AOL Liberal Bias

AOL | 6/11/03 | Outraged

[Outraged]

I have been paying special attention to the liberal editorial front page headlines that stain my AOL homepage…I haven't documented each and every instance of bias but this latest frontpage pushed me to the limit.

From Tuesday, June 10, 2003, they have a pop up of GW at the Presidential podium and the caption Does he rate a thumb's up? Bush linked War to Weapons, Terror. But Where's the proof?…This underlined bit brings you to the heart of the liberal bias…The title of the linked page is AOL NEWS -- The Bush Credibility Meter…The body reads "He went after Saddam for banned weapons. None have been found (this links to an AP editorial in the guise of news, by Tom Raum) so far. He argued there was a link between Iraq and al-Qaida. High-ranking captives (say it didn't exist.) Is President Bush losing credibility?

So they cite the AP and The New York Times as their sources but they intentionally omit a balancing fact…In short they are another piece of the liberal machinery bent on doing damage to truth and the Republican party.

Where is the mention of (NewsMax)or (WashingtonTimes)?…glaringly absent of course.

[Conservomax]

I saw that too. I made acomment to my fiance about it. no wonder they are losing 300,000 subscribers every two months.

[beckett]

When you install AOL, it often installs a proxy cache...

Caches are used to reduce network bandwidth and improve performance. If AOL did not use cache technology for HTML, a large part of the Internet backbone would need to double or triple in size. There is nothing mysterious or nefarious about AOL's use of cache.

...even if you change ISPs, every single http request will go through AOL's servers

If you have proof that AOL forces a former customer's computer signal to route through AOL's own servers even after that customer has switched to a different ISP, I would love to see it. It seems to me that would be grounds for a lucrative class action civil suit, not to mention grounds for AOL's competitors to sue it up the kazoo.

[Conservomax]

I do because it came with my new computer - it sucks on soooo many levels, take it from me, I do websites for a living. AOL is absolutely the worst.

[beckett]

I showed her how much faster eBay auctions and Google searches were..,

Absurd. Searches are no faster on other ISPs than they are on AOL.

Why all this misinformation? It's just silly. The size of the pipe controls speed, not the name of the ISP.

[Xenalyte]

Because it's something we saw with our own eyes.

We dialed in on AOL, went to Google, searched (for what, I can't remember) and timed how long it took to get the results.

Then we did the exact same search while dialed in on my SWB account.

The search on my account was faster. Pictures load quicker too. I wouldn't assert it had I not verified it.

[beckett]

The time difference in the searches can be explained by so many factors outside of AOL that your test is basically useless.

A real benchmark has to be done under tightly controlled conditions with every variable known and accounted for.

[RedWhiteBlue]

Please re-read my statement. I did not "bash" AOL users; I bashed AOL and the sleeze in their chat rooms. I guess your answer to my question (Have you ever looked at AOL's chat rooms?) must be "no," since you haven't noticed how to get there from your main window.

And for the record, regardless of what you have assumed, I do not support any "slimey stuff" on the internet. My ISP does not have chat rooms. It merely provides access to the internet. When I open up my browser, it goes straight to THIS LOCATION. I dont go to porn sights, much less spend any money at that sort of thing, and I shop on the internet only at reputable companies. If however, someone were to point out to me that one of the companies I did business with had some sleezy or liberal motives, I would cease to give them my business. (I cancelled an order for a new fridge after Sears pulled their support away from the Boy Scouts). I can say, with no reservation, that I do not knowlingly support questionable enterprises, and when I find out that they are questionable, I do something about it.

[RedWhiteBlue]

I had the same situation with my own Mother. I convinced her to switch from AOL to Everyone's Internet due to the difference in price. She's hitting 68 years of age -- so it wasn't the easiest adaptation. But she sounds a lot like your Mom (97% of what she does is e-mail), so there wasn't that much to get used to. Good luck!

[iowaboy]

AOL SUCKS! Big Time.

[dodger]

YAHOO is just as bad ...

[Warrior Nurse]

You know AOL hires a lot of people and therefore provides jobs to liberals and conservatives alike. Some of us don't have time or the inclination to change. I don't think it is right to judge some on based on what ISP they use. That is just as absurd as judging someone on skin color. Just some food for thought to my fellow FReepers.

[laredo44]

Juno or NetZero.

I've used both Juno and Netzero in the past and was never really impressed with their access availability. Have they improved? It's been about 2-3 years since I used them.

I can't get either DSL or cablemodem at my home, but I do have DirectTV and have considered their highspeed offering. The big hurdle is the $600 for additional hardware and the $60/mo. on-going charge. Any knowledge of this high speed satellite offering?

[gimme1ibertee]

Well, i'll tell ya.....I'd LOVE to get away from AOL,but unfortunately any other ISP i've inquired about doesn't offer a local dial-up number where i'm at.The only exception is nraonline.com,which I tried at one time,but the email service is a joke,and dial-up as well as number of pop-up ads is poor as well.If anyone out there knows of any ISP that offers local numbers in south eastern VA (Northern Neck area)I'd sure like to know...and i'd switch in a nanosecond!!!!!

[ALS]

"I personally don't know anyone (who is a serious internet user) who has an AOL account. That's not bias --- that's a fact."

I own 4 websites and I've had AOL for at least 8 years now.

I know other webmasters that also have it. It makes a nifty communication tool. I assume you were referring to the kiddiechats.

On that you have a point. I avoid chat completely.

[ALS]

I should clarify that I don't use it for an ISP.


for obvious reasons < /gag off>

[Sonny M]

I was under the impression that Ed Case was steve case's cousin not brother.

[Chuckster]

After reading down through this thread, I am amazed at the number of FReepers that are, or have been using AOL. As a grizzled internet veteran who has been on line since '95, I have never seen any reason to use AOL in the first place and lots of reasons to avoid it.