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> The DNS is like a phonebook for the internet We are going to have to come up with a new metaphor soon. I haven't seen a phonebook in ages. Honestly I would b

> The DNS is like a phonebook for the internet We are going to have to come up with a new metaphor soon. I haven't seen a phonebook in ages. Honestly I would be more likely to tell my kid "Phonebooks were like DNS for telephone numbers."

DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
"Phonebooks were like DNS for telephone numbers." thanks I'll be stealing this quote 100%.
eternalban 6y ago
The word you are looking for is 'directory'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_directory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_directory
- ghaff 6y ago
  "Telephone directory" is a term that pretty much no one uses for phonebook.
  - cgriswald 6y ago
    I’m not sure what the GP means by it being the metaphor to replace phone book (“contacts app” would be my off-the-cuff suggestion), but I’m not that old and I’ve heard it referred to as a directory. I haven’t heard it recently, but that has more to do with the disuse of phone books, I think. Maybe it’s a regional thing?
    - ghaff 6y ago
      >Maybe it’s a regional thing? That is probably fair. Anywhere I've lived in the US, someone would know (well, maybe not if they were young enough) what you meant by "telephone directory" but almost everyone would say "phonebook" at least in casual conversation. It's also true that when you would dial 411 for a number, that was called directory assistance. (And a listing of phone numbers for the staff in an organization would probably be called a staff directory or a telephone directory or something along those lines.)
  - monocasa 6y ago
    Tell that to Active Directory.
  - Symbiote 6y ago
    Unless you're an expert on worldwide English use, it's best not to make such sweeping generalizations. A straightforward search for the term brings up large sites in the UK, India, Malta and Hong Kong. "Directory Enquiries" was (is?) the name for the service in the UK where you pay a fee for someone to look in the telephone directory for you.
    - cyberdelica 6y ago
      Yes, but the heavy paper copy that used to periodically plop through everyones letterbox, was called The Phone Book[0]. [0] https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51uCASmsWxL.jpg https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51uCASmsWxL...
  - shripadk 6y ago
    I'm a 90s kid. From India. Always called it Telephone Directory. We also called it Yellow Pages.
    - ghaff 6y ago
      In the US, in larger cities, you'd have separate "white pages" (aka the phonebook) which lists just names and addresses and "yellow pages" which had business listings and ads. In smaller locations, they were often combined into one with both white pages and yellow pages in the same book.
- tweetle_beetle 6y ago
  > A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phone book "Phone[ ]book" is the 12th word on the page you linked, and described there as a synonym to "directory". There's no need to be that pedantic.
  - eternalban 6y ago
    It is not "pedantic", rather literate, to note the word directory instead of grasping for DNS. "A telephone book was a directory for telephone numbers" is clear and accurate. Unless knowing what the word "directory" means is asserted to be the domain of pedants. "By providing a worldwide, distributed directory service, the Domain Name System has been an essential component of the functionality of the Internet since 1985." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System
    - xnyan 6y ago
      >It is not "pedantic" It's quite pedantic. I'm the same way, here's an interpersonal relationship tip I've had to learn: If someone calls you an asshole, you can't say "No, I've thought about it and you're wrong, you don't really think I'm an asshole." Well, you can say that, but it just makes you come off as even more of an asshole.
      - jessaustin 6y ago
        That escalated quickly.
        eternalban 6y ago
        It's comedy gold. Rather innocently I stepped through a worm hole and now find myself on the set of "Idiocracy - part d'oh!"
vezycash 6y ago
Dns is like contact app that's managed by a central authority.
- blincoln 6y ago
  But it's not. Only the first tier of servers is managed by a central authority. Everything else is delegated to tiers further down the tree.
blincoln 6y ago
It's for the best. A phonebook is a single list compiled by one organization. DNS is more like asking a librarian for information on a subject, and the librarian handing back a reference book. The librarian may or may not know anything about the subject, but they know where to go to find the information. Just like DNS: - Which librarian you ask can result in being pointed to a different reference book. - If the librarian is already familiar with the subject, they may be able to give you the answer directly to save time instead of pointing you to the reference book. The phonebook metaphor was a good one to give to completely non-technical people, but technical people used it as well, and so often didn't intuitively understand that DNS involves clients exchanging data with arbitrary servers on the internet, using their own DNS server as a proxy. As a result, they often leave s significant communication channel open to the internet even from supposedly secure environments.
- slightwinder 6y ago
  > A phonebook is a single list compiled by one organization. There are mutiple phonebooks worldwide, each compiled by different organizations. There is just not one phonebook, similar to how there is not just one DNS-server.
  - cratermoon 6y ago
    For many years in the US there was THE phonebook published by the regional Bell Operating Company.
    - slightwinder 6y ago
      Exactly, regional. Each city/region has it's own phonebook and dialing-code. This is also quite similar to how DNS-hierachies&zones are working.
jcytong 6y ago
> "Phonebooks were like DNS for telephone numbers." A floppy was like the save icon on old software. :)
- a1369209993 6y ago
  "Why do you have a bunch of 3D-printed save icons on your desk?"
  - vagrantJin 6y ago
    "Oh cool, are those real save buttons?" I suspect these jokes are more reality than we think.

DyslexicAtheist 6y ago

"Phonebooks were like DNS for telephone numbers." thanks I'll be stealing this quote 100%.

eternalban 6y ago

The word you are looking for is 'directory'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_directory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_directory

ghaff 6y ago
"Telephone directory" is a term that pretty much no one uses for phonebook.
- cgriswald 6y ago
  I’m not sure what the GP means by it being the metaphor to replace phone book (“contacts app” would be my off-the-cuff suggestion), but I’m not that old and I’ve heard it referred to as a directory. I haven’t heard it recently, but that has more to do with the disuse of phone books, I think. Maybe it’s a regional thing?
  - ghaff 6y ago
    >Maybe it’s a regional thing? That is probably fair. Anywhere I've lived in the US, someone would know (well, maybe not if they were young enough) what you meant by "telephone directory" but almost everyone would say "phonebook" at least in casual conversation. It's also true that when you would dial 411 for a number, that was called directory assistance. (And a listing of phone numbers for the staff in an organization would probably be called a staff directory or a telephone directory or something along those lines.)
- monocasa 6y ago
  Tell that to Active Directory.
- Symbiote 6y ago
  Unless you're an expert on worldwide English use, it's best not to make such sweeping generalizations. A straightforward search for the term brings up large sites in the UK, India, Malta and Hong Kong. "Directory Enquiries" was (is?) the name for the service in the UK where you pay a fee for someone to look in the telephone directory for you.
  - cyberdelica 6y ago
    Yes, but the heavy paper copy that used to periodically plop through everyones letterbox, was called The Phone Book[0]. [0] https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51uCASmsWxL.jpg https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51uCASmsWxL...
- shripadk 6y ago
  I'm a 90s kid. From India. Always called it Telephone Directory. We also called it Yellow Pages.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    In the US, in larger cities, you'd have separate "white pages" (aka the phonebook) which lists just names and addresses and "yellow pages" which had business listings and ads. In smaller locations, they were often combined into one with both white pages and yellow pages in the same book.
tweetle_beetle 6y ago
> A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phone book "Phone[ ]book" is the 12th word on the page you linked, and described there as a synonym to "directory". There's no need to be that pedantic.
- eternalban 6y ago
  It is not "pedantic", rather literate, to note the word directory instead of grasping for DNS. "A telephone book was a directory for telephone numbers" is clear and accurate. Unless knowing what the word "directory" means is asserted to be the domain of pedants. "By providing a worldwide, distributed directory service, the Domain Name System has been an essential component of the functionality of the Internet since 1985." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System
  - xnyan 6y ago
    >It is not "pedantic" It's quite pedantic. I'm the same way, here's an interpersonal relationship tip I've had to learn: If someone calls you an asshole, you can't say "No, I've thought about it and you're wrong, you don't really think I'm an asshole." Well, you can say that, but it just makes you come off as even more of an asshole.
    - jessaustin 6y ago
      That escalated quickly.
      - eternalban 6y ago
        It's comedy gold. Rather innocently I stepped through a worm hole and now find myself on the set of "Idiocracy - part d'oh!"

vezycash 6y ago

Dns is like contact app that's managed by a central authority.

blincoln 6y ago
But it's not. Only the first tier of servers is managed by a central authority. Everything else is delegated to tiers further down the tree.

blincoln 6y ago

It's for the best. A phonebook is a single list compiled by one organization. DNS is more like asking a librarian for information on a subject, and the librarian handing back a reference book. The librarian may or may not know anything about the subject, but they know where to go to find the information. Just like DNS: - Which librarian you ask can result in being pointed to a different reference book. - If the librarian is already familiar with the subject, they may be able to give you the answer directly to save time instead of pointing you to the reference book. The phonebook metaphor was a good one to give to completely non-technical people, but technical people used it as well, and so often didn't intuitively understand that DNS involves clients exchanging data with arbitrary servers on the internet, using their own DNS server as a proxy. As a result, they often leave s significant communication channel open to the internet even from supposedly secure environments.

slightwinder 6y ago
> A phonebook is a single list compiled by one organization. There are mutiple phonebooks worldwide, each compiled by different organizations. There is just not one phonebook, similar to how there is not just one DNS-server.
- cratermoon 6y ago
  For many years in the US there was THE phonebook published by the regional Bell Operating Company.
  - slightwinder 6y ago
    Exactly, regional. Each city/region has it's own phonebook and dialing-code. This is also quite similar to how DNS-hierachies&zones are working.

jcytong 6y ago

> "Phonebooks were like DNS for telephone numbers." A floppy was like the save icon on old software. :)

a1369209993 6y ago
"Why do you have a bunch of 3D-printed save icons on your desk?"
- vagrantJin 6y ago
  "Oh cool, are those real save buttons?" I suspect these jokes are more reality than we think.