Fun_People Archive
9 Nov
AOL bashing, real & imaginary...

Date: Wed,  9 Nov 94 18:01:36 PST
To: Fun_People
Subject: AOL bashing, real & imaginary...

From: editor@pipeline.netsurf.com (Netsurfer Publishing)
Excerpted-from: Netsurfer Digest: Vol. 00, #27 (TEXT)

...
ONLINE SERVICES
______________________________________________________________________________
What's new with the commercial services


     AMERICA ONLINE SCRAMBLES TO CLARIFY MAILING LIST POLICY

     Earlier this month, America Online announced out of the blue that it
     would start selling its member list to various direct marketers. This
     created a minor furor among its membership base and even Congress, in
     the august form of Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Ma.), got into the act
     with concerns about privacy. AOL head Steve Case had to hastily
     dispatch a letter to AOL subscribers clarifying that: A) they will
     limit the info they sell to addresses only; B) they will screen every
     mailing; and C) they will make it easy to opt out (the keyword is
     MARKETING PREFS). Case admitted that (timeless phrase alert) "mistakes
     were made" in handling the announcement.


==============================================================================
==============================================================================

From: editor@pipeline.netsurf.com (Netsurfer Publishing)
Excerpted-from: Netsurfer Digest: Vol. 00, #28 (TEXT)

...
BREAKING SURF
______________________________________________________________________________
Latest news from the online frontier


     AMERICA ONLINE DARES YOU TO E-MAIL

     In what must be the "Quote of the Year", America Online vice president
     Jean Villanueva responded to allegations that AOL E-Mail sent through
     the Internet was being delayed or lost with the following gem: "We
     invite you or any member to flood the system, see how much mail you
     can send.... We're quite confident no mail is being lost." If this
     issue is delayed, it's because some of our staff are still hysterical
     with laughter. Naturally, the imminent death of America Online is
     predicted. (SF Chronicle, 10/29/94 D2)


==============================================================================
==============================================================================

Forwarded-by: bostic@CS.Berkeley.EDU (Keith Bostic)
Forwarded-by: guy@netapp.com (Guy Harris)
From: griffith@netcom.com (Jim Griffith)

America Online has been receiving a lot of bad press of late because its
users have had serious mail delays - sometimes amounting to several
days between receipt of a letter from the Internet and passing it on to the 
desired recipient.  Two friends of mine run a start-up play-by-mail
company, and unaware of the bad press, they called AOL customer support
for this very reason (several days' delay of email makes PBM games
unplayable, for all intents and purposes).

The AOL customer service rep. said that he didn't understand why there
were problems, because "when I run the AOL interface, and when I type my mail
in and press the 'send' button, it vanishes, and it's just gone!  It's off
to the Internet!  Maybe you should telephone the Internet and talk to their
tech support people."

Yes, the mark of a truly professional Internet access provider...

© 1994 Peter Langston