Cultural differences, they slay me

[shadowspar]

This...just...I don't even know where to start with this. And it's not even something horrible, it's...well...I'll just tell the story.

Anyway, this guy apparently had a buddy blow his mind with a "fucking brilliant" vacation responder. Go check it out, then come back.

Apparently "off the grid" means something radically different to me than it means to them, because here an "I'm off the grid" vacation message would look more like

Hi. I'm currently out of the office for an off-the-grid vacation in Lake Superior Provincial Park. If you have a really, truly urgent matter that needs an immediate response from me, you are out of luck, because there's not a chance in hell that I'm going to have any kind of usable cellphone signal where I am. Knowing this, if you still need to get a hold of me, you are going to have to come up with something damn good -- good enough to convince the park rangers to tramp several dozen kilometers through the wilderness after me and pull me out of the bush. Good luck! Cheers, Rick

To be clear, I don't think that Kopelman or Feld are somehow wrong or outlandish; I'm glad they have their autoresponder and it works for them. They just live in a very, very different world from the one in which I reside.

Comments

[niqaeli]

I... what. That. That is not off the grid. If I were the wife I would have been OUTTA there.

I love my internet. I generally want it on my vacation at least periodically. But I don't consider that off the grid. O.o

[alexbayleaf]

I was thinking of doing something similar when I get back to Australia, actually. I'm likely to be spending some time somewhat off the grid (at rural locations that have minimal cellphone coverage, let alone wifi) so I was thinking of setting up urgent@infotrope.net and a vacation responder saying that that's how to contact me if you really truly need me, and that I'll try and check it if/when I have signal.

I think it makes sense in some cases, but yeah, I don't think it's "mind blowing". I admire danah boyd's way of being offline, actually -- she posts plenty in advance to tell everyone she's taking, say, the month of December off. And then she disappears, and doesn't reply to her email. I suppose if you know her well, you might have a personal back-channel to reach her (phone if nothing else) but by all accounts she takes it pretty seriously.