More and more I see programmers developing web based applications that are based on what I call "ping-then-do" mentality. An example would be the application that pings the mail server before sending the mail. In a rather heated debate in another forum I made this statement, "If you are going to write programs that use the internet, you should at least have a basic idea of the fundamentals. The desire to "ping-then-do" tells me that many who are, don’t."

On this forum and at Stack Overflow I see numerous questions about ping / trace route and wonder why? If it is acceptable to have a discussion about it here I would like to hear what others think. If not I assume it will be closed rapidly.