Andrew Taylor on the Business of Arts & Culture
www.artsjournal.com/artfulmanager/

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Ping
  Posted: May 19, 2006
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One of my favorite moments of the week is the flurry of bounce-back e-mails I get every Friday morning, just after I send out my weblog's weekly summary. The subscribers who are away at a conference, or out in the world, or taking a day off, set up their autoresponders, alerting those that contact them that they aren't there. "Out of Office," "Sorry to Miss You," "Off at a Conference," say the subject lines. The body of the messages tell me where you've gone, how long you'll be there, and when you expect to return.

The reason I like these several-dozen autoresponders I get each week is that they are the only indication I get of who my subscribers are. If they're accepting e-mail, my post just wanders off into the world. If they're out of the office, I get a little ''ping'' bounced back, like some submarine sonar describing the invisible terrain around me.

It's a silly thing, I know. But it's a welcome flood of feedback. It's also fascinating to know that sometimes you learn the most about someone when they're not there.