Difference between revisions of "3150: Ping"

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(Undo revision 388126 by Agf (talk) You don't just create redlink categories. Go to the Talk page, suggest the category, list the other pages that you think are also included, suggest the name. Discuss...)
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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
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{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
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This comic shows a {{w|message in a bottle}} on the beach, much like [[1675: Message in a Bottle]].
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This comic shows a message in a bottle on the beach, much like [[1675: Message in a Bottle]].
 
  
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{{w|ICMP}} is a protocol that's used among other things for "pings" that are used to see if one machine can successfully communicate with another machine. When you send a ping, your computer sends an "Echo request" packet; the receiver sends an "Echo response" message back to the sender (the term "echo" refers to the fact that the data in the request is copied to the response). [[Cueball]] is emulating this same process with the messages in the bottle. However, one difference is that bottles cast into the sea don't have a fixed destination, so there's no assurance (or even expectation) that the response will reach the original sender, nor even that the request had even found the originally intended destination.
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The {{w|Internet Control Message Protocol}} (ICMP) is a network communication protocol that's used (among other things) for "pings" that test whether one machine can successfully communicate with another. When you send a ping, your computer sends an "echo request" packet; the receiver sends an "echo response" message back to the sender (the term "echo" refers to the fact that the data in the request is copied to the response).  
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Someone over the sea has initiated this process with a message in a bottle, and [[Cueball]] receives the echo request and responds. However, one difference from ICMP is that bottles cast into the sea don't have a fixed destination, so there's no assurance (or even expectation) that the response will reach the original sender, nor even that the request had even found the originally intended destination. In addition, ping response times are typically measured in milliseconds or at most a few seconds, but here, even in the highly unlikely event that the sea does bring the bottle back to the original sender, this round-trip transmission has an ''extremely'' long ping response time.
  
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The title text references {{w|ICMPv6}}, which is the version of ICMP used with {{w|IPv6}}. Adoption of IPv6 in general has been slow, and the joke in the comic is that shipwrecked sailors using messages in a bottle to try to communicate with the outside world have not adopted this messaging protocol for their pings.
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Pinging another network node is something typically done when initiating extensive communication with it, or when testing whether network communication is working. The humor here is that a shipwrecked sailor trying to get rescued by casting messages in a bottle wouldn't want to do this: the chance that one message-containing bottle gets found and acted on are slim, and the chance of succeeding with multiple back-and-forth messages is exceedingly low (this is known as packet loss). Instead a stranded sailor would just say they're in need of rescue and describe how best to find them.
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ICMP is a supporting protocol of the {{w|Internet Protocol version 4}} (IPv4). The newer {{w|Internet Protocol version 6}} (IPv6) uses {{w|ICMPv6}} instead, which the title text references. There is no (technically correct) name to describe both ICMP and ICMPv6, so the comic could not be generic and had to choose one of them. Some people are quite upset that switch from IPv4 to IPv6 has not happened despite the decades it has been available; they might complain that Randall uses the legacy protocol here. The title text makes a joke out of that possible complaint by pointing out how absurd it would be to expect an higher adoption of IPv6 by shipwrecked sailors compared to the general population.
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
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{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
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:[Cueball is walking on a sandy beach near the shore. A bottle with a paper inside is stuck in the sand, presumably from being washed up by the tide.]
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:[Cueball is walking on a sandy beach near the shore. A bottle is stuck in the sand, presumably from being washed up by the tide.]
 
  
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:[Cueball has picked up the bottle and is reading the message inside. There is illegible text written beneath the title of the message.]
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:[Cueball has picked up the bottle and is reading the message inside, which he has taken out. The messages contents are displayed on the top portion of the panel. There is illegible text written beneath the message title. He is holding the cork of the bottle in his other hand.]
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:Message: ICMP Echo Request
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:Message Title: ICMP Echo Request
  
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:[Cueball has set the bottle down below him and is now scribbling out a new message. Once again, there is illegible text written beneath the title of the message.]
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:[Cueball has set the bottle down below him and is now scribbling out a new message. Once again, the contents are on the top portion of the panel, with illegible text written beneath the message title. He has put down the cork.]
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:Message: ICMP Echo Reply
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:Message Title: ICMP Echo Reply
  
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:[Cueball is walking away from the shore now, having set the bottle back into the sea.]
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:[Cueball is walking away from the shore now, having set the bottle back into the sea, with the message inside.]
  
 
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
 
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

Latest revision as of 13:11, 17 November 2025

Ping
Progress on getting shipwrecked sailors to adopt ICMPv6 has been slow.
Title text: Progress on getting shipwrecked sailors to adopt ICMPv6 has been slow.

    Explanation[edit]

    This comic shows a message in a bottle on the beach, much like 1675: Message in a Bottle.

    The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is a network communication protocol that's used (among other things) for "pings" that test whether one machine can successfully communicate with another. When you send a ping, your computer sends an "echo request" packet; the receiver sends an "echo response" message back to the sender (the term "echo" refers to the fact that the data in the request is copied to the response). Someone over the sea has initiated this process with a message in a bottle, and Cueball receives the echo request and responds. However, one difference from ICMP is that bottles cast into the sea don't have a fixed destination, so there's no assurance (or even expectation) that the response will reach the original sender, nor even that the request had even found the originally intended destination. In addition, ping response times are typically measured in milliseconds or at most a few seconds, but here, even in the highly unlikely event that the sea does bring the bottle back to the original sender, this round-trip transmission has an extremely long ping response time.

    Pinging another network node is something typically done when initiating extensive communication with it, or when testing whether network communication is working. The humor here is that a shipwrecked sailor trying to get rescued by casting messages in a bottle wouldn't want to do this: the chance that one message-containing bottle gets found and acted on are slim, and the chance of succeeding with multiple back-and-forth messages is exceedingly low (this is known as packet loss). Instead a stranded sailor would just say they're in need of rescue and describe how best to find them.

    ICMP is a supporting protocol of the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). The newer Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) uses ICMPv6 instead, which the title text references. There is no (technically correct) name to describe both ICMP and ICMPv6, so the comic could not be generic and had to choose one of them. Some people are quite upset that switch from IPv4 to IPv6 has not happened despite the decades it has been available; they might complain that Randall uses the legacy protocol here. The title text makes a joke out of that possible complaint by pointing out how absurd it would be to expect an higher adoption of IPv6 by shipwrecked sailors compared to the general population.

    Transcript[edit]

    [Cueball is walking on a sandy beach near the shore. A bottle with a paper inside is stuck in the sand, presumably from being washed up by the tide.]
    [Cueball has picked up the bottle and is reading the message inside, which he has taken out. The messages contents are displayed on the top portion of the panel. There is illegible text written beneath the message title. He is holding the cork of the bottle in his other hand.]
    Message Title: ICMP Echo Request
    [Cueball has set the bottle down below him and is now scribbling out a new message. Once again, the contents are on the top portion of the panel, with illegible text written beneath the message title. He has put down the cork.]
    Message Title: ICMP Echo Reply
    [Cueball is walking away from the shore now, having set the bottle back into the sea, with the message inside.]

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    Discussion

    Should we include links to the other impractical internet protocol comics? (like the one where he has to rebuild civilization for every ping, or the one where they're using neutrinos to send messages?)2602:FF4D:128:D56:B3E5:923E:8846:D13 17:24, 3 October 2025 (UTC)

    Or create a category for networking protocols? Barmar (talk) 17:27, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
    I second that. Agf (talk) 19:15, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
    Here are those that I've found that would match this category ("weird communication mediums" - the neutrinos router doesn't fit the "impractical internet protocols"): 3017, 1789 (unsure), 454, 190, 1142 (unsure), 2949, 269, 1254 (Edit: all those without (unsure) have been added.) Agf (talk) 20:04, 3 October 2025 (UTC)
    Ok, so I didn't see this before I saw the first redlink category added and unadded it with a suggestion to talk about it.
    But it needs more discussion than this. And I'd advise thinking a lot more (as a group) about the actual name of the category. Barmar seems to have a slightly different idea as a name, for example. And could it be "weird" or "unorthodox" or "impractical" or ... YGTI. Get some sort of wider consensus, please. 81.179.195.93 21:26, 3 October 2025 (UTC)

    Little did the shipwrecked sailor know, but the headers were forged and he was duped into participating in the slowest forged-ping-based DDOS ever. 2603:8081:9700:11:0:0:0:2 17:32, 3 October 2025 (UTC)

    Minor variation of the 1990-04-01 RFC1149 classic. --2001:A62:598:F01:500E:58A5:4DF9:A701 17:44, 3 October 2025 (UTC)

    The serious tone of that entire article in combination with the topic makes it the funniest article I ever read on Wikipedia. I need to check the comments under the explanations more often. It's like another layer of treasures to discover after reading the comic itself... Thank you for making my day better. 46.34.229.216 18:08, 6 October 2025 (UTC)

    You could argue that the oldest ever found message in a bottle was part of a very slow PING-experiment. Because the finders were asked to mail the included postcard. But replying by throwing the bottle back into the ocean would defy the whole experiment. -- Semon (talk) 11:25, 4 October 2025 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

    I have been conducting 'message-in-a-bottle' experiments for decades, with zero success to this point. I'm beginning to suspect that flushing them down the toilet might not reach my intended audience. These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For (talk) 01:04, 5 October 2025 (UTC)

    Surely flushing should ensure that you are getting it to the right destination? 82.13.184.33 10:10, 6 October 2025 (UTC)

    Given the shape of the shoreline here, I think it's clearly Cueball who is the shipwrecked sailor here. That is (IMHO) the essential humour of the comic: Cueball is unphased by finding the bottle and responds in kind with hardly a second's thought. He'll wait until a proper message gets through to be rescued... 2A01:CB08:E6:7000:1D91:1081:A3D0:49D5 18:49, 8 October 2025 (UTC)

    What are the chances that ICMP in this case stands for Inter-Continental Message Protocol? 151.186.179.27 01:17, 15 October 2025 (UTC)
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