Re: recentf-cleanup, file-readable-p & remote files

[Richard Stallman]

    > IMO a better solution would be to allow to disable connection timeout
    > when calling the `file-readable-p' remote handler (I don't know if
    > this is feasible).  So when not connected, `file-readable-p' will
    > immediately return nil, without waiting for a remote connection.

    It makes a lot of sense for `file-readable-p' to return nil for an
    unreachable file ... :-)  Maybe this should just be handled by the
    appopriate remote file-handler.

What is meant by "when not connected"?
I don't understand it clearly.