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Here in China, pretty much everything by Google is blocked by the government. If you request anything from a Google domain, it will give the appearance of loading for a while and then give back a DNS error.

Stack Exchange uses a Google CDN to deliver some scripts, which means that users in China will see Waiting for ajax.googleapis.com... for a while and then the script will fail to load.

I usually press the stop button so I don't have to wait to see the page content, but without the script loaded the actions I can perform are limited; for example pressing upvote/downvote does nothing. I can sometimes post a question or answer, but it seems to redirect to a CAPTCHA more often when the script is not loaded, and the CAPTCHA does not work in China.

Can we use some CDN that isn't blocked in China, or at least have some sort of fallback to improve the experience for users in China?

EDIT: The answer on this question is targetted at people intentionally blocking scripts because of being persnickety about privacy, not because of people not being able to access scripts because of forces beyond their control. The reasoning given there (i.e. being hard to support by choice) doesn't apply here. Furthermore, I am not asking about removing reliance on external scripts in general, I am suggesting that reliance on Google's scripts be resolved because of a significant issue with them in a country with a very large population.

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    I feel strange tagging this as [bug], since it's the fault of the Great Firewall of China instead of a programming mistake, but I used this question as a precedent.
    – Peter Olson
    Commented Jun 30, 2015 at 1:41
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    @animuson Can you explain how the answers on the other questions address this issue? There's a huge difference between a small group of people intentionally blocking scripts because they are persnickety about privacy, and a country of over a billion people not being able to access certain scripts due to forces beyond their control.
    – Peter Olson
    Commented Jun 30, 2015 at 2:31
  • The reason why they can't access the scripts is not really relevant. They are requesting changes to the system which would cover all use-cases, China blocking things included.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Jun 30, 2015 at 2:32
  • @animuson The motivation of the question is a huge influence on how it is answered. The answer provided there gives a rationale completely irrelevant to this case. Furthermore, it is not specific to Google CDN, it is about external scripts in general. I am not suggesting that external scripts should be replaced altogether. If two questions evoke completely different answers, IMO they shouldn't be classed as duplicates.
    – Peter Olson
    Commented Jun 30, 2015 at 2:41
  • PeterOlson: You have a valid argument as to this not being a dupe, but as @animuson has stated, you're better off using the duped feature request question (this is not a bug). The other question already has good info and covers reasons why this is a problem and should be changed. You would be better adding an answer there with your reason(s) - or possibly edit the duped question to add "This is a big problem for users in China - completely blocked". And possibly add a bounty :)
    – James
    Commented Jun 30, 2015 at 13:17

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