While this is a legitimate GQ topic, I would rather make a game of it.
The idea is simple enough. Do a Google search for strings of numbers, and find the smallest one you can that has zero/no hits. When you find a contender, post only the last 3 digits of it here. That way you can prove you found the number, without giving it away before others have had a chance to play. If you find a new low “unGoogle” number after already posting a larger one, of course do post the last 3 of the new number as well.
The guidelines are easy and fair. Negatives don’t count. If you find that -2349772375 isn’t there, it counts as positive 2349772375 an as such is larger than - 123456. Also, no leading zeros are allowed. 0005 may equal 5 in some situations, but not on Google. And don’t use decimal points, hex, binary, fractions, etc. Keep it clean and simple.
I have found a couple sites on Google that have looked at this problem.
They goofed up by posting the results on the web, which we are going to be smart enough NOT to do. Right? So later in the game, when it is time to reveal the results of our searches, I nicely request that you post your complete number with BLANKS between the digits. Post 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 , not 9999999999. That way if Google is looking over your shoulder, you won’t invalidate your results.
To start things off I will give the last 3 digits of my current low: 273. Anybody think they can beat me?
We don’t know until the end. But I am pretty certain that the lowest nonGoogle number is somewhere greater than 3400000. My own submission, 273, is much greater than 3400000, but less than DanBlather’s inadvertent reveal. I have no idea whether his second try is greater or less than mine.
Separate Q: I like the sound of “nonGoogle” more than “unGoogle” or “Googleless” to describe these numbers. Anyone else have a suggestion or preference?
If Google doesn’t search the boards, then fine…but are we sure it wouldn’t register the text in spoiler boxes? Or does it eliminate results where the background and text colours match?
You might have to check in ATMB, but I think the Boards have a robots.txt file set up so that robots who are friendly (like Google’s) will see the file set up and won’t go through the site.
It appears that certain posters who shall remain unnamed are having a little trouble following the rules . Rather than penalize you all 10,000,000 (dollars or pushups, your choice), how about we change the rules and make everybody happy? We can turn this in to a group project rather than the “contest” I envisioned.
I will put my low number in a box as soon as I figure out how.