[Changed from original topic]

What are you views on AOL users... I've had trouble with my e-mails to some users being blocked... etc.

I've found that a spirit guide usually helps...



...and if that doesn't work, you can always move on to beer... :D

Meh, if they're an AOhell "victim" there's no hope for the poor sod anyway, not in an internet sense anyway :rolleyes:

And Geoff, if you're getting stroppy emails from someone, just do what I do and block their email addy.

How would you feel Rich if you had a problem with the forum and Geoff blocked your e-mail addy mate???

Having been involved in this I can tell you she has been advised to check her preferences as aparently AOL users can turn their recieve e-mail off. So it just bounces.
Seems a bit pointless to me but there ya go.

Hopefully this user will be back on site and may manage to read this post and understand that Geoff hasn't been ignoring her.

Moon

Originally posted by Rich
Meh, if they're an AOhell "victim" there's no hope for the poor sod anyway, not in an internet sense anyway :rolleyes:
356 users have registered with AOL addresses - so lets hope they don't read your post Rich... :lol:

*Geoff ducks for cover*

Sorry Geoff, I'm just very anti-AOL due to the horrible experience I had with their dial up service back in mid 1998, and that was just the internet service itself, don't get me started about their moronic tech "support" and sales staff.

ive been on AOL neally 5 years and never had any major probs, ive just got their broadband too, ive heard a few folks sayin AOHELL but i honestly cant see why :)
if theres anything you want me to do to try and locate the lady in question and pass on a messege etc.. let me no and ill try
Litha

Originally posted by Litha
ive been on AOL neally 5 years and never had any major probs, ive just got their broadband too, ive heard a few folks sayin AOHELL but i honestly cant see why :)

Just so's I can qualify my undying contempt for that company here's a few pointers..

1. Their software for browsers, dial-ups, etc.. is written in such a way that uninstalling it, usually results in crashes, system lockups, or other problems that I usually end up having to fix

2. Their browsing system uses a cache approach that causes all manner of problems for their users when it comes to sites that require IP authentication.. ie: for the user to come from one IP address... In a nutshell, often AoHell users can't access content from protected sites because of this..

3. I know multiple ex-users who like my father attempted to cancel their AoHell service, were told it had been done and were still being charged to their bank accounts, SIX months afterwards... only the threat and completion of a small claims court form got that my fathers situation sorted out.


So, loathing with a passion and plenty of reason I'm afraid... I can recommend Demon.net as a good alternative if you like :)

sounds like you had a pretty crappy ride with them Martin, im not very technical so if any of that had happened to me i mite not have noticed lol other wise i must just be one of the lucky ones :)
Litha

Originally posted by Litha
sounds like you had a pretty crappy ride with them Martin, im not very technical so if any of that had happened to me i mite not have noticed lol other wise i must just be one of the lucky ones :)
Litha
heh.. you could say that ;)

In fairness I do web design and computer maintenance (business wise and for friends, etc...) so I see a lot of the damage that AoHell do and they haven't learned a thing in the past 8 or 9 years since I was using them...

Don't even get me started on what my net bill used to cost back in 96... think it was around £500 one month for phone and AoHell access... so when people complain about £15 a month I start to get my walking stick out and tell those young whipper... :o

... oh dear.. there I go again.. :rolleyes: :D

The hubby hates AOL too. He helped sort out a friends computer who are signed up to them and couldn't install the firewall cos AOL disconnected it.

Some technical stuff there which I am not 100% sure about, but the pop ups are a nightmare! Unfortunately said friends are not in a cable area so the telewest service was out (which normally i would recommend to all and sundry). Will pass on about demon tho.

Moon

ive got aol 9 now n its got a thing wot stops pop ups
dont no if thats any help but just thort ide mention it :)
and its got a thing where if it disconnects you it gets ya back online to where ya was on its own
Litha

hi Litha

no I think they got the lastest version. but will mention it anyway

Moon

AOL is and will always will be for idiots who know nothing about computers. People that know what they are doing wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.

No offence Litha but pop up stoppers have been around for years and Microsoft Windows always asks if you want to reconnect after you are disconnected so nothing new from them there.

For anyone who has had AOL installed the only went to permanently get rid of it is to re-format and do a fresh install.

no offence taken skatiechik :) we cant all be computer geeks can we, how borin life would be
Litha

AOL is just a glorified intranet, they prefer their users not to stray from their own network (hence those stupid AOLlinks or whatever they call them now-a-days)

agree with everything that's been said about AOL being bad.

Had bad experiences with billing (continued charges after account closed - re: Martin's post)

Found it slower than other services, in comparison

Emails are not "industry standard" pop3, so forced to use AOL's online mail browser instead of a normal email client and not compatible with HTML formatted email

As an AOL member, you are automatically listed in the member directory, with no opt-out. So bots gathering emails for spam purposes can discover your email address with ease.

Technical support is lacking to say the least - you're better off just searching the internet yourself for the answer to your question (I suppose some might have had good advice, but if there's an infinite amount of monkeys.....)

They're not all that bothered about user protection as they claim..their CRIS databases have been hacked time and time again, despite the Merlin system they are so proud of, exploiting security holes that allowed them in some cases to access AOL users' credit card details, hijack or just terminate accounts

AOL users attracted by their much hyped "parental controls" might like to take a look at this article "The dark side of AOL UK" (http://www.observers.net/ukpedo.html) from Observers.net

There was also the case when a (AOL-approved) domain 100% girls changed hands. AOL's approval procedure is so strict, that no-one ever checked the link from the Kids-Only section of AOLs own pages, so for weeks, kids were being directed to a porn site with live webcams and adult chat!

Screen shot 1: 100% Girls Listed on AOL's Kids Search ("A Search that links only to sites that are safe for kids") (http://www.observers.net/images/aolkid2.jpg)
Screenshot 2 - the site that kids were directed to (images have been censored) (http://www.observers.net/images/aolkid1.jpg)

Their chat is monitord by chat guides and hosts. Wow! good thing? Seems so - but these are unpaid volunteers. Now some volunteers genuinely enjoy helping people out, and they are to be praised for their efforts. Others, however, do seem to volunteer for some kind of power complex - perhaps they failed the entrance examination at Traffic Warden school! And the volunteers, according to articles, documentation, and confidential internal AOL mails that have been leaked, are often treated badly. Their position as a community leader is waved like the carrot in front of them, whilst they are often beaten at the same time with the stick of "put more hours in, you must do this and that or lose your (unpaid) job. So the good ones get disillusioned.

Still wondering about the AOhell description??

well i wonder when ill encounter the grief you lot have had so i can join in and complain too, but honestly i havent a single thing to moan about.... i just havent had any of the stuff you lot have. <<< touchin wood tho now :) >>
Litha

Years ago, AOL in the US became the one of the first ISPs as such that targetted 'civillians' with an Internet service that was easy to use.

Unfortunately, the users were lacking in the 'netiquette' that we all seemed to need in those days to get by without upsetting people and so the AOL users became synonymous with spamming lamers - initially because they knew no better, and then because of AOLs marketting strategy that allowed you to set up trial accounts for free for a month. Spammers would do this and then ditch the accunt after the trial month.

Other US based ISPs, like Compuserve, made it harder to access a lot of pure Internet services by keeping their users more 'in the box'. I rememer that when I first got a Compuserve account in the early 1990s, around the same time I had a WELL and CIX account, mailing between different online srevices was quite....interesting...:-)

The AOL software has always been rather special, and initially the idea was to provide a walled garden type Internet with paid services. However, they've moved more and more towards just being an ISP, although they still occupy a strange territory.

I'd never have anything against an AOL e-mail address per se, although quite a few of my web hosting clients usually like me to add a little filtering to their site registration proccesses so that aol (and often Yahoo and msn) e-mail addresses aren't accepted as a valid sign up e-mail for forums and such.

Joe

I use AOL. I was very reluctant to because I've heard so many bad stories about them, so it was my last choice. The problem is that I don't have a BT line in my room, and as far as I know, AOL is the only dial-up ISP which allows telewest customers on it's Anytime service.

To be fair to them, I've never really had any major problems with them. I don't use their email service, so that isn't a problem. Their GUI is crap, but that doesn't bother me either, I just use IE.

I've never been disconnected and I've rarely had any problems connecting.

The price isn't cheap compared to other ISPs, but other ISPs disconnect you after 2 hours and only allow BT phonelines. So all in all, I can't complain. I wouldn't go as far to say that I'd recommend them to others, but I certainly don't think a lot of the bad press it gets is warrented.

Originally posted by Sidla
The problem is that I don't have a BT line in my room, and as far as I know, AOL is the only dial-up ISP which allows telewest customers on it's Anytime service.

Whats wrong with Telewests own dial up service ?

I think I tried that, but when registering they wanted to know my address. Because I live in student accomodation the house location wasn't listed on their site so it wouldn't let me register.

They also disconnect you after 2 hours too, which I wasn't really happy with, because I like to go out and leave big downloads running.

Originally posted by Skatiechik
AOL is and will always will be for idiots who know nothing about computers.


That'll be me then :D

How about we AOL users set up some sort of protest at the tekky snobbery of this Forum

Originally posted by Mo
How about we AOL users set up some sort of protest at the tekky snobbery of this Forum
Heh.. you could try but we'd just send a secret code to blow up your machines ;)

There must be an 'ism' for this sort of thing, especially looking at how the thread title was slanted ie what do you think of aol users as opposed to what do you think of aol?

Originally posted by Mo
There must be an 'ism' for this sort of thing, especially looking at how the thread title was slanted ie what do you think of aol users as opposed to what do you think of aol?
Well the thread started off in a very different vein... but overall we don't blame the users so much as the AoHell company themselves...

After nearly 10 years of running their "service" *cue: choking sounds* you'd think they might have listened to at least 1% of the feedback and sorted out most of the big issues...

Nope.. big corporate giant... gimme the money continues...

Erk.. there I go again... *wanders off to take the medication*

The original message was about a problem Geoff had been having with an AOL user.

I think he just wanted to rant as obviously does a few other people.

Moon

Does it really matter what ISP people use as long as they are happy with the service....I've heard people say Ford make crap cars but mine works fine as does my AOL!

Originally posted by foxy27
Does it really matter what ISP people use as long as they are happy with the service....I've heard people say Ford make crap cars but mine works fine as does my AOL!
Well said :thumbsup:

Originally posted by foxy27
Does it really matter what ISP people use as long as they are happy with the service....I've heard people say Ford make crap cars but mine works fine as does my AOL!

good analogy... it depends what you want it to do.

If all you want to do is view web pages etc, AOL is just fine. If all you want to do is go to work and back, and on occasional days out, a ford is fine.

If you wanted to rival schumacher for the pole position on the starting grid, you'd drive something different. Same if you really wanted to use the full potential of the internet. Horses for courses. But AOL still sucks (as do Fords! :lol: j/k)

Actually I have to disagree again. AOL is by far the fastest and most reliable ISP I have ever used. Just like Ferrari some may say...

And just to clarify, I'm not trying to big-up AOL (which it may seem like I'm doing). I used to loath AOL too, and was really reluctant to start using it. However when I did start using it I was pleasntly surprised about how wrong I'd been.

Maybe it used to be crap, but it certainly hasn't since I've been using it.