Slay the AOL Monster (Good Article by Robert Locke)

Front Page Magazine ^ | 8/2/02 | Robert Locke

[Pyro7480]

Post your comments here.

[My2Cents]

The vanguard of the encroaching leftist Internet/media agenda has an address in Ogden, Utah?

[jumpstartme]

here it is

[College Repub]

I don't know. I (and thousands of others) run a business online. A lot of my customers would be too moronic to figure out how to use the internet were it not for AOL. As AOL (the internet service) grows and brings more people online, the online economy grows with it. I do have issues with Time Warner and would never use the AOL service myself (unless I was going to be on an extended travel trip or something). Should everyone who has AIM or ICQ switch to ODIGO to avoid AOL and Microsoft?

[Paul Atreides]

A-hOLe

[NC Conservative]

I call AOL - Antichrist On line. I have been searching for another provider. Any suggestions.

[tet68]

I tried AOL once, that was enough, practicly unusable!

[gunnedah]

You could argue this about 95% of the Mainstream Press and Media. Quit them all I say.

[Pyro7480]

Well, I don't think AOL makes any money off AIM or ICQ from the people who use those programs (except from the people who advertise on them). So I guess that wouldn't be much of a problem. I actually use AIM, because it's a basically a standard for instant messaging, and most people I know use it or AOL's standard service. AOL has done a service for introducing many people to the Internet.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/726512/posts

[putupon]

Dump AOL because it costs too much if for no other reason.

[hattend]

Bump for later

[Robert357]

I have been a CompuServe member since around 1986. At the time I loved CompuServe as the forums were a great place to ask questions and learn things. They had lots of technical forums and they forums were moderated by experts. I was part of some engineering, computer, outdoors, automotive, boating and firearms forums. I also like how you could do research on CompuServe.

AOL came along and bought CompuServe, mostly for their incredible telecommunications system to all kinds of cities. All CompuServe members were promised that AOL was not going to change the basic concept that it had in the past.

WRONG! One day with almost no warning the firearms forums were done away with. When the management was asked why, they said that the traffic was too low to support and that the people would use another forum such as an outdoor forum. Actually, when traffic or use statistics were presented to AOL CompuServe Management, that showed other forums (like horse racing) had lower use than firearms forums, they just said there decision was final.

Later, folks were pressured to switch from their unlimited access time accounts to accounts that had limits on connect time. Then the spam email started coming.

I closed my CompuServe account back in early 1999. I have not regreted it. I only wish I would have told them off sooner. I hope that AOL (with the exception of Netscape) dies a financiall painful death so that Ted Turner's gift of stock and money to the United Nations becomes not worth the paper it was printed on.

[Notforprophet]

If you use AOL, you are SOL.

[two23]

I dumped AO-Hell in 1998 and try to encourage others to try a simple ISP for greater internet FREEDOM. Aol is not "the internet"...its a big LAN (or WAN)--most AOL'ers do not even realize their mail stays on the servers (security risk) and that AOL web pages are NOT "on" the internet, but stored on hard drives in some warehouse.
In order for AOL'ers to browse freely outside of the AOL "corral", they have to have a second, non proprietary browser--x out all the AOL screens, open up the OTHER browser and hope they don't get bumped off line for "idle time".
They advertise on TV how customers get access to WEB-MD!
)as if it's exclusive to only AOL'ers)
Geeesh--anyone can type that into Google and access it.
The AOL "communities" are like cyber-trailer parks...flaming, mean, nasty, self righteous morons with nothing better to do but spread AOL spam and idiotic urban legends.
By the way...AOL tracks the users every move. Talk about Big Brother.

[RightWhale]

Time Warner

Warner Bros used to have interesting movies. Not anymore.

[js1138]

Dump AlmostOnLine because it is a perversion of the internet. An unnecessary and performance degrading middleman in the chain of communication. Nice to know you can hate them for their politics as well as their service.

[College Repub]

Those hard drives in some warehouse *ARE* the internet though :) Or part of it anyway..

[TheEngineer]

This article already posted:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/726512/posts

[RAT Patrol]

Yess! I dumped my AOL account a couple of weeks ago. It was hard because I liked my address, but so what! It feels good to do the right thing.