Funny, that's exactly the article I was thinking about as I read this.
The impersonal auto-response link above pretty badly contradicts the advice given here. I wonder if Seth Godin wrote the current post as "lessons learned" or just didn't feel like following his own best practices. (Physician, heal thyself.)
This just has to be mentionned:
My Seth Godin decline letter. Thoughts?, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=398293