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(Originally in response to the now-dead comment asking what propagate means.) "Propagate" means "spread out from a seed location to other locations." Which is
by sfink 5y ago
(Originally in response to the now-dead comment asking what propagate means.)
"Propagate" means "spread out from a seed location to other locations."
Which is a valid description of the effect of what happens with DNS, assuming the changes are also being requested by end clients. It's just that we silly hoomanz connect together an effect (propagation) with the most obvious mechanism (it gets pushed from the start location to other locations), to the point that we mentally equate the term 'propagation' with that mechanism.
Come to think of it, even in the plant world the term "propagation" is kind of backwards. Something that propagates from cuttings relies on an external force to rip off a chunk and deposit it elsewhere. The plant doesn't throw its own severed appendage (well, except in some limited cases.) Even for seeds, dandelions rely on wind to pull the pretty fluffy bits off and deposit them elsewhere. It's just that the false equivalence works better in the plant world because it's new stuff and—as with DNS—new stuff doesn't have the problematic state of old stale cache entries lying around. And that's where the flawed mental model results in a difference in observed behavior.
(Yeah, Evans's explanation was better. And she pointed me to the 8.8.8.8 force flush page, which is awesome.)
- b112 5y agoZombie plants?
- jodrellblank 5y agoTumbleweed, possibly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumbleweed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumbleweed > once it is mature and dry, detaches from its root or stem and rolls due to the force of the wind. > Apart from its primary vascular system and roots, the tissues of the tumbleweed structure are dead
- Izkata 5y agoStill relies completely on wind. There are plants with spring-loaded seeds that will fling them various distances: https://homeguides.sfgate.com/examples-plants-disperse-seeds-shooting-70888.html https://homeguides.sfgate.com/examples-plants-disperse-seeds... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b5JicZvq8TQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b5JicZvq8TQ
- sfink 5y agoYeah, that's the sort of thing I was thinking of. I grew up around a lot of Scotch Broom, which fling their seeds rather violently when disturbed. But I removed the example because at that point I was talking about parts of plants rather than seeds. I don't actually know of an example of a plant hurling away a non-seed part of itself for budding, though I'd be surprised if it doesn't exist.
- b112 5y agoYou know, I think this also relies on wind (but not completely, as you say.. an animal could set it off, and maybe a seed might stick to its fur!). But can you imagine during a strong windstorm, how much farther these seeds would go? Especially fall windstorms. The wind is doing 20mph, and then these seeds go flying up in the air... Neat.
- 7952 5y agoIn life the effect is to reproduce genes. The mechanism could be anything. To release seeds at a particular time. Or be tasty to humans. Or have pretend eyes that deter predators. The effect is the same. A pet cat is not getting propogated by humans. The genes for cuteness are using humans as a mechanism to spread themselves.
- NoPicklez 5y agoHeck, even ICANN use the term propagation in their functional requirements for DNS, so does IETF in their RFC for DNS. People are just being too pedantic and nerdy of the use of the term. Of course one word cannot explain the technical aspect of how it actually works, that's why we use the term. It describes the general principle of how it works.
- randomcarbloke 5y agoCame here to say exactly this, the argument seems more that the label tells you little about the process besides its observable behaviour, which is generally how it goes.
- raxxorrax 5y agoI think the article is unreasonable pedantic. But in a legal context, I would support it, because that is basically the justification for DNS censorhsip, which sadly has become more popular again.