# Please help me with a simple research project: 3 minutes of your time, max. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 27, 2018, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810 "2018-06-27T01:20:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/21 "2018-06-27T03:27:29Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > That address is the location of a time share at which we are currently staying. My wife Googled the phrase in question while we were more than 1,000 miles away and got that autocomplete response before she finished typing the number, which strengthened her (rather common) suspicion that Facebook/Google/Amazon are listening to us via the mikes on our phones and other devices. I suspected that it was simply a common query, and unless you are all staying here at the Wyndham in Nashville, these results seem to verify my theory. Thanks, all. Of course, these results don’t mean they _aren’t_ listening to you… ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/22 "2018-06-27T03:48:24Z")
I’m in SEATTLE and got the same answer as everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/23 "2018-06-27T04:32:28Z")
Where did you eat? ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/24 "2018-06-27T04:34:37Z")
Using my office’s network in Tokyo, got the same autocomplete suggestion as posted above. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/25 "2018-06-27T04:50:57Z")
I too am in Australia and got the same results as **Aspidistra.** Postcode 2415 in Australia is a town called Maitland in NSW…why it showed the US results is baffling. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/26 "2018-06-27T04:52:19Z")
In Sacramento, same response as previous posters. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/27 "2018-06-27T04:56:31Z")
I got restaurants near 2415 mcgavock pike like lots of those above me. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/28 "2018-06-27T05:03:21Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > I only got one autocomplete: restaurants near 2415 mcgavock pike Same. I’m in Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/29 "2018-06-27T05:26:50Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > Only one the same as snfaulkner Me too ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/30 "2018-06-27T05:28:53Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > I too am in Australia and got the same results as **Aspidistra.** Postcode 2415 in Australia is a town called Maitland in NSW…why it showed the US results is baffling. If you live in Maitland, no need to Google, you already know where ALL the restaurants are… ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/31 "2018-06-27T05:52:46Z")
I am located in Thailand. With Chrome, I can enter the search string into the main address bar, or go to [google.com](http://google.com) and enter the search into the search bar. The results are somewhat different for these cases. For Firefox there are at least _three_ ways to search: (1) Go to ‘[google.com](http://google.com)’ and enter the search string in its search bar. (2) Enter the search string in the 2nd bar of the default tab, which reads “Search the web.” (3) Enter the search string at the top of the default tab, which reads “Search with Google or enter address.” In case (1), auto-completions are not offered. Perhaps I (accidentally?) disabled this feature. In case (2) I get the single auto-complete suggestion: “restaurants near 2415 mcgavock pike” In case (3), which may be the most “normal” way to search, I get a long list of auto-completions, “restaurants near 241 east 24th street” is listed first, “restaurants near 2415 mcgavock pike” is listed 3rd. (“restaurants near 24153” is 2nd.) After repeating this experiment several times, the ordering changes! I almost never use Firefox and only fired it up for this experiment. Now I’ll report on Chrome. First: when I enter a string ending with one or more spaces into the main Chrome address bar, the trailing spaces are suppressed! “places to eat near 24153” is one of the auto-complete suggestions. It was in about 5th place. (Chrome won’t let me copy-paste such a string until I click on it; now that I’ve clicked, it is the 1st choice in re-trials!) Although the final space in the search string was suppressed when I copied it, I can add it back manually. Then “restaurants near 2415 mcgavock pike” is the only offering. When I go to [google.com](http://google.com) and paste the search string into the search bar, the final space is NOT suppressed; “restaurants near 2415 mcgavock pike” is the only offering. When I played at Internet cafés frequently, I sometimes found it necessary to try different Google’s until I found one that worked as desired. I did some similar experiments just now. For example, if I go to ‘google.ca’, which presents in Thai language, the search yields TWO auto-complete suggestions: (1) “restaurants near 2415 mcgavock pike” and (2), the same string with " nashville tn" appended. HOWEVER if I first click ‘English’ at the google.ca page and then try the search, only one auto-complete suggestion is offered, the one without the " nashville tn." Some other Google country pages, if they offered auto-complete at all, were similar to the Canadian page. [google.fr](http://google.fr), for example, behaved the same as google.ca. Note that it offered choice of English or Thai, but not French! (Twenty years ago the ‘English’ option was missing on many Google pages. My French reading fluency is much better than my Thai and at one Internet café I once had to use ‘[google.fr](http://google.fr)’ in French since [google.com](http://google.com), ‘[google.co.uk](http://google.co.uk)’ etc. all presented in Thai only!) ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/32 "2018-06-27T09:27:51Z")
I’m in the UK. Using [www.google.co.uk](http://www.google.co.uk) I got restaurants near 2415 mcgavock pike ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/33 "2018-06-27T09:40:17Z")
Me too. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/34 "2018-06-27T10:05:32Z")
Okay. restaurants near 2415 **mcgavock pike** ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/35 "2018-06-27T10:27:51Z")
restaurants near 24153 restaurants near 2415 mcgavock pikeI assume the first is a zip code? The sites that popped up, tho were addresses of restaurants in Herndon, VA ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/36 "2018-06-27T11:29:07Z")
2145 Military Time Edit: ooops, wrong number, after reading responses: 2415 n Orange Avenue ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/37 "2018-06-27T11:49:33Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > If you live in Maitland, no need to Google, you already know where ALL the restaurants are… It’s not actually Maitland. It’s out north west of Maitland - Stroud Road near the Barrington Range. And if you take out Mcgavock Pike and complete the search you don’t get anything in the region at all although there are [places out there](https://postcodes-australia.com/postcodes/2415). Very odd. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/38 "2018-06-27T12:21:07Z")
They ARE listening to you… or at least to what you type. Whenever I text chat with Mrs Iggy via Skype in Spanish Microsoft immediately starts serving up Spanish language advertisements on the side panel in Hotmail. But all of my settings are for English and a US location that is not predominantly Spanish speaking. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/39 "2018-06-27T18:45:50Z")
I got “restaurants near 2415 mcgavock pike” I wonder if we’re encouraging it to supply that answer, since so many people are searching for it. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810/40 "2018-06-27T19:09:05Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I got “restaurants near 2415 mcgavock pike” > > I wonder if we’re encouraging it to supply that answer, since so many people are searching for it. Same result in Toronto. I wonder that myself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-with-a-simple-research-project-3-minutes-of-your-time-max/816810.md?page=3)