Max Chafkin, a senior writer for Inc. magazine, couched the idea as a sort of joke: For his article on virtual offices, perhaps the entire magazine staff should work remotely while making the issue? 'I thought it would involve so much change that it wouldn't be feasible,' Chafkin said. Then Jane Berentson, Inc.'s editor, gave the go-ahead. And in February, the staff of about 30 -- editors, reporters and producers -- created the April issue outside of the business magazine's office in downtown Manhattan. The issue goes on sale on April 6. The production went off without a major hitch, with the staff members using nothing more than readily available technology, including Skype and instant messaging. And Berentson described Chafkin's cover piece, 'The Office Is Dead. Long Live the Office,' which is infused with first-person details, as richer and more unusual than it would have been without the experiment. 'I think about the magazine industry and how we're going to use all of this new technology, such as the iPad, but there's innovation in this very basic way as well,' Berentson said. 'Why are we in the office in the first place?' Away from the office, some staff members struggled to adjust, Chafkin said, as minor technical hiccups arose, and parents working at home had to find ways to separate their work from their children. But in the end, most employees discovered that they could and should work out of the office more often -- though they did not want to eliminate the office entirely. Chafkin, 27, who has been at the magazine since 2005, found himself working more hours than usual in February and pining for the company of his colleagues. 'I was way more productive, but way less happy,' he said. 'I think one of the reasons people get into magazines is that it's collaborative.' The collaboration that did happen needed to be arranged in advance, like setting a time for a conference call, rather than relying on an encounter in a hallway or chatting at a desk. Only once during the month did the entire staff gather, at Berentson's home on the Upper West Side. When everyone got together, she said, it was 'exactly like seeing old friends.' -- JOSEPH PLAMBECK FOR A B&B THAT DOESN'T EXIST, THE ONLINE REVIEWS KEEP COMING One recent TripAdvisor review of the agrotourism destination Schrute Farms awarded four stars, lavishly praising the food, while another yielded just one star, casting aspersions on the owners' sanity. This wild disparity is especially odd because Schrute Farms doesn't even exist. The farm 'belongs' to Dwight Schrute of the NBC series 'The Office' (and his eccentric cousin Mose). In September 2007, the show asked to use TripAdvisor, a travel Web site, in an episode in which Dwight turns his beet farm into a bed and breakfast. Christine Petersen, the chief marketing officer for TripAdvisor, was thrilled. 'We don't have a big marketing budget and don't do TV ads,' she said. 'This was the big time.' TripAdvisor set up a review page, thinking it would be good for a quick laugh or two. Paul Lieberstein, who wrote the episode, called 'Money,' never even went back to the site afterward. 'We thought it would be fun, but then we didn't think about it anymore,' he said in an interview. But Schrute Farms is still doing big business -- for TripAdvisor. Reruns and DVDs keep inspiring new visits to the site and there are now more than 600 reviews (more than for many major Manhattan hotels, Petersen said). Many reviewers add their own funny flourishes, enhancing the show's mythology: Mandy Pyszka from Milwaukee, who stumbled upon the TripAdvisor site while searching Google for Dwight Schrute quotes, raved about the beet pudding. Carla Harrington of Fredricksburg, Va., was surprised to find 82 percent of reviews recommended Schrute Farms. 'I thought about what it would feel like not to know them as TV characters but to really go to this B&B,' she said in an interview. Her one-star slam called Dwight 'an overbearing survivalist who appears to have escaped from the local mental asylum.' Lieberstein, who also plays Toby Flenderson, a human resources staff member, on the show, said that 'The Office' might someday revisit the farm. TripAdvisor executives said they would love that. 'We've started many a meeting with Dwight's quote that TripAdvisor is 'the lifeblood of agrotourism,' ' Petersen said. She has contemplated adding the Bates Motel and 'The Shining's' Overlook Hotel. But not everyone gets the joke. Recently, TripAdvisor added a caveat explaining that Schrute Farms was fictional, Petersen said. 'We had a complaint from someone who had wanted to go there.' -- STUART MILLER 