~~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ Post of the day ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ From: cjenkins@mindspring.com (Cujo) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: FBI Agent and 6 computers... Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 02:07:46 GMT Organization: Dead Bisk Poet Society An interesting note. The other day whilst listening to NPR, the broadcaster had this to say about the internet. It seems that in an effort to curb child pornography the FBI has brought on a whole "Task Force". The Task Force consists of an agent in a office room with 6 computers located somewhere in Maryland. The agent has posed as a underage female in AOL chat rooms to determine the amount of activity that actually occurs. It seems that he received over a hundred *un-solicited* pictures of material that could be considered child pornography. What I really wonder is how many times did someone do either an age/sex check or tried to *phish* him ? B-) luego, cujo Previous posts of the day _________________________________________________________________ Subject: Re: AOL and the newsgroups...A question From: Becky Boone <sis@mindspring.com> Date: 31 Oct 1996 ATC Shane wrote: > > Ooops, also... > > <> > > Absolutely. It all works. I have been a lurker here for two years, so I think it's time to post; expect a ramble. No, it does not all work. We have hundreds of AOL users writing to us every day because they cannot get onto our chat server, which AOL does not allow because it's not one of their servers. We are, of course, accessible to anyone with a real Internet account. Our Web staff is largely former AOL remote staffers, myself included, and we run our chats the way chat should have been on AOL - civilized, intelligent, funny. Perhaps that is why AOL'ers are not allowed to come visit. Of course, our having boot and gag tools make good chats possible. I downloaded the Mac AOL 3.0 beta yesterday, just to see if it was an improvement, and if it gave me faster Internet access from AOL (and if I could access our chats from AOL). Nope, same old lame InterCon browser, though I know MSIE will replace it since AOL got in bed with MS and shafted Netscape. The AOL software also ate my TCP connection, and I had a lot of deleting and re-configuring to do before I could get back on Mindspring and real Internet access. As a former AOL staffer, I still have an AOL account with megacredited hours from the work I did for them. Of course, I will lose those with this new payment plan. Am I surprised? No. Will I pay to keep an AOL account? Probably not, since my heart is on the Internet, and at this point, the only thing I like better about AOL is the ease of finding and downloading shareware. And yes, I have tried shareware.com and other sites, but AOL is simply easier. Make no mistake: AOL is not a full-service Internet provider, but will probably become one out of necessity. I feel sorry for those trying to browse the Web from AOL. AOL is clearly moving toward an advertising-supported model, and will undoubtedly become profitable. If you had a magazine or newspaper with a circulation of 6,000,000, the ad rates would be mind-boggling, and you could literally afford to give away the service to make the ad money. My major current complaint with AOL is their shabby treatment of remote staff volunteers, the people who built the service into the success it is today. I have my own horror stories about overbilling, poor service, long phone waits, and "have you checked your modem string" suggestions, as if my modem string that had worked for years suddenly morphed itself into something defective. But those stories pale beside the cavalier treatment of folks like myself who truly, idealist that I am, believed in the community we were building on AOL, were willing to pay our own money to create that community, and believed that we were valued for the time, energy, and care we expended to help AOL to grow. Of course, this new model of $19.95 for unlimited time totally eliminates the need for remote staff to host chats on AOL and keep people online. When members were paying by the hour, it was advantageous to keep them talking as the meter ran. Now, it's a disadvantage, i.e. will cost AOL connect time. What will count now is not the time members spend online but the numbers of people viewing ads. Make fun if you like, but it was an amazing thing to be part of, and Adam, I don't think you were stupid to do it; I did too. I have been online since 1983 (with Compuserve), and with AOL since 1991, and I was proud to help build the forum I volunteered in into the largest on AOL. However, in several significant and painful ways, I learned that I was expendable to the corporate machine. Lesson learned. Now I am using those skills to build community on the Web, and you know what? I find more civility here, more helpfulness, more democracy, and more fun than I ever found on AOL. Perhaps it's because most of the Webmasters I know do this for the love of it, and while we all hope that we can make enough money to support our sites, that's only part of why we are here. Sure, there are some jerks here too, but it's easier to deal with them myself than to rely on TOS. I have moved most of my relatives and friends off of AOL and onto Mindspring/Internet accounts, and they are all happy. It's harder to set up, and initially harder to learn to use, but the benefits of being able to have a customized setup are worth the trouble. I guess it's the difference between those who buy a Packard Bell and those who choose their own hard disk, modem, tower, monitor, CD-ROM, power supply, etc. and build their own superb machine from the best available choices. Becky Becky Boone, Ph.D. Publisher http://www.qworld.org http://www.wowwomen.com http://www.transformations.com Previous posts of the day _________________________________________________________________ From: kmennie@chat.carleton.ca (K.M. Mennie) Newsgroups: alt.religion.kibology Subject: Re: Pooh vs Paddington Date: 21 Oct 1996 23:44:00 GMT Organization: Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada Paul A Sturm (stur0028@gold.tc.umn.edu) wrote: > Anyway, I posited this question to a friend of mine. Who would win, > Winnie the Pooh, or Paddington Bear? I saw a bra'n'panties set today with Pooh printed on it (Disneyized Pooh, not Shepard's Pooh -- his is presumably printed on tablecloths or something, and he and Milne are both rolling and vomiting in their graves). A curious combination. `Sex and childhood, together at last.' Oh, wait, that's AOL. No mind. I don't know what that bra means for the contest, though. I'll give Paddington the upper hand, though, since he's got a suitcase to whack Pooh with. And Paddington doesn't have that wimpy Christopher Robin following him around everywhere, hallucinating about pigs in striped shirts. That said, I venture that Teddy Robinson would win over both. -- <news:alt.fan.kia-mennie> <web:http://aaln.org/ht_lit > From: richj@superlink.net (Rich Jankowski) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: His boy Adam! Date: Tue, 01 Oct 1996 16:18:59 GMT Organization: Saturnlink Technologies - http://www.saturnlink.com/ I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. AOL seems to have got a new ad company working for them. Gone are the daze of Adam West (Who's doing the Psychic Friends Network now, BTW), AOL has got a new strategy. Their new commercial, to the tune of "The Jetsons", shows the impact technology has on a family. They're driving the kids to school, while bulls---ting on a cell-phone, pumping quarters into a coffee machine, and using America Online (!). It pretty much has a trendy atmosphere where everyone gets their info from AOL. Whether it's a personalized newspaper, or the Internet a click away, AOL has it all. It gives it a hip-business type Greenwich Village look, like everyone who's fashionable is using AOL to download art. One thing that hasn't changed: AMERICA ONLINE INC (NYSE:AOL) Date: 10/01/1996 Time: 12:10:00 Last : 31 3/4 Change: -3 3/4 [...] Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks,alt.stupidity,alt.religion.kibology Subject: Re: New AOL "Jetsons" Commercial Date: 1 Oct 1996 14:40:52 GMT trandall@mhv.net wrote: : Saw that new AOL commercial today. Man are they stretching it! : Ruined a perfectly good cartoon song too! AOL crashed George Jetson's computer. He tried to sign back on, but was told "Sorry, you're account is already logged in." As the billing kept going, he was heard to cry out... "Jane, stop this crazy thing!" Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks From: kelani@kelani.com (Kelani Larethian) Subject: The Second Coming of the Bisks? Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 10:08:30 GMT Yesterday I went to check my snail mail, and I found the following in my box. THREE 'new' 15 hour AOL Bisks Somehow, they were all to the same address. I haven't received any in such a long time, I thought they had cut back production. Obviously I was wrong. I am scanning a copy of the Bisk cover itself, and it will bne under a 'Bisk' link at my http://www.kelani.com/aol/ site by 7am EST. These new bisks show a bunch of 20something people sprawled in some kind of group hug. it's quite comical, actually. I've seen the AOL members' gallery, and the people listed there are NOT the people on this booklet! Grounds for false advertising? Also, have you ever noticed, AOL won't do anything to improve their service, but they will pay graphic artists their high fees to create an ever-improved bisklet? Priorities. that's all these is to it. Priorities. Kelani+----------------+Bisk "and he looked upon it, and it was bad" From: "Josef Faulkner" (panther@gate.net) Subject: Cyberpromo Ban Banned Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Date: 9 Sep 96 17:57:54 GMT I think that AOL should not be able to block any spam it recieves from any sites. Considering how many of their users constantly flood the net with their ignorance, it is only equal that they accept as much spam as they send out. AOL takes the resources of the net and profits from them at a much higher margin of taking than giving back, and I say they should get as much noise if not more due to this fact. Now AOL will have net-phone access, so they can eat up more of the net's bandwidth and resources, while they attempt to protect their own from the spammers. I don't normally support the spammers, but in this case, I think AOL should not censor email based on address. It would be like the post office throwing away all of the junk mail for a certian city. I think it should be left up to the individual's decision to add spammers to their own killfile. If AOL doesn't supply their users with a killfile system, then they deserve to lose business. From: jkonarz@juno.com (Jason) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Re: They're coming for you Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 04:21:14 GMT Organization: Netcom destiny@crl.com (David Cassel) wrote: >The St. Louis stop August 21 is at Union Station, 2-7pm. (Although either >AOL's photographer is confused, or Union Station is a giant free-standing >arch.) The photographer must've had a bit too much to drink in preparation for the big trip... or actually... c'mon... do you really think they hired a photograher, or just stole a picture of the Arch from a website or something? (Remember AOL & that bikini case...?) For your information since I remember someone mentioning trends for this road trip, Union Station is now a mall... Used to be a train station, but hasn't been used for that purpose for quite some time... I guess I'm probably gonna end up checking this out... Question: Should I wear my WOW! shirt for being a charter member, or my MSN beta tester shirt? : ) (I don't have any shirts from any ISP's... sorry...) Jason (jkonarz@juno.com) MMF scam information -- *without* spamming. :) http://www.usps.gov/websites/depart/inspect/chainlet.htm From: wendyg@cix.compulink.co.uk ("Wendy Grossman") Subject: Re: WIRED Likes Us -- And Not AOL! Organization: Compulink Information eXchange Date: Sun, 25 Aug 1996 21:35:33 GMT > alt.aol-sucks; and, let us not forget, 6) "You've got mail." > In the UK, it says, "You have Post." wg From: mgscheue@io.com (Mark G. Scheuern) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Ned Brainard on AOL Date: 20 Aug 1996 14:15:06 -0500 Organization: Illuminati Online Nice piece in today's Flux (http://www.packet.com/flux/) He quotes a "market sage" present at the conference call announcing AOL's fourth-quarter results as saying "They missed all key revenue-generation metrics, including subscriber additions and revenue per subscriber." Also, this is in the current Wired: "AOL Landfill: AOL disks have quickly replaced the Publishers Clearing house come-ons as the most irritating junk mail we receive. And that's not all. The disks are plastered across magazine covers, bundled with just about every software title imaginable, and even served with pretzels on airlines. One senses AOL is starting to get a little desperate in its attempts to feed a teetering growth model that can no longer scale." I certainly cringe at the thought of AOL's promised Fall "re-launch". They've claimed to have drastically cut back on marketting for the summer, but I got _four_ bisks last week. If not a new personal record for me, it's close. And yesterday I got a GNN bisk. I hate to think of the coming onslaught from these monkeys. Mark From: jegelhof@cloud9.net (James Egelhof) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks,alt.online-service.america-online Subject: Lawsuit Settlement Protest Date: 2 Aug 1996 16:35:46 -0400 Organization: Cloud 9 Internet, White Plains, NY, USA It's been a long time since I last posted to alt.aol-sucks :) Last year, a class-action lawsuit was brought against America Online in California. That suit claimed that AOL had overbilled its users by rounding up connect time, charging for art, and providing a very slow service; the damages were put back then as being in the millions of dollars. AOL, as you may know, is now trying to settle this suit. However, instead of reimbursing users for the money that was stolen from them, the company plans to give out near-worthless free hours. Also, as part of the settlement, AOL users permanently waive their right to sue AOL for other billing issues, such as illegal checking account deductions. AOL would love to settle the suit this way. The plantiffs' lawyers, who are going to receive $2.75 million from AOL once the case settles, are also happy with it. The losing player in this arrangement is the AOL user. The only hope they have of getting a better deal is to protest. The Why America Online Sucks site (http://www.aolsucks.org) has set up a Lawsuit Protest Petition. The list of signers-on will be presented to the judge when the time comes for him to rule on the suitability of the settlement. If enough AOL users reject this unfair agreement, then perhaps he will see our position. Please consider paying a visit to the lawsuit section on the web site (http://www.aolsucks.org/lawsuit/). If you know any current or former AOL users who haven't heard about what's going on, let them know; the lawsuit will be over and done with on August 24th unless action is taken. Thanks for your time. -james -- --- James Egelhof jegelhof@cloud9.net Cloud 9 Consulting, Inc. +1 (914) 696-4000 White Plains, New York http://www.cloud9.net Joe Lawrence (joelawrence@sprynet.com) added this comment... A class action may damage a smaller company but, as a rule, has very little long term effect on a big one. In fact, class action lawsuits have become the darling of big business. It allows a company to settle for a paltry sum, not publicly admit any wrong doing and be assured that they can not be suied again for the same offence. It is interesting to note that most companies come out of class actions stronger from an investment stand point. There are cases where companies even *pursue* such lawsuits knowing them to be cheaper to get out of the way now than to risk hundreds or thousands of individual cases down the road. From: pilgrim@teleport.com (Vinny Hrovat) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Re: Tuck FOS, what a joke..... Date: Thu, 2 Feb 1995 17:22:15 Organization: Joe Bob's Kansas City of Japan In article andrew686@aol.com (Andrew686) writes: >Sexy Kathy (sexykathy@aol.com) wrote: >>The chat rooms in AOL have become a joke. I was talking to someone in a >>room about her newborn and discussing baby bottles. Just when we said >>"nipple", a room guide came in and gave us a TOS (term of service) >>warning. This while another room was titled "Jack me Off" and not getting >>shut.....seems with all the rediculous s--- going on, thisstock is a good >>one to short...... >Kathy, I'm starting to wonder if you are really an AOL member for 2 >reasons. 1:You keep bitching about it(AOL), yet you still use it. >2:You don't seem to know anything about AOL. >For one thing, guides won't show up unless someone asks for one. It's not >like they sit and watch waiting for a chance to pounce on you, you fool. Incorrect. The "guides" regularly wander throught the chat areas, especially the areas with names which are in contention with fundamentalist christian beliefs, such as those for gays or atheists. Kind of like the rent-a-cops who randomly shine flashlights in your faces at rock concerts. Sometimes the guides will be invisible to the paying customers... big brother is indeed watching! Off duty guides, in their "plain clothes" screen names, often will sit in these chat areas too, not contributing to the conversation, just looking to harrass or "tell on" the paying customers. >Another thing, rooms with names like "Jack me Off" are member-created >rooms. TOS isn't enforced in those. Horses---. You're trying to tell the world that someone could go in create a public chat area name like "F--- me raw", or use language like that in one of these rooms, and that would be acceptable by AOL's standards? Incorrect; Steve Case said as much in the addendum to his January status letter - the one about child pornography, remember? Case said those types of rooms and that type of discussion WERE against AOL's standards but it was difficult keeping up with enforcement. Probably because much of the "volunteer" staff is randomly harrassing people for talking about baby bottles. Andrew, it's bad enough that you didn't have two facts to rattle together in your head when you posted here (all right, you didn't even have ONE fact...). It also seems that you're implying that it's ALL RIGHT to harrass and censor Sexy Kathy for talking about the business end of a baby bottle, because that's just the way they do things at AOL. You are PAYING for a service from America Online, and you have the right to complain, to negotiate, to ask for more, and to walk away if they continue their policies of subjective and unilateral harrassment. Actually, you're probably NOT paying, Andrew, but your parents are (just a guess), and i bet they'll be pissed when they see their credit card bill; at $2.95 / hour it gets expensive to keep up with these newsgroups and to sit around in chats exchanging party line misinformation. >Quote from a no name: Yeah i just quoted a no name and he didn't have much to say. Ahhh, flames and coffee on a quiet afternoon... life is good. _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/ "Omni ignotum pro magnifico est" _/ _/_/ (Opinions expressed herein are mine, etc.) From: sexykathy@aol.com (SEXY KATHY) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Tuck FOS, what a joke..... Date: 31 Jan 1995 08:57:38 -0500 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) The chat rooms in AOL have become a joke. I was talking to someone in a room about her newborn and discussing baby bottles. Just when we said "nipple", a room guide came in and gave us a TOS (term of service) warning. This while another room was titled "Jack me Off" and not getting shut.....seems with all the rediculous s--- going on, thisstock is a good one to short...... From: toofisback@aol.com (ToofIsBack) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Re: Tuck FOS, what a joke..... Date: 3 Feb 1995 05:10:26 -0500 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) But if you would notice and any given night, that 95% of ALL of the member rooms have something to do with either 1.)Sex 2.) Pornography 3.) Child Pornography. But yet they still do nothing about it. From: mfranowski@aol.com (MFranowski) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Germans! DESTROY AOL!!! Date: 21 Jul 1996 16:52:29 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) In Germany we have a paying method which the americans do not have. its called Lastschrift-Verfahren. you use it with a bank account called "giro-konto" You can pay with it at AOL. aol can not verify the account number very as fast as they can it with credit cards. so you can use aol 2-3 weeks freely. then, when they got the picture and cancelled your account, you can do it another time. and another. that is cool. so, try it! -640k should be enough for everyone- Bill Gates, 1981 From: artstone@tir.com (Art Stone) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: AOL Stock Watch - AMER closes below 30 Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 01:08:45 GMT Organization: AOL Truth Squad AMER closed at 29 1/2 today (Monday)... During last week's market unrest, AMER dipped down to 27, but today's close was near the low for the day. Volume continues strong - well above the average volume. The trading range for the past 52 weeks is 23 7/8 through 71... In one or two more weeks, AMER will be trading at a 52-week low if it just stays in the high 20's AOL's fiscal year earnings are due out around August 10th +/- a few days. If this keeps up, those 26 million options at $13/share won't be worth a whole lot... Art Stone (ex-AOL customer since 3/1/96) -- Are you ready to leave AOL for the Internet? Take the quiz and see. http://kode.net/~artstone/isptest/ From: artstone@tir.com (Art Stone) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Steve Case reassures Wall Street that Everything is OK Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 01:41:39 GMT Organization: AOL Truth Squad http://www.cnet.com/Content/News/Files/0,16,1880,00.html Mr. Case telegraphed that AOL finished the year at 6.2 million members *worldwide*... He also indicates that earnings are OK and will meet the street estimates of $.16 per share. It is worth mentioning that AOL seems to have an "extraordinary" one-time writeoff almost every quarter, which tends to make AMER have "earnings" from operations, but still wind up with little or no income... At .16 per share and today's stock price close of $29 1/2, that still would be a PE ratio of 46.... beginning to enter the realm of reasonableness... Art Stone (ex-AOL customer since 3/1/96) -- Are you ready to leave AOL for the Internet? Take the quiz and see. From: destiny@wco.com (David Cassel) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: AOL 3.0 is late Date: 10 Jul 1996 17:38:35 GMT Organization: West Coast Online, Inc. Steve Case's July letter says AOL 3.0 for Windows 95 and the Macintosh is, of course, late. Case's promises are legendary; "some of our most active customers have been asking about 'heavy user pricing'" Case wrote -- in August of 1995 -- adding that AOL was also modifying the software so "you'll be able to enter new areas much faster and start exploring while the graphics are being sent". It took eleven months. http://www.aol.com/about/updates/1995/950803.html Now for today's riddle. Q: How does Steve Case say "It's late"? A: "I've got good news for Macintosh and Windows95 members -- we're making terrific progress on the development and testing of the 3.0 versions for those platforms, and we're on track for a Fall release!" http://www.aol.com/about/updates/1996/960707.html destiny@crl.com /\ ONGOING COVERAGE of class action settlement opposition / \ Do you support the proposed settlement? ============================================================================== /__________\ http://www.crl.com/~destiny/time.htm From: mgscheue@io.com (Mark G. Scheuern) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: AOL "most overvalued stock" Date: 16 Jul 1996 06:49:27 -0500 Organization: Illuminati Online Summary: WSJ on AOL stock Keywords: AOL,sucks, stock,overvalued Some interesting stuff in today's "Heard on the Street" column in the Wall Street Journal: "David Rocker, head of Rocker Partners, a well-known New York hedge fund, considers America Online (which sank 8.4%,or $3.25, to close at $35.25 yesterday) the most overvalued stock in the market. He says that America Online is making the same mistake made by Apple Computer 'seeking to maintain a proprietary architecture,' while rivals have 'embraced the open standards of the Internet.'" "Moreover, Mr. Rocker says, America Online's 'cancellations are running 1.4 million per quarter, net new sign-ups are way down from last year's level, and the company reported $14 million in net income for the last nine months only because [it] capitalized $200 million in marketing costs. The president, brought in with great fanfare, left after only four months.'" Mark From: destiny@crl.com (David Cassel) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks,alt.online-service.america-online,alt.aol.rejects, alt.america.online,alt.online-service Subject: Mandatory art downloads *worse* Date: 5 Jul 1996 22:52:32 -0700 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [Login: guest] I was on AOL tonight. When I went to sign off, I was told Please wait while we add new art to your system. AOL forced me to wait while they downloaded artwork for an advertisement for Nick at Night before I could log off! Below that ad was a plug for AOL's tips area. Incredibly, that area's slogan was "Make the most of your time online." destiny@crl.com /\ UPDATED DAILY: AOL Watch * Hackers, censors & disks / \ Saturday: Class action suit settled ============================================================================== /__________\ http://www.crl.com/~destiny/time.htm Visit the "Life on AOL" series... From: Sean Smith (smthsen@bcvms.bc.edu) Newsgroups: alt.religion.kibology Subject: Re: Life on AOL - Part III Date: 9 Jul 1996 08:53:12 -0700 Organization: Zippo In article , destiny@crl.com says... > > >I was on AOL tonight. When I went to sign off, I was told > > > Please wait while we add new art to your system. > > >AOL forced me to wait while they downloaded artwork for an advertisement >for Nick at Night before I could log off! "Halt! Do not step away from your computer or you will be disintegrated! And now, we will download a 500 MB reproduction of 'The Scream.' Remember, if you attempt in any way to interfere with this procedure, you will be destroyed! Balok has spoken!" >Below that ad was a plug for AOL's tips area. Incredibly, that area's >slogan was "Make the most of your time online." I think they meant that, while you're waiting for all the downloading, data transference, etc., you should read a book, pay your bills, give your raccoon a flea bath, conceive a child, and so on. Sean ("Not necessarily in that order") Smith smthsen@bcvms.bc.edu /////////////\\\\\\\\\\\ {~"Music is the brandy of the damned." --G.B. Shaw~} From: Dan Meredith Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Re: New AOL to be supported by ads. Date: Sat, 06 Jul 1996 18:26:27 -0600 Organization: IDT Corporation If you are still on AOL you can download a utility called "art-valve" that will bypass all of the ads..automatically.I don't remember where it is but I downloaded on AOL when I was there and it really works!No more waiting for ad updates...It's shareware for around $5 but is worth the bucks.. From: knewkirk@pacifier.com (Kathryn Graham) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Interesting News Date: 6 Jul 1996 08:14:37 GMT Organization: What organization? [PC Week article deleted -- Editor] --------------------------------------------- This saves them from making nice with the droves of people who dumped the 'service' over the billing question to say nothing of others who gave up due to crappy access. It will be interesting to see how much time they dole out to 'certain' customers. Time really means nothing to them as it's now the ads and commercial accounts they want to cozy up with. Tech support can hand out time in 3 hour blocks. This is going to be fun. Kathie From: jaffo@onramp.net (Jaffo) Newsgroups: alt.religion.kibology,biz.books,biz.general,biz.misc,alt.business, alt.business.home,alt.business.import-export,alt.business.misc Subject: Dear Business Week Date: Wed, 03 Jul 1996 20:17:52 GMT Organization: Crossroads Entertainment First, let me congratulate you on your excellent product, Business Week Online on AOL. Your service delivers exactly as promised, every article, every week, Online. I have a suggestion on a way you could improve your service that would mean a lot to me personally. Every week, I go through your Online publication and I'm continually frustrated. Your articles are so good, that I feel the need to print them out for posterity. To show them to friends, file away for future reference, or perhaps just to capture those excellent photographs. I don't have the disk space to store everything, but I'm willing to spare a little space in my paper files for these printouts. That brings me to my idea. Why don't you guys offer some kind of "Business Week Printout Service" where you can print out the full content of your Business Week Online section and mail the results to people who request it. Perhaps for a reasonable fee. I think I would be willing to pay up to $50 a year for quality printouts of your publication. If you need to bring the cost down, I would even be willing to look through pages of commercial advertisements. I would be happy to pay for these "transcripts" just to have a permanent record of Business Week I can pass on to my children. It's a shame to have such a quality product vanish each week into some computer. I think this Printout Service would bring your publication to the cutting edge of Online technology. Perhaps you can start a trend? Thank you for your time. Jaffo -- Chief Executive In Charge of Wheel, Cog, and Bimbo Greasing Certified In Bribery, Collusion, Graft, and Bimbo Eruption Kibo For President Campaign, 1996 http://rampages.onramp.net/~jaffo From: mgscheue@io.com (Mark G. Scheuern) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: NY Times on AOL email outage Date: 24 Jun 1996 08:31:33 -0500 Organization: Illuminati Online Today's New York Times reports, in an article entitled "When On-Line Service Cannot be Counted On", that "The electronic mail system of America Online, the largest commercial on-line service with more than 6 million subscribers, was knocked out for an hour Wednsday afternoon when a planned system software upgrade backfired." It continues "A spokeswoman for America Online said overall system reliability has improved significantly since 1994, when hordes of new users overwhelmed the service's network capacity, causing widespread shutdowns and slowdowns. The company also has periodic scheduled shutdowns for system maintenance." Do they still have these "scheduled shutdowns" nearly every morning? It's also not clear to me how making excuses about AOL's problems with lack of network capacity in 1994 helps explain what happened on Wednesday. From: declan@well.com (Declan McCullagh) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: The Violence of Censorship -- An open letter to AOL Date: 17 Jun 1996 08:49:04 -0700 Organization: EFF mail-news gateway I was forwarded the following message about the latest sex-related speech suppression incident at AOL. After a visit to the web site in question, I'd say that Susie Block's ("Dr. Suzie's") web site falls within the compass of prohibited material that's defined by AOL's notoriously broad terms of service agreement. What a surprise. Big news here, folks -- AOL is antsy about sex. Of course, as with overbroad speech codes at private universities, AOL has the *power* to restrict this type of speech -- it doesn't mean that the company's actions are justified. I spoke with the AOL supervisor, Lexie Haines, earlier today. She told me she's unwilling to comment "at this point" and might be willing to talk tomorrow. "I only just got in and read this email myself. I'd like to discuss the situation with the rest of my staff." -Declan http://fight-censorship.dementia.org/top/ --------------------------- >Date: Sat, 15 Jun 1996 03:02:11 -0700 (PDT) >From: Ben Schlaver >Subject: The Violence of Censorship: An open letter to Steve Case of > America Online > >A couple of days ago, America On-line shut down the account and website of >Dr. Susan Block. This web site has been viewed by thousands of people in >only a few months. Dr. Susan Block is the Director of the Dr. Susan Block >Institute for the Erotic Arts & Sciences, best-selling author, host of the >Dr. Susan Block Shows and Radio Sex TV on HBO. > The shut-down occurred completely without warning. Suddenly, we got >a flurry of calls from fans who couldn't get into our website. Then we >discovered that even we could not enter our own website. AOL would not even >allow us to read our mail, let alone update our material or let Dr. Block >answer her clients' inquiries. A total unilateral lock-out. After several >calls to various AOL employees, Dr. Block reached AOL Supervisor Lexie >Haines who agreed to look at the Website (which she'd never seen), and find >out just what was so "offensive" that someone (who still remains anonymous) >at AOL had decided to shut us down. Following are notes e-mailed between >the two of them over this incident of brute censorship on-line... > > >Subj: Home Page >Date: 96-06-14 19:33:50 EDT >From: AMHaines >To: DrSuzyB > >Dear Dr. Block, > >I'm very glad that I had a chance to speak with you so that we could work >out the details of reactivating your account. I have had a look at your web >pages and believe that I can now give you a much more clear idea of what >type of content will need to be removed from your pages. > >There are numerous referrences to masturbation and giving ones self orgasms, >these should be removed. Discussion of genitalia will have to be removed, >as will discussion of specific sexual acts. I would reccommend that, rather >than having the "Cyber Sex Toy Catalog" and the Video Catalog appear on the >page, that you, instead, offer visitors a number or address through which >they can get copies of the catalogs. Mention of S&M, B&D, swinging, >threesomes, water sports and the like should also be avoided as should words >such as "horny". The photos of the cover of "Love" magazine and the one of >the Chimpanzees having sex should come down. > >I understand that, as a sex therapist, some of this may seem a bit extreme >to you but I sure that you also understand that our Terms of Service and >Rules of the Road have been established with a very broad range of people in >mind. > >If you have any further questions you should feel free to E-mail me, I'll be >happy to assist you in any way that I can. > >Regards, > >Lexie Haines >Supervisor, Graphics Review >Community Action Team >America Online, Inc > > > >Subject: Home Page >Date: 96-06-14 19:40 PST >From: DrSuzyB >To: AMHaines (Lexie Haines) > >Dear Lexie, > >Your e-mail listing the "parts" of my web pages that you and/or AOL find >offensive and that must be "removed" gives me no choice but to remove >virtually all of the information I have on AOL that many thousands of your >members have been grateful to access. After all, as a sex therapist and sex >educator, how can I educate people about human sexuality without references >to "genitalia," "masturbation," or "orgasm," or without discussing >"specific sexual acts"? > >You write that you "understand this may seem a bit extreme" to me, but that >your "Terms of Service and Rules of the Road have been established with a >very broad range of people in mind." What range of people? The Ralph >Reed-Pat Robertson-Phyllis Schaffley-Ayatollah Khomeini Koffee Klatch? > >Really, Lexie, I must say that I am horrified and astounded at the "broad >range" of your squeamishness and the arrogance of your censorship. As I >told you over the phone, I am a very reasonable, cooperative professional. >I am not some sort of salacious, exploitative kook. I work within FCC >guidelines and according to community standards for my radio and TV shows. >I am a Yale graduate, best-selling author and respected lecturer in the >field of sexuality. I have spoken on the subject of sex in numerous >universities, high school, bookstores, even in churches and temples, and I >have never encountered such an absurd, sex-phobic, body-hating, >diversity-loathing list of no-no's as you have e-mailed me. > >I hope to God, Lexie, that you and your ilke are not involved in the raising >of children, because an attitude such as yours makes children grow up >confused, tormented, and hating their bodies, themselves and the opposite >sex. Numerous studies (including those by developmental neuropsychologist >James Prescott) have shown that this kind of pleasure-loathing, >genital-fearing, shameful attitude contributes greatly to violence in our >society, especially male violence against women. > >And yes, Lexie, I consider this attitude to be YOURS. I won't allow you to >hide behind the veil of hypocrisy that says "These are AOL's rules, not >mine. I'm just following orders." We all know that the worst crimes of >this century were committed by people who were just following orders. Evil >abounds when good people do not stand up for what's right. > >I think of you as a good person, Lexie. You sounded so understanding on the >phone, laughing in agreement when I suggested that censoring nudity and >language on-line results in censoring some of civilization's finest works of >art and literature. Please don't stand by and let the evil of censorship >thrive under your supervision. When you start by censoring certain parts of >the human body because they "offend" a few right-wing nuts, you next find >yourself censoring great art (as those people following orders did), next >women will be made to cover themselves head-to-toe as they must in >fundamentalist countries, next books will be thrown out of libraries and >burned, next "offensive" people will be locked up, and our society will look >very much like Orwell's "1984" (which, by then, will have long been burned >into oblivion). > >And so, Lexie, when everything is "cleaned up" and "pure" enough for the >Popes and Ayatollahs and AOL Supervisors, we will wait for history and our >children to judge us. What will they say about the army of censors that >charged through our times, excising parts of our bodies, acts of love, >expressions of consensual pleasures and works of art? They will say that we >destroyed a culture. > >E-mail like yours makes me shudder for our future. > >Very sincerely, >Susan M. Block, Ph.D. > >cc: SteveCase@AOL > > > >Let Steve know what you think about this: 703.448.8700 (ask for Steve Case's >office. >**************************************************************************** >*************Please distribute to all appropriate parties******************* >**************************************************************************** >Check 'em out: > >http://www.DrSusanBlock.com (http://members.aol.com/DrSuzyB/ until next week.) > > From: bladex@bga.com (David Smith) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: The Violence of Censorship -- An open letter to AOL Date: 20 Jun 1996 04:53:55 GMT Organization: Real/Time Communications Internet customer posting Rahul Dhesi (dhesi@rahul.net) wrote: : In declan@well.com : (Declan McCullagh) writes: : >Of course, as with overbroad speech codes at private universities, AOL has : >the *power* to restrict this type of speech -- it doesn't mean that the : >company's actions are justified. : I don't understand the problem. It is not so much that AOL has terms of services (TOS) but that they are inconsistent in application, that there are clear double standards, that the enforcement doesn't make much sense, and in this case enforced without adequate notification. There is no reason that Lexie whoever couldn't have examined the web site and ask for material to be removed *before* they shut it down. : It's a global market. Somebody who : chooses to gets Internet connectivity via AOL is not obliged to also : choose to keep Web pages there. There must be a few thousand other Web : page providers that would not mind hosting the Web pages in question. : And from AOL you should be able to telnet/ftp/http to any of them. : -- Agreed 100%. Let your checkbook do the talking. But that doesn't mean you can't call AOL goon squads, either, when they deserve it. -- David Smith * Next EFF-Austin meeting: bladex@bga.com * Fifth Anniversary Cyberdawg President, EFF-Austin * Steve Jackson Games, 2700-A Metcalfe 512-304-6308 * Saturday, July 20th, 6:00 p.m. to dusk _________________________________________________________________ See also: AOL's policy is hypocritical _________________________________________________________________ From: smythe@slip.net (Smythe) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: From alt.humor.best-of-usenet Date: Thu, 20 Jun 1996 17:11:24 GMT Organization: ConGlomCo, Inc I had to share this one :) Subject: Re: ALERT TO ALL PARENTS! From: rep@sky.net (REP) Newsgroups: soc.men, soc.women, sci.med, alt.pagan, sci.math, sci.astro, uk.misc, soc.bi, rec.boats, rec.video, alt.beer, rec.nude, alt.rap, alt.slack, alt.rave, sci.chem, comp.arch, alt.bbs, rec.pets, alt.irc, alt.teens, sci.lang, sci.crypt, sci.econ, alt.wired, talk.bizarre [Submitter's note: The "Blue Star" (kids tattoos laced with LSD) urban legend is circulating again.] MORPH10625 (morph10625@aol.com) wrote: : This was forwarded to my email. I can't believe that people would do : this to children, it just shows how sick the world has become and how : scum like drug dealers would do anything to make money. I apologize : for posting this to newsgroups where it might not be strictly on : topic, but this is very important and should be of interest to : everyone! ------------------------------------------------------------ - WARNING TO EVERYONE: If you have a computer or know who does, regardless of their ages, you should read this! A form of fake software, called "AOL FREE TRIAL OFFER" is given away free of charge to knuckle-draggers and mouth-breathers. It is either a small floppy diskette or a bright shiney CD. This software is soaked with free hours in order to addict the unwary to this braincell-destroying on-line service. The inks used on the packaging react with the moisture and oils in your hands, and SIMPLY TOUCHING IT is likely to cause huge bills and the uncontrollable urge to post urban legends just about everywhere. THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL DEATHS FROM OVERDOSES, AND MORE DUE TO THE OVERCHARGING. AOL is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS and extremely addicting. Symptoms to watch for include: hallucinations, mood swings uncontrolled vomiting, drop in body temperature, dizziness, severely dilated pupils, and severe vomiting. Up to an hour can pass between contact with AOL and the beginning of the AOL "trip". If you suspect that someone has become a victim of one of these free software diskettes, you must take him or her immediately to the hospital and call the police. These usually come wrapped in shrink-wrap. Some have been reported to have different designs, but the FREE HOURS design is the most common. NOTE: Please feel free to reproduce this article and spread it within your community and work place. This danger must be made known. Distribute the warning as wide as you can, this is growing faster than we can warn parents and professionals. ---------------------------------------------------------- - - - Moderators accept or reject articles based solely on the criteria posted in the Frequently Asked Questions. Article content is the responsibility of the submittor. Submit articles to ahbou-sub@acpub.duke.edu. To write to the moderators, send mail to ahbou-mod@acpub.duke.edu. -- Smythe smythe@slip.net http://www.slip.net/~smythe Secret message for Federal CDA Greppers follows: Fuvg, cvff, shpx, phag, pbpxfhpxre, zbgureshpxre, gvgf! Pursuant to US Code, Title 47, Chapter 5, Subchapter II, §227, any and all nonsolicited commercial E-mail sent to this address is subject to a download and archival fee in the amount of $500 US. E-mailing denotes acceptance of these terms. From: bunny@cam.org (T'Caro de Vulcain) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Dozens of AOL disks in the building's trash ! Date: 15 Jun 1996 04:01:38 GMT Organization: CAM Last week, as I came home, I saw a bunch of AOL "introduction" packs in the trash can that usually sits empty next to the row of mailboxes in my building. Most people that live here don't even own a computer and still, they got this nice little package adressed to them personnally. Mine also went to disk heaven since, of course, they sent me a WIN95 disk and for some "unknown" reason, my Mac just won't let me install the thing (!!)... They did the same at the office and sent each and every employee their own little package and all of them _also_ took a trip down the alley with the garbage man. I can't recall ever seeing that many of the same publicity item being thrown out unopened ! What a waste, really, what a waste, no wonder they overbill people over and over, they need money to pay for useless maillings such as those. Where the hell do they get their mailling lists from anyway ?!!! Geeeeez ! ...and to think such a poorly run network actually has peying users, dear Lord ! From: nickb@primenet.com (Nick S Bensema) Newsgroups: alt.religion.kibology,alt.society.generation-x,alt.doobry Subject: Re: Things that make you say..."Hmmmmmm." Date: 13 Jun 1996 18:51:02 -0700 Organization: Primenet (602)416-7000 In article <4pq7u7$k1b@doc.jmu.edu>, Lee S. Bumgarner <bumgarls@falcon.jmu.edu> wrote: > >Bill Introduced to Ban Ads TV for Liquor > > > WASHINGTON (Reuter) - A bill to ban liquor commercials on television > and radio will be introduced Thursday in Congress, Rep. Joseph Kennedy > said. > > Kennedy was responding to the decision by Joseph Seagram and Sons to > begin running television commercials this week for whisky on KRIS-TV, > the NBC affiliate in Corpus Christi, Texas. When I get elected to Congress, I will ban all commercials. Starting with liquor. The beer-to-girls association is just the most misleading dreck one can scome up with. As it the beer-to-volleyball association, beer-to-sports, and beer-to-television association. Within six month they'll establish a beer-to-Internet association, and if you thought AOL was bad up to now, wait until those 500 million subscribers start posting drunk! -- N i c k B e n s e m a <nickb@primenet.com> KUPD Red Card #710563 ,-._|\ " " " " " " " " " " " """""""""""""""""""" ''''''''''''''''''''' / \ On 22 July, 1996, at 6:00 pm GMT, everyone in the world Phoenix-->*_,--._/ just START HUMMING. Those who don't know will freak. Tucson-->v From: radix@pentagon.io.com (()) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Re: TOS: "THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT" Date: 18 Jan 1995 02:16:59 -0600 Organization: Illuminati Online [...] ObAlt.aol-sucks: Well, I decided to take an advanced psychology class at UT this semester for fun. When I went to the University Co-op last night to buy the text for it, you'll never guess what I found printed on the f---ing back. Actually, you probably will... Yup, a f---ing AOL advertisement similar to the one on the McDonald's bag... ...On my friggen $65 psychology text!! Now every damn time I pick up that book I have to look at their stupid advertisement...mother f---ers...FOAD, AOL. From: bechtel@email.unc.edu Andrew Bechtel at University of North Carolina, Chapel H Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks The distribution of campus phonebooks was delayed this sememster at UNC-Chapel Hill because each book was shrink-wrapped with an AOL disc. Everyone should have the new directory by Thanksgiving, according to the Daily Tar Heel student newspaper. Now, why any student or faculty member would want AOL when they have free Internet access thru the university is beyond me... From: me Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Destroy America Online Finacially Date: Sat, 08 Jun 1996 12:19:30 -0700 Organization: none i used to be a member of aol. they constantly ripped me off so thats why im anti-aol. keep on calling there 1800 number and request a software package on cd. the cds cost them atleast$5 per person they send them to. the cds cost them the most money -matt ex-customer since april From: dpinero@pobox.com (David Pinero) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks,alt.aol.rejects Subject: Re: Phishers galore! Date: Tue, 04 Jun 1996 12:34:51 GMT Organization: Netcom On Tue, 04 Jun 1996 05:22:40 GMT, herriman@cris.com (Richard Cretan) wrote: >>Apparently, AOL hasn't solved its phishers problem with its little notes >>on the bottom of IMs. Here are some of the Post-Notice Phishings that have been tried: ** If your account is displaying our warning about giving out your password with with distorted punctuation at the end, please enter your password now to correct the problem. (The distorted punctuation, is of course, the emoticion that many newbies are unfamiliar with and which appears at the end of the message). ** Enter your password now to turn on pass-block, which offers protection beyond the simple password warning given below. Pass-block uses national caller-ID and is absolutely free. ** Enter your password to confirm that you understand the warning below. ** Attention, your new AOL password is (fill in the blank). Please go to member services and change your password to (fill in the blank again). If you do not wish to use this password, please enter your current password now to retain it. This message will reappear for your convenience every six months. Also, please note our security reminder below! ** Please help conserve passwords. Receive your next hour on AOL free by volunteering to use the password (fill in the blank). Go to member services. Once your password is changed to (fill in the blank) you will begin receiving free time immediately. ** Just a friendly reminder to never give out your password. To see if your password has been violated this session, enter your password now and wait for results. ....and the list goes on. As you can see, the little warning is not enough when dealing with newbies. Dave ** David Pinero dpinero@pobox.com / http://www.pobox.com/~dpinero DigiCom, Inc. Web Site http://www.pobox.org.sg/~digicom From: tdave365@aol.com (David Pinero) Newsgroups: alt.america.online,alt.aol-sucks Subject: Officials Surround AOL Compound Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 04:43:42 GMT APA Newswire -- March 18, 1996 Federal market-influencing authorities surrounded the compound of AOL cult-leader Stephen "Online" Case today in an early morning siege geared at ridding the marketing master of his stronghold, and freeing what authorities call "hostages of knowledge". "We figure he's got 5 maybe 5 and a half million of'em in there..." said one official at the scene who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The task force, composed of authorities at Compuserve, AT&T, Netscape, Microsoft, and a handful of national internet providers; surprised the compound while henchmen were blissfullly backing up system tapes. Officials who arrived at the scene were first told by brazen system messages to "Return after 7:00 a.m.". But officials did not retreat. Just after 10:35 a.m., the following transcript of the hostage negotions with cult leader Case were released to the clammering media: (Transcript Begins) Task Force Commander (TFC): Steve Case! Come out with the flat rate! Do it NOW! Steve Case (SC) (From an isolated window): Up yer ass copper! Make yer move and I'll fry'em all! Ya hear me! TFC: Don't be stupid Case! Your number's up here! The Internet is too big for you to take on! Come on out now and we'll go easy on ya! SC: Not a chance, flat foot! We're goin' on wid' "inte-grattion". Ya hear me!? In-ter-graaation! F--- you all! (spray of gunfire erupts from the window where Steve Case is shouting from. Heads duck all around.) TFC: There's no chance in the world, Case! Think of your innocnet members. They have FAMILIES, LOVED ones.... SC: And I've gott'em ALL by the balls, Hoover-Boy! I've gotte'm ALL! So come take yer' best shot and woe this glorious day! My members are prepared to DIE! Woe unto us this glorious daaay! TFC: Just lower your rates Case! The days of $2.95 an hour are OVER. You can't win this one, just do it and play nice! Don't make us play hard ball! SC: It is NOT over. Never! (more spraying of gunfire) COMPUSERVE: Listen to him Steve! It's inevitable! Look--WE did it. We are your friend, Case. We only want what's best for you! SC: You were weak! You're ALL weak! Bastards! COMPUSERVE: No, Case. NO! We were not weak. But it's the future. The Internet is here to stay, and it's bigger and better than ANY of us! Now come out of there before you kill someone with those bytes! NETSCAPE: It's true Steve! C'mon, -we're- pals aren't we!? GNN and Netscape (crosses fingers to demonstrate a tight bond). GNN and Netscape all the way! Waddya say old boy!? (there is a long silence between anxious members of the task force and the madman held up inside. Suddenly, there is the faint sound of sobbing, and then a small voice which is that of a blubbering Steve Case) SC (still sobbing): Netscape? NETSCAPE: Yeah, Steve. What...what is it? SC: I--I'm sorry I let Microsoft in. NETSCAPE (taking deep breath and lowering head): I know you are Steve. SC: I know Explorer sucks. NETSCAPE (nodding): I know, Steve. We all know. We'll...we'll make it with GNN, okay? SC: But, but...but I can't let go of $2.95 an hour. I just CAN'T! (suddenly an ominous chanting comes from within the walls of AOL. It is described by witnesses as an eerie chant of death) CHANTING AOL CROWD APPEARING ON ROOFTOP IN HUNDREDS: We want to pay $2.95 an hour...We want to pay $2.95 an hour...We want to pay $2.95 an hour...We want to pay $2.95 an hour...We want to pay $2.95 an hour.... AT&T: You've got'em brainwashed, Steve. You know it and I know it! Set them free Steve! Set them FREE! (End of transcript) At that point Case pulled out the holy "TOS", official scripture of AOL, and began reading it to the swelling mass of support from behind him. Authorities readied for an imminent attack upon the defiant leader. Microsoft officials were later quoted as saying, "Our browser definietely does not suck. Hey, did Windows suck?" More details will be released as they develop. Dave From: harlequin4@aol.com (Harlequin4) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: UNBELIEVABLE CENSORSHIP BY AOL!!!!!! Date: 4 Jun 1996 18:04:12 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) today, June 4th, sometime between 3:00 and 5:30 PM AOL staff began deleting the accounts of every member that entered private rooms hack,warez,freewarez, etc. I can understand how AOL would delete the accounts of members from warez,etc. as they are software piracy sites but why hack?In this room members talk about legal subjects and STRONGLY, and let me repeat, STRONGLY disapprove of software piracy and child pornography.And furthermore AOL supposedly promised its members that it would not monitor any activity in private rooms.This has to be by far the most fascist move that AOL Inc. has ever made. by the way the name of the staff members involved in this activity are: TOSROOMSA,TOSROOMSB,TOSROOMSC,etc.You may wish to send them and other AOL representatives mail voicing your opinions on this unbelievable activity. expressing your op Alex From: mch982@airmail.net (62726) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Why do people think AOHell is so elusive? Date: Tue, 04 Jun 1996 03:28:10 GMT Organization: customer of Internet America I hear people saying that AOHell is difficult to find and stuff like that. It took me about 10 minutes to get. I just went to the Altavista search engine and typed "AOHell". Bam! a bunch of sites that had AOHell. Then I just downloaded it and soon I was sending mailbombs to my enemies. All to easy. Marco From: spatula@kona.javanet.com (tv's Spatch) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Re: AOL rules the internet Date: 2 Jun 1996 05:41:31 -0400 Organization: The Oldest Established In article , TooTooFast wrote: >Hey everybody!! > I'm back!!! I have great news!!!! I've sent several suggestions to >Steve (Mr. Case to you guys) on how to help AOL (not that it needs any >improvement --- it's great as it is!) like including free start-up discs >in every new grade school text book and free discs in every pencil box >too! That way, all the little kids could be surfing the net too! Isn't >that a kewl idea???? I'm hoping Steve (Mr. Case to you guys) will like it >so much that he will make me a TOS guide. That would really rule!!!! I >would be able to go to all of the chat rooms and watch as people had >cyber-sex (stroke, stroke) and read all their mail and all kinds of kewl >s---. Awesome, huh? If you people would just quit being so lame and >realize that AOL is just about the kewlest thing around, you could get in >on all this fun too!! >See ya online!!! > >Jack Cough Let's see what the judges think: Style USA GBR DEN BRT PDQ ROM THC XYZ 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.2 0.7 0.6 Tech. USA GBR DEN BRT PDQ ROM THC XYZ Merit 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 Well, the degree of difficulty there was at least a negative fifty, and Mr. Cough was attempting a Lame Attempt At Pretending To Be A Typical AOLer In Cahoots With Steve Case, with a half gainer and a World Domination Subplot thrown in. However, the plausibility factor was definitely stuck at zero, his rhetoric and finish just plain dismal, and the troll factor was stuck at zero as well, anybody with half a working brain cell in their head could see through the charade. Bonus points are awarded for actually posting from AOL, though, but the points deducted for a lame troll name such as "Jack Cough" cancel the awarded points out. I'm afraid Mr. Cough's performance today dismally rules him out of making the quarterfinals, the bronze is not to be his. We'll take a quick break with the Individual Troll competition and be back with the doubles Synchronized event, with DAwn McGatney and Art Stone leading off the set. -- hello, this is tv's Spatch, your doorman. MSTie #43790, TDC Director of Motion Picture Development, a.a-s TP Remote Squad "One's a dog, one's a cat." "You figure it out." - Frick & Frack http://www.javanet.com/~spatula/booth.html will SAVE YOUR LIFE From: artstone@concentric.net (Art Stone) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Re: AOLs earnings report Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 13:48:34 GMT Organization: AOL Truth Squad theonlytim@aol.com (TheOnlyTim) wrote: >Give it a break there. You know that AOL has to make money. AOL is $9.95 >a month with 5 million members, that adds up to what??? A whole damn lot >if you ask me. Plus how many members stey on for just the 5 hours? The >10 free hours don't hurt them that much. Just goes to show that you are a >fool, and that the stock market scares easy. >Timothy Barbeisch >TheOnlyTim@aol.com >http://members.aol.com/TheOnlyTim If you're not using a fixed-pitch font, you might want to turn it on: From the AOL press releases: +------------+-------------+-----------+----------------+-----------+ | Quarter | Revenues | Members | Profits/(loss) | Employees | +------------+-------------+-----------+----------------+-----------+ | Oct/Dec 93 | 24,531,000 | 531,000 | 70,000 | | | Jan/Mar 94 | | | | | | Apr/Jun 94 | 40,423,000 |~1,000,000 | 905,000 | | +------------+-------------+-----------+----------------+-----------+ | FY 94 | 115,722,000 | | 2,550,000 | | +------------+-------------+-----------+----------------+-----------+ | Jul/Sep 94 | 56,936,000 |~1,000,000 | 1,481,000 | 500 | | Oct/Dec 94 | 73,998,000 | 1,578,000 | (38,981,000) | | | Jan/Mar 95 | 109,104,000 | | (3,296,000) | | | Apr/Jun 95 | 151,855,000 |~3,000,000 | 7,369,000 | | +------------+-------------+-----------+----------------+-----------+ | FY 95 | 394,290,000 | | (33,647,000) | | +------------+-------------+-----------+----------------+-----------+ | Jul/Sep 95 | 197,865,000 | 3,714,000 | 10,262,000 | | | Oct/Dec 95 | 249,094,000 | 4,592,000 | 10,590,000 | 4,000 | | Jan/mar 95 | 312,340,000 | 5,500,000 | 15,127,000 | 5,000 | +============+=============+===========+================+===========+ (missing data is because I don't have the press releases for that period) What I see is a total since July 1st, 1994 of: $1,269,311,000 in Revenue 4,882,000 In Net After tax profit (4 million looks pretty puny compared to those advertising costs which haven't been written off yet) So how high -will- AOL bounce? Art Stone Purveyor of fine Tulip Bulbs since 1634 AD http://www.adventure.com/library/encyclopedia/ka/rfitulip.html From: KenW@sojourn.com (Ken Williams) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks,alt.eff.org,alt.online-service,aol.newsgroups.misc Subject: AOL - Poet expresses feelings about AOL censorship Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 16:51:57 GMT Organization: Tuxedos for Penguins International Found at <http://www.motley-focus.com/~timber/aol.html> Date: Thu, Jan 4, 1996 10:28 AM CST From: BENEDICK1 Subj: Poet Rebel: Post - Silence - "Original Poetry" Folder To: Poet Rebel Hi Trina - I have removed the following post from the above library. Our policy here at The Zetigeist is not to accept posts that discuss the goings on on other bulletin boards or from other information providers. If you wish to repost the poem portion of this post, please feel free to do so. Benedick1 Afterwards Host ------------------------------------------------------------- Subj: Silence Date: 96-01-04 01:55:02 EST From: Poet Rebel Posted on: America Online Silence ~~~~~ I cannot hear the wind today. No cricket sings sweet melodies. Birds are silent in the trees. The reeds are quiet bent. I feel cement beneath my feet, wait patiently for an echo that never comes. Children do not laugh or call as they play. Traffic passes without a screech, honk or motorized hum. At the cafe on the corner, the band's vibrations jar my bones in silent air. I want a particular song -- feeling it will be enough -- but the ink of my note fades; I have no way to ask for it. The waitress looks expectant, lips never part. My mouth moves issuing mute words. I must point to my choice, but pages have been torn from my book. Fireworks light the sky, no familiar bang follows, and I wonder who celebrates this deaf world? Soundless sobs wrack my chest. I would give anything for a bit of noise .... the chirp of a cricket, serenade of a bird, laughter of children, or at least, the words to make it happen. (c) 1995 Trina Please, don't let this happen to our world. A folder has been started in The Writer's Club (keyword: Writers, click on message boards, list topics, The Poetry Corner.) The folder, WWIII, is there. It is an ongoing discussion/debate regarding freedom of speech and AOL's TOS policies. We have formed the Creative Coalition on AOL (CCA) to request that AOL provide a TOS-free area for artists to post their works. This area, we are requesting, will be under Parental Control so parents can block children from entering if they wish. I am inviting you all to join CCA and/or to enter the debate in WWIII. For information or to join CCA, please e-mail me or CCA MEM. Please, don't let this world become a silent one. Trina Stolec -- KenW@sojourn.com Speed kills. Switch to Windows95 and save lives! SuperiorLK@aol.com Igloo@eskimo.com Finger for PGP Public Key From: ABBAfan@hayburn.com (Gary Kirchherr) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks,alt.aol.rejects Subject: CI$, Prodigy move to WWW - why not AOL? Date: Wed, 22 May 1996 23:16:39 -0400 Organization: Springfield Nuclear Power Plant For those who missed it, CompuServe said Tuesday it's going to dump it's traditional format to embrace the WWW. Prodigy already has said it's going to be an Internet service, according to the Chicago Tribune. Now analysts are wondering how long AOL can remain a proprietary service, the Tribune said. To quote Paul Saffo, an analyst with the Institute for the Future in Menlo Park, Calif., in the Tribune: "The real question is why AOL keeps kidding itself that the old model makes sense. The old model is eroding without a doubt. The Web is the way the world is going, and anyone who doesn't do that is going to be increasingly marginalized." Another analyst predicted AOL would last another 12 to 18 months as is before it too moved to the Web. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Who _is_ this guy? Find out at http://www.hayburn.com/~abbafan/ From: BFaulk@ix.netcom.com (Bob Faulkner) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Beavis and Butt-head plug AOL Date: 21 May 1996 11:00:36 GMT It's hard for me to be creative at 5:40 AM, but here goes... Beavis: What's this crap? Something from A....America On...um...America Online. Butt-head: Huh huh. You said "on". Beavis: Yeah. Heh Heh m heh. Let's play it. Where's the CD player? Butt-head: Over there, dude, under the nachos. Beavis: Oh, yeah. Here we go...(opening the CD door) Butt-head: This music sucks! Beavis: I think it's pretty cool. It, like, doesn't have any words or anything. Butt-head: (reading package) Uh, words...words...hey, asswipe, you're supposed to have a computer or something to use this. Beavis: Heh heh m heh. You said "com". And then you said "puter". Butt-head: Huh huh huh! Let's take it over to Stewart's house. He's one of those dorks who uses, like, a rat with his computer or something. He likes stuff that sucks. Beavis: Yeah. Hey, Butt-head, this package would, like, be useful for, like, if you had to take a dump and didn't have any TP... Butt-head: Don't be a dillhole, Beavis. It would, like, scrape your bunghole and stuff. Beavis: Oh, yeah. This is, like, complicated and stuff. Butt-head: Yeah. Screw this. Let's just use it for a frisbee. Maybe Anderson's dog would, like, chase it and get hit by a car or something. Beavis: That would RULE! There would be, like, blood and dog guts everywhere, and it might squeeze some turds out or something. (Well, what do you expect at this early hour?) Bob Faulkner***BFaulk@ix.netcom.com Ex-AOL user since 3/17/96 [LINK] From: C.J.@worldnet.att.net (C.J.) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Re: More Bisk poetry Date: Sat, 18 May 1996 03:50:32 GMT Organization: Dead Bisk Poets Society johngalt@primenet.com (JG) wrote: >posterkid@mammoth.valleynet.com (posterkid) wrote: >>Richard Cretan (herriman@cris.com) wrote: >>: ckern@mail.nitco.com (Mr. K) wrote: > Although some may not think it approrpiate, I feel that it is necessary to re-post the original author's classical poem that has inspired so many to attempt this particular style of poetry. Subject: Aol is sucks!!!!!what you can do with ther cd rom bisk From: saunders@rio.com (saunders) Date: 1996/04/27 Newsgroups: alt.aol-Sucks cost to mutch it suck no good send to many disk. Me and my friends took a bisk and lit it on fire and froze it slamed it angaisnt the boor. The related string of "Bisk" [David Kendrick] continues to enlighten the uninitiated to this authors writing styles. Let us continue to expand on this unique authors style . C.J. "Let no Bisk be sold before it's time..."" From: posterkid@mammoth.valleynet.com (posterkid) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Re: More Bisk poetry Date: 19 May 1996 03:29:14 GMT Organization: what is this field for? JG (johngalt@primenet.com) wrote: : posterkid@mammoth.valleynet.com (posterkid) wrote: : >Richard Cretan (herriman@cris.com) wrote: : >: ckern@mail.nitco.com (Mr. K) wrote: : : Okay, I'll give it a try. : maleman cums : hands me bisks : thinks i'ze dum : me no's da risks : now bisk in drive : youze gots male : and hours, five : chatrums kewl : me found nice gurl : ech, she hung lik mule : me now go hurl : hey,newzgrups, what to do? : naked pics of gurlz? : send me tooooo! <applause <holding lighter in the air> I'd encourage you even more, but I feel the groove building inside me... "smellz liek bisk spirit" lode up on bisks and detonate the sun aol is fludding every1 i'm reely bored and eye want gifz of little kidz and there armpits oh no oh no oh no steve-o oh no oh no oh no steve-o oh no oh no oh no steve-o with aol on my CUMputer i feelz like i been neutered whacking off and tradeing porno posting binareez liek a lamo ted leonsis jpg filez elite warez and porno too bisks i'm bad at speeling and grammer too but eether way i will flam u i'm getingg hard cuz your a minor but tos comes oh what a whiner (repeet chrus) aohell makes me so kewl i fake kredit kardz and start to drool my mommy sez get a girl but i'm just fine writing for internet world -- *thisISmyNEWsigFILEiHOPEthatYOUlikeITifYOUdontLIKEitWELLthatsTOOdamnBAD* * opinions expressed herein are not necessarily my own * * unsolicited commercial email is immediately reported * * http://www.valleynet.com/~posterkid * *theySAYthePROPERsizeFORaSIGisFOURlinesWELLgoshDARNitIthinkFIVEisCOOLER* From: herriman@cris.com (Richard Cretan) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Re: L.A. Times story on AOL phishers Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 03:25:17 GMT Organization: Concentric Internet Services BFaulk@ix.netcom.com (Bob Faulkner) wrote: >In article , herriman@cris.com says... >>-- The reorganized thought police... TOS is out. Community Action >>Team (CAT) is in. This is as dopey a name as any committee could come >>up with: it's sort of a cross between Case's favorite theme >>(community!) and The A Team. I picture toy action figures. 'Hey, he >>said a naughty word! Everybody get into the hovercraft and let's go!' >> >Community? Which community is Case referring to? Just a small squad of Vienna >vigilantes equipped with a copy of "King Steve's Words You Must Never Use on >AOL". Case is crazy for community. His monthly missives never fail to mention it. He's like Julie on "The Love Boat." Everybody ok? Everybody playing shuffle board later? Met the partner of your dreams yet? By encouraging this ersatz sense of community, AOL hooks 'em in. True, some communities require membership fees (the country club, the NRA) and nearly all communities enforce standards of behavior. But then, you participate in such communities. What do the AOLers have to bind them? The AOL server in Vienna? The closest thing to community, for them, is chat rooms. But the problem with chat rooms is that your pals might be out in the real world. No problem! AOL's stalking software, the hilariously misnamed Buddy System, can alert you to when they're online. From: VxG Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Re: L.A. Times story on AOL phishers Date: Wed, 15 May 1996 23:49:18 -0400 Organization: SoVerNet, Inc. Richard Cretan wrote: > Case is crazy for community. His monthly missives never fail to > mention it. He's like Julie on "The Love Boat." Everybody ok? > Everybody playing shuffle board later? Met the partner of your dreams > yet? I never realized it before, but that's just what my high school's headmaster is like. We have a weekly assembly, and at each one, he has a speech to say. He never fails to mention community. In fact, school in general is like AOL: I just want to go there and get an education, but instead I'm preached to about getting my 50 hours of community service in (yes, it's a requirement), coming to *every* unnecessary class, actually doing what the teacher tells me to do in class, and so on. On AOL, I just want to use it to get and contribute information, but instead I'm bombarded by time-consuming graphics, censorship, and pesky, nosy Guides reminding me that "children may be in here :O ", etc., etc. In summary, public schools suck for the same reasons AOL sucks, and vice versa. - VxG From: wannadie@aol.com (Wanna Die) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: AOL Scams Customers Date: 11 May 1996 01:37:47 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) AOL Tricks Their Costumers What bulls---. I got this information from Sales and Services. FILE: There was a special promotion sent to selective customers with a Scratch-Off card indicating that they could win free time on America Online. If the customer matched any 2 amounts of time on the scratch-off card, they could win 10 free hours. (Every card wins 10 free hours) The 10 free hours are not additional free time, but the normal trial offer for America Online. The promotion was designed to make the customer think they are getting a special deal when they sign onto the service because they won the 10 free hours on the scratch-off card. March 1, 1996 America Onlines trial offer was changed to 15 free hours. Customers inquiring about the scratch off promotion should be informed that they can take advantage of 10 free hours by signing on with the supplied registration number and password. If they would like to receive 15 free hours, you must assign the member a new registration number and password and cancel the Scratch-Off registration information. Transmitted: 3/12/96 3:24 PM - ]V[ad ]V[isery http://aoturkey.escape.com/misery madmisery@anon.penet.fi From: don stolz Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: AOL NEW MARKETING SCHEME Check this out Date: 11 May 1996 16:46:43 GMT Organization: LDS iAmerica I worked for Toys r us within a couple of weeks TRU will be giving R-treats which is something like a happy meal except it will have candy hi-c drink which they are giving away for free for children,well i was looking inside in the R-treat box it had an AOL disk inside encourgaging kids to get their parents to get online and saying it's the best family service (Joke) With all these perverts and pw fishers that are on there. it makes me sick to see aol disks inside of them. it makes me want to take every disk out and throw them away. anyone got any comments about this??? From: herriman@cris.com (Richard Cretan) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: You Will Not Sign Off: AOL's Multimedia Online Magazine Date: Wed, 08 May 1996 16:56:14 GMT Organization: Concentric Internet Services : "If I happen to have two free hours left from the previous month, : do I retain them along with my five free hours for the next month?" : -- No Name Given : "Nice try, but unfortunately: No. BTW, how could you possibly have : time left over when there's so much to do?" Multimedia Online. Letters to the Editors. Volume 2, Issue 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The point to start reading Multimedia Online, the AOL magazine, is on page 12. Skip the visionary ramblings of President Ted Leonsis. Metaphorically speaking, AOL's techno-prophet has been on a tear lately. Last February, he was seen in an interview with Digital Media talking about the Bronze, Iron, Silver and Golden Ages of the online industry. Dusting off after this archeological dig, he told C|Net in April that AOL had to create a "new religion." Now he jetpacks forth in the newest Multimedia Online: "We're working with the future *today*." In three months of public statements, that's more than 3,000 years. Leonsis's vision is evolving so fast that, by summer, he will be telling us to climb into the space ark with him. That's why you must turn to page 12, where it's all said more succinctly. The key to understanding Multimedia Online is right here. In a corner of the Letters column, an unnamed AOLer has a question. No Name Given wants to know if unused time carries over to the next month. Nice try, amigo. But get with the evolutionary program. And anyway, what's your excuse for not using your whole five hours? AOL is the nicotine of the Internet. A few drags here and there won't do. It wants you *on* it. The purpose of The America Online Guide To Multimedia Online ($4.95) is to make sure that you understand the ideal state of this relationship. It is beyond being addictive, or merely codependent, enabling, or self-defeating. None of the popular buzzwords used to mortify us out of unhealthy attachments can do it justice. AOL simply wants to be a part of everything you are. It has umbilical aspirations. If it could, AOL would weave itself into your genetic code. One persistent theme in the magazine is, naturally, chat. Chat is to AOL as gold is to Scrooge McDuck. There can never be enough to wallow in: : Watching the soaps is only half the fun -- dish the dirt before, during : and afterward in the special chat rooms created for each show. (Page 10) : Oops! We almost forgot. Check out the chat rooms for lots of : surprises as well. (Page 18) : If you're a mom looking for good company and lively, intelligent : discussion...Moms Online is the place to go! (Page 73) : Chatterspace is where the action is. (Page 93) : Can't sleep? Try out this all-night neighborhood hang-out created : exclusively for AOL members. (Page 89) The last is a blurb for "Insomniacs Asylum," where the sleepless can "meet fellow insomniacs." Is it a good idea for insomniacs to stay up chatting? Why bother asking? To fit the experience even more closely to their neuroses, AOL's content provider, Warner Bros., had its marketing staff conduct online surveys over several weeks with users who were on AOL from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. Then it created the Asylum to put them in. At $2.95 per hour, all that chat may end up costing users a bundle. You wouldn't know this from reading "The Art of Chat," the magazine's breezy three-page look at online gabbing. Its advice for up-and-coming jawbones ranges from the banal ("Instant messaging is a good way to talk, one-on-one") to the insipid ("Chat is immediate. Chat is *now*"). Its surface message is etiquette. The subtext is more, more, more. Belly up to the People Connection, and have a few IMs. Yet not all is hunky dory, as the article admits. When reality intrudes, the author has an AOLish solution -- punish. : ...the fact is that some rooms can become a free-for-all, where : manners are jettisoned for no apparent reason. Chatwatchers : advise that in such a situation, the best action is to leave -- but : not before reporting the infractions. (Page 95) Manners. Infractions. At $2.95 an hour, apparently, you should demand to be called Hung4U, Esq. The only glancing reference to expense anywhere in Multimedia Online has nothing to do with chatting. In fact, it isn't even from AOL. It's an ad from the modem manufacturer, Cardinal, which has bought pages 20-21 to advertise its 28.8 model under the banner, "Talk Is Cheap!" Would that it were: we could all join AOL, adopt goofy screen names, and meet after midnight in the Insomniac's Asylum. Or in Mom's Online. Or in People Connection. Or in one of the more colorful private rooms that the magazine fails to mention... What one finds reading Multimedia Online is an advertisement for a lifestyle -- the AOL lifestyle. In sensibility, it resembles nothing so much as a TV sitcom: the locales are spotlight-bright, the people boundlessly happy, the laughtrack always crackling. Allow AOL to be the interior decorator of your mind, the magazine is saying. What furnishings: a few World Wrestling Federation "stats" here, a little "late breaking news" from Soap Opera Digest there. And speaking of news, AOL now fancies itself a bastion of journalism. "The AOL Newsroom," says the headline on page 50, "is Alive and Clicking." After the positronic brain of Ted Leonsis, the AOL "news team" may be the most overrated segment of the service. The article's subhead teases: : IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW THERE IS AN AOL NEWSROOM OR IF YOU : THOUGHT ALL IT DOES IS THROW THE WIRE REPORTS ONLINE, : YOU'RE IN FOR A SURPRISE. Well, yes. I didn't know. And yes, I imagine all they do is throw the wire reports online. So where's my surprise? : The AOL News team does not write the news. When you've got the top : news services, dailies, magazines, networks and Web links at your : fingertips, writing another report would be redundant. (p.50) Surprisingly enough, the team is there to "organize, highlight and set up pointers to the items they know members should not miss and to display it in a clear and informative manner." As opposed to a muddied and non-informative manner? This makes them glorified wire editors, in my book; and as someone who used to edit the A.P. wire in between writing editorials and editing stories, I assure those who aren't journalists that it is a no-brainer. News comes. You pick the articles you want. Sometimes you shorten them. Ho hum. It's this inflated sense of worth that makes Multimedia Online always seem to be straining for meaning. The magazine's cover story, for example, is about selecting a college or university. (An interesting indicator, perhaps, of AOL user demographics.) Now, it might be hard for some. Yet who possibly needs AOL for this? It's not as if the prospective student isn't bombarded with info through school, college fairs, and institutions angling for tuition dollars. And even if going online could help, the information is already on the Net. Can someone who's college material really be incapable of doing a Web search? To a somewhat lesser extent, the same criticism can be made of the article, "Online Banking With AOL." The merits of online banking remain to be seen; you can simply call your bank for money transfers, after all. One benefit of AOL's partnership with Quicken is that users will be able to pay bills and download account statements. Why, then, is the magazine setting up a straw dog to hype its forthcoming service? : It's twenty minutes to 6 p.m. and you've just realized you forgot to go : to the bank to cover that overdrawn check! You leap into your car, : turn the ignition key, and start racing to your friendly neighborhood : bank. "Come on, come on," you say to nobody in particular as you... : ...feel your heart pounding in your chest... ...reach the bank : with one minute to spare, park your car illegally and run to the front : door, out of breath and drenched in sweat. You pound madly on the : locked door. Sound familiar? Am I supposed to be insane? No, it doesn't sound familiar. (But I do identify with that part about my heart being in my chest when it pounds.) These scare tactics have nothing to do with reality. Instead, they're consistent with AOL's strategy of becoming omnipresent in its users's lives -- a sort of inverse planned obsolescence, in which they need AOL for any and everything. Even the things that make no difference at all: if, at twenty minutes to 6 p.m., I don't have enough money in my account to cover an overdrawn check, going online isn't going to help one iota. There are other oddities in Multimedia Online too numerous to mention. Why is the tantalizingly bare midriff of Ally, a character on the soap The City, shown twice in the magazine? (Hint: go get her GIF at Keyword: ABC Soaps.) Why has the editorial and advertising been laid out so that it's virtually impossible to distinguish one from the other? (Hint: we're all friends here.) Why are the censors called "the folks from TOS"? (Hint: censors are folks, too.) And why do I need to know that Jim and Ellen met in the Flirts Nook, spent two years chatting online, and finally got hitched at the Chapel of Bells in Las Vegas last year? (Hint: If I study "The Art of Chat" and go on AOL enough, there could be a Vegas wedding in my future.) After perusing AOL's advertorial, I began to understand Ted Leonsis better. In the end, he really is a seer. He programs and purveys; the masses buy it up. Today, six million. Tomorrow, ten million. And why shouldn't he? Juvenal said in The Satires that with all the hacks and phonies wailing their bad verse on the street corners, an aspiring poet might as well go out and add to the din. In 1996, no one gives a damn about literature any more, but TV and its bastard son, "online media," are doing well, thank you. Move over, Aaron Spelling, and make room for the new poet laureate of schlock. Richard Cretan From: David Pinero Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks,alt.internet.media-coverage Subject: Re: You Will Not Sign Off: AOL's Multimedia Online Magazine Date: Thu, 9 May 1996 00:11:08 -0400 Organization: University of South Florida I enjoyed the review of AOL's latest Multimedia Online. It was a fair assessemnet of AOL's delusional grandeour. What I might add to all that is the fact the some of the advertisers in MMO are some of the cheeziest, most computer-unrelated sucker-ads I have ever seen (not quite as bad as those found in Psychology Today where you can become a "Doctor of Metaphysics"--but certainly on their way). It looks like from now on when direct advertisers need a good sucker-audience, they're going to look to AOL and its MMO. Heck, it's a segment of the world population that is *obviously* naive and simple. Regards, Dave David Pinero - Criminology Major - University of South Florida ============================================================== http://members.aol.com/Tdave365/Page/pinero.htm My home page features: The Public Client, The Amazing Unpack, and Murder. From: mgscheue@io.com (Mark G. Scheuern) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: more AOL hypocrisy Date: 27 Apr 1996 15:22:40 -0500 Organization: Illuminati Online The Internet Connection web page features the "IC Hilites Community", where subscribers to AOL's IC Hilites mailing list can submit their own personal URLs to be added to the Community page (http://members.aol.com/ichilites/subsites.html). It comes with the warning "Note: IC Hilites will not link to pages that may contain AOL TOS violations, copyright violations, or any material that may not be suitable for all audiences." Clearly these rules do not apply to their own employees, as AOL's Employees Page (http://www.aol.com/community/employees/) contains a link to the Internet Connection Producer Catherine Buzzell's web page, which features "Barton's Sex Tips" and "Barton's Gynecological Adventures". Yet another example of selective enforcement at AOL. Mark From: reptile@primenet.com (Mike) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: Re: >>>>> AOL HACKER EPIDEMIC??? <<<<< Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 17:57:44 MST Organization: Primenet In article knurt@ix.netcom.com (Knurt@ix.netcom.com ) writes: >In andrewwelc@aol.com (AndrewWelc) >writes: >> >>: Source says that AOL is being overrun by a hacker epidemic. If AOL is being hacked, that's the cure, not the disease. From: destiny@crl.com (David Cassel) Newsgroups: alt.internet.media-coverage,alt.aol-sucks Subject: Re: Internet World May: Editor's Notes Date: 20 Apr 1996 22:11:32 -0700 David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) wrote: : : The Net Answer Man (that's me) keeps getting mail from AOL users like "I : : can't see this on a page. What should I do?" And the powers that be won't : : let me respond "Leave." I'm working on wearing them down. : Who are these "powers that be", Andrew? Shortly after 1 am EST Sunday, I received the following response from Andrew Kantor: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= (My News feed is a bit slow, so your message hasn't arrived there. Feel free to post this.) The "powers that be" wouldn't like any blatent blast of any company or product, no matter how bad they get, and that's a good policy in general. I'm sure they wouldn't mind my saying "You should strongly consider switching providers," but 'tone it down and keep it professional' is the general rule. But you can read between the lines. AK =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- = =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- = From: flipper@star.net (Ken Harding) Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks Subject: AOL censorship Date: Fri, 19 Apr 1996 01:32:27 GMT Organization: StarNet Personally.I have had enough of AOL censorship.I find it stifling.My posts that were not chipper enough or were critical of anyone were deleted from thier message boards...the morons even threatened people with TOS violations.AOL is too lame for me so I'm dropping my account.It's not worth it for the few things I use it for. AOL is a prome example of what happens when you limit free speech in the name of making it safe for the kiddies,etc...It's message boards are boring...the chat rooms resemble a morgue and the whole damned thing is just too candy coated. The sickening thing too is that the US government is attempting to make the whole internet into a big lame AOL with it's communications decency act.I find that even though a lot of offensive crap gets onto the net there is a hell of a lot more interesting/stimulating info on the internet because of the freedom allowed. Freedom of speech is sacred to any true american or liberty loving person throughout the world.I shudder to think what these politicians are willing to do to get a few votes of contributions.They press the "but it's a danger to your children" button and play people like a violin.If you are worried about what your kid sees then monitor them or keep them off the net all together....that is a parent's responsibility...not mine or uncle sam's... Return to Main Page