Artifact #1: Zombie Email

Note: this automated email, when forwarded, was confirmed to be the exact same text as when the last Editor-in-Chief left The Watermark in 2022. The language was never updated, the bot was never turned off, and infrastructure was dependent on one gmail password being shared by successive Editors-in-Chief. The person in question confesses, further, when he was locked out of some administrative software, no one came to fix it from the university and he had to make publishing his issues of The Watermark work without access to it. This might go a way to explain why there were three distinct Watermark websites throughout its history.

Question: Hello, my name is Carston Anderson. I am a grad student in the English department and I am writing because I am doing my best to track down extra copies of 'The Watermark.' I was wondering if there were any available? I know the magazine stopped publishing and I am trying to gather copies while they still exist for a project I am working on. 

Thank you very much for your time, and I hope you have a pleasant afternoon! 

Answer: Hello, Thank you for contacting us; this reply is just to let you know that we have received your email. But rest assured, we will respond as soon as time allows. Please note that we are not active over the summer term and over school holidays and breaks. If you're submitting something, thank you very much! We'd love to hear more about your process; feel free to respond to this email and tell us about it. [Note: font discrepancy preserved from original email] We'll get back to you about it as soon as possible. If you have a question or are reaching out for another reason, we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you kindly,

The Watermark Staff