Subject: Re: Backwards Responses From: tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff) Date: 1991-03-08, 16:18 Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks In article <6981@idunno.Princeton.EDU> jacobw@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jacob S Weinstein) writes: > >I've noticed some responses on alt.tv.twinpeaks that seem to > >come BEFORE the posting to which they are responding. Is this a problem > >with my server, or have other people noticed this? This is a frequently asked question in many newsgroups -- it has nothing to do with Twin Peaks per se. News articles travel around the net by what is known as a "flood algorithm," i.e., sites feed all their neighbors at once, which in turn feed all their neighbors, etc, etc. The time it takes articles to get from their originating site to yours can vary. In particular, an article can be quickly propagated to some other site, where a reader posts a followup, and that followup can beat the original article to your machine! Imagine a net composed of people passing notes in class, and you'll have an idea of the orderings that can result. -- Canadians eat only buffalo and beer pie: Live in a /\ Tom Neff vast barren land: Consume 6 billion dollars of alcohol \/ tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM per year: Always say "What will be, will be": Canadian /\ uunet!bfmny0!tneff facts -- courtesy of Republic of China Tourist Bureau \/