a ping is a lot like your post #11......
Pinging you to post 66 for an example, publius 321.
If there is a topic that is of particular interest to you, you can begin to accumulate FR screen names, who have exhibited an interest in the same topic. This is a "ping list." Only include people who have asked to be added. Remove people who ask to be removed. You can keep your ping list in a folder on your computer desktop, or I've even seen ping lists at the bottom of FR homepages before, just copy and paste when a topic arises that is of potential interest.
The names should be entered into the "To:" field at the top of the reply screen, separated by semicolons.
That's all there is to it. Pretty simple.