It sounds like maybe you're right. When I saw this on the Google home page the first thing I did was move my mouse about to look for the 'disable background image' link. Then I went into my Search Settings. Then I thought it must be a joke. Not April. Google, again, against what I wanted, hiding the useful links until you move your mouse because users found them "distracting", are contradicting themselves 100% here. That is, if they really do do user testing, and weren't just bullshitting. Maybe they did that user testing with live users and I just wasn't online at that time. Maybe this is the same thing. They test it for a day to see people's reactions. That's good science but treating your users shittily if they can't opt out. So I'm wondering if maybe it is a coke classic.