

Google's Robots.txt Updated for Halloween (scroll to the end) - byrneseyeview
http://google.com/robots.txt?date=10312009

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kyro
Not sure if anyone else noticed, but the Google homepage has also been updated
for Halloween. I know, I know, I've got way too much time on my hands, but
it's always fun coming across these gems.

Clickable link: <http://www.google.com/> (look closely at the 'e')

EDIT: Well, that sarcasm came round full circle. There's actually a gem in
clicking the logo itself. Well played, Google.

~~~
JCThoughtscream
Clicking multiple times, even. I was rather amused.

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trafficlight
How do people find these things? Does somebody religiously read the Google
robots.txt?

~~~
msc
They did something similar last year. Edit:
<http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-10-31-n76.html>

~~~
mcxx
And how did someone discover that?

~~~
tlrobinson
It wouldn't surprise me if there are SEO people watching Google's every move
for hints of changes in Google search. Though I'm not sure how robots.txt
would apply.

~~~
derefr
More likely than SEOs, bloggers are probably looking for any new hint of an
as-of-yet publically-invisible service, so they can be the one to start the
rumor.

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kylec
It's too bad that /tricks and /treats don't go anywhere :-/ (I even tried
altering my user agent to "Kids")

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steveklabnik

        $ wget -U "Kids" http://www.google.com/treats
        --2009-10-31 07:00:37--  http://www.google.com/treats
        Resolving www.google.com... 64.233.169.105, 64.233.169.106, 64.233.169.147, ...
        Connecting to www.google.com|64.233.169.105|:80... connected.
        HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 404 Not Found
        2009-10-31 07:00:39 ERROR 404: Not Found.
    
    

Oh well.

~~~
noonespecial
Very first thing I tried as well. I really expected to find something there as
I would seem that any googler that thought far enough to hide such a thing in
a place as arcane as robots.txt would surely finish the prank...

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bcl
dupe - <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=913137> ;)

good job adding date to make it past the darn HN URL checker.

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jamesbressi
How much of a dork/nerd am I that I actually LOL'd?

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JeremyStein
OK, how did someone notice that?

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antirez
Sometimes nerdy stuff are funny, not this time...

