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What's with the "Ping" at the bottom of the page. Why would someone do that?

A quick google gives this; apparently from the creator.

"I[t] tells how fast your computer talks with lichess server. It measures the time a message needs to make the round trip from your browser to lichess, then from lichess to your browser.

I'm interrested in knowing what your ping is, depending on the country/city where you live.

I live in Le Mans, France, and my ping is around 30-40ms.

What about you?"

{source} http://nn.lichess.org/forum/lichess-feedback/whats-your-ping

I know what a ping is. Why would someone do that on a website? It just seems pointless and causes additional load on the server.

My apologies Jim, as I was not trying to insult your intelligence.

I did not know the answer, but that is the answer given by the creator and it leaves a lot to be desired. His answer appears to indicate that he just did it for shits and giggles.

lichess.org is a game server, and supports real-time playing. The ping is a critical information when you play fast games, it helps to diagnose lagging when it happens.

Ah. I thought it was just a forum/web-site. That would make sense, then.

If you play speed chess, latency might become a significant problem (depending on your skills/speed).

edit: I wanted to comment on the parent comment. Sorry.

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