitly enter http://www.google.com/ that's converted to http://www.google.es/.

The same thing happens with both Firefox and IE, other search engines don't do this.

Anyone know why this happens?

TIA

jgpaiva · « **Reply #1 on:** January 14, 2008, 02:16 AM »

Are you in spain?

I suppose not, but if you were, that'd be normal.

To get back to the english version, go to "preferences" ("Preferencias"), on the main page, then select "english" in the " Idioma de la interfaz" pulldown menu and press "guardar preferencias" at the top-right.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #2 on:** January 14, 2008, 02:39 AM »

Quote from: jgpaiva on January 14, 2008, 02:16 AM

Are you in spain?

I suppose not, but if you were, that'd be normal.

To get back to the english version, go to "preferences" ("Preferencias"), on the main page, then select "english" in the " Idioma de la interfaz" pulldown menu and press "guardar preferencias" at the top-right.

Thanks for the quick reply, and I can do all that, including setting inglés and saving.
However, the next call to Google takes me back to http://www.google.es/
So, what your suggestion does is to let me see an English interface on http://www.google.es/

If I close and reopen, say Firefox, I'm back to Spanish so, saved or not, something doesn't stick.

This makes no real difference to me as I'm as inept in Spanish as I am in English but I'm puzzled about why/how this happened.

I'll force it to Google.ca, that works.

parpfish · « **Reply #3 on:** January 14, 2008, 02:46 AM »

Does this work?

http://www.google.com/ncr

P.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #4 on:** January 14, 2008, 02:50 AM »

Do you have a google account, chris? Maybe the "country" option unter "my account" / "Edit personal information" is wrong.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #5 on:** January 14, 2008, 02:51 AM »

Quote from: parpfish on January 14, 2008, 02:46 AM

Does this work?

http://www.google.com/ncr

P.

Gets me here, but with English labels.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #6 on:** January 14, 2008, 02:54 AM »

Quote from: jgpaiva on January 14, 2008, 02:50 AM

Do you have a google account, chris? Maybe the "country" option unter "my account" / "Edit personal information" is wrong.

Nope, I don't have a Google account.

parpfish · « **Reply #7 on:** January 14, 2008, 03:00 AM »

There's always Scroogle, that's my default with K-Ninja (browser)

http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/scraper.htm

Works for me:

no cookies
no search-term records
access log deleted within 48 hours

Have a feeling there's a Scroogle search plugin for Firefox too.

That's all I can think of (as remotely helpful) --- good luck.

P.

tranglos · « **Reply #8 on:** January 14, 2008, 03:59 AM »

Quote from: cranioscopical on January 14, 2008, 02:54 AM

Nope, I don't have a Google account.

Make sure FireFox accepts Google's cookie. Delete all cookies from Google, then pick the English-language site. This should reset Google's memory of your browser, unless you've tried it already.

If you were using IE, I'd advise you to scan for malware, since a trojan could be proxying your browser through a site in .es. Who knows, maybe FF can be hacked that way too?

Since Google thinks your requests are coming from Spain, try www.whatsmyip.org and see if the IP address looks fishy.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #9 on:** January 14, 2008, 01:48 PM »

Thanks to you all for the helpful replies.
I'm poking around trying to sort out what's happening and all of your suggestions are useful.

Appreciated...

Deozaan · « **Reply #10 on:** January 14, 2008, 05:46 PM »

I'm not sure about any solutions to your problem, but I've noticed Google always forgets my preference to have more than 10 results per page, even though it remembers my Safe Search preference.

And I DO have a Google account. What's the deal with that?

jgpaiva · « **Reply #11 on:** January 14, 2008, 05:54 PM »

Deozaan: if you use opera or firefox, you can edit the search link and add it "&num=100", to have 100 results for the query. Notice that it'll only work when you use the search box or the address box.

Lashiec · « **Reply #12 on:** January 14, 2008, 05:56 PM »

The plan for world dominance is going as expected. With the inadvertent help of those ~~dumbasses~~ fine guys at Google, the Spanish Empire will rise again!!

cranioscopical, maybe you're using a proxy and you forgot to set things back to normal? (I hope you're not being proxyed by the action of a trojan, our methods are not that rude

)

Deozaan · « **Reply #13 on:** January 14, 2008, 06:15 PM »

Quote from: jgpaiva on January 14, 2008, 05:54 PM

Deozaan: if you use opera or firefox, you can edit the search link and add it "&num=100", to have 100 results for the query. Notice that it'll only work when you use the search box or the address box.

How do you do this from the Firefox Quick Search bar thingy?

Oh, and I think I exaggerated a little. It doesn't always forget, but it seems to forget often enough that I get a little bothered by it.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #14 on:** January 14, 2008, 06:44 PM »

I'm an opera user, but i think this would solve it.

tomos · « **Reply #15 on:** January 14, 2008, 07:09 PM »

or maybe make a new one $:-\$
http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Creating_OpenSearch_plugins_for_Firefox

cranioscopical · « **Reply #16 on:** January 14, 2008, 08:42 PM »

Quote from: Lashiec on January 14, 2008, 05:56 PM

The plan for world dominance is going as expected. With the inadvertent help of those ~~dumbasses~~ fine guys at Google, the Spanish Empire will rise again!!

¡Hola!
Viva España

Quote from: Lashiec on January 14, 2008, 05:56 PM

cranioscopical, maybe you're using a proxy and you forgot to set things back to normal? (I hope you're not being proxyed by the action of a trojan, our methods are not that rude )

The same thing happens with both Firefox and IE, other search engines don't do this.
If I enter google.com into the address bar, or if I enter anything into the search box, off I go to google.es
If I enter an explicit google address into the address bar then I go to, e.g. google.ca

I've killed off any and all google cookies then 'reset' to english.
Nothing I've run here so far has found a trojan at work (although my grumbling has left me hoarse).

jazper · « **Reply #17 on:** January 14, 2008, 09:11 PM »

Found this link in google's help center...you may have to contact them

"How do I stop Google.com from redirecting to another Google domain?"
http://www.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=873

Edit: Added title of link

Edvard · « **Reply #18 on:** January 14, 2008, 09:21 PM »

Quote

The plan for world dominance is going as expected. With the inadvertent help of those dumbasses fine guys at Google, the Spanish Empire will rise again!!

Just goes to show...
NO-ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!!

[sorry, that was obligatory, i know... but it had to be done...]

cranioscopical · « **Reply #19 on:** January 14, 2008, 09:42 PM »

Quote from: jazper on January 14, 2008, 09:11 PM

Found this link in google's help center...you may have to contact them

"How do I stop Google.com from redirecting to another Google domain?"
http://www.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=873

Thanks!

cranioscopical · « **Reply #20 on:** January 14, 2008, 09:47 PM »

Quote from: Edvard on January 14, 2008, 09:21 PM

NO-ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!!

I see you've been coding in Python again!

cranioscopical · « **Reply #21 on:** January 15, 2008, 10:34 PM »

Quote from: jazper on January 14, 2008, 09:11 PM

Found this link in google's help center...you may have to contact them

"How do I stop Google.com from redirecting to another Google domain?"
http://www.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=873

And that was the answer, thank you. Google replied that a recent reconfiguration at their end probably caused this.

Google replied surprisingly quickly. It might take a while for them to implement a fix but it's nice to have had a response.