sorcerer's apprentice mode

[from Goethe's Der Zauberlehrling via Paul Dukas's L'apprenti sorcier in the film Fantasia.] A bug in a protocol where, under some circumstances, the receipt of a message causes multiple messages to be sent, each of which, when received, triggers the same bug. Used esp. of such behavior caused by {bounce message} loops in {email} software. Compare {broadcast storm}, {network meltdown}, {software laser}, {ARMM}.

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