Hash publication - Bitcoin whitepaper Section 3 Timestamp server

Question

In section 3.Timestamp Server of the Bitcoin whitepaper it says:

The solution we propose begins with a timestamp server. A timestamp server works by taking a hash of a block of items to be timestamped and widely publishing the hash, such as in a newspaper or Usenet post

I am confused by the meaning of the sentence in regards to "widely publishing the hash". I am not sure if the correct way to interpret this is, the seed / genesis block should be widely published or that a function of the server is to repeatedly publish each block that gets timestamped.

Answer 1

It just means that blocks, and consequently block-hashes, are widely distributed among a large community of completely independent entities. In this case, the community of Bitcoin nodes / Bitcoin users.

Any nodes that perform timestamping (mining) have to widely publish the hash in this way in order to be paid for their work.

What helps make the time-stamping immutable is 1) The size, distribution and relative anonymity of this community. 2) The use of a link to a previous block where the link takes the form of a hash of the previous block.