call waiting and away message

[Baker, John]

        Usenet is a little earlier for "away message."  From a 5/19/88 post on Google Groups:

"It should be obvious that "I am away" messages should not be sent more than
once to the same recipient. However, Jacob's suggestion does have a practical
interest. Suppose the person which is luckily cruising the Carribeans for 2
monthes is a member of several distribution lists: all members of all these
lists, often the same persons, will receive the "I am away" notification..
By sending (once) the "away message" or other auto answers as specially
typed messages (e.g. user level acknowledgments), one gives the opportunity
to the lists to adopt a special treatment, e.g. dropping them rather than
broadcasting."

        As is implicit in this quote, away message is a contraction of "I am away" message or "while I'm away" message.

John Baker