Talk Cancer

Question:

Out of the millions of AOL members, I’m willing to bet that less than 1% know about Usenet. One thing that came out of the problem last week was that the AOL Tech Support people didn’t know the difference between AOL’s internal message boards and the internet newsgroups.

I used to be on the old Prodigy, before its Y2K demise. They had regular bulletin boards on various subjects, including the internet. Prodigy had a big "sign" on entry to that board, saying "this is not the internet". Even so, a substantial number of the posts there started with "this is my first email to the internet….". Funny thing is, I "grew up" on usenet using *P’s usenet reader and somehow the others have never seemed as good… go figure<G. I’m curious whether AOL ever made an announcement to its members that their usenet posts were not going through?  I’m assuming they have a sign-on screen where they would have pertinent information. Lee

Response:

I’m curious whether AOL ever made an announcement to its members that their usenet posts were not going through?  I’m assuming they have a sign-on screen where they would have pertinent information.

Not a word. The "Known Problems in Newsgroups" hasn’t been updated since September 2002. aol.newsgroups.announcements hasn’t had a posting in months. and Tech Support told those who called that postings are only supposed to be seen by other AOL members, thereby showing that Tech Support doesn’t know the difference between internet newsgroups and AOL’s internal message boards. Kitty.

Response:

Hi Tricia, The web makes filing complaints about stores, etc so easy. And they will often offer you something in return. Recently we took my niece to chuck e cheese for her birthday and they didn’t have anyone matching the kids to the adults when we left (it is supposed to be their security measure to stamp the kids and adults together, so another adult can’t leave with a child)

That’s a safety issue, so I’m glad you filed a complaint. So I wrote to them via their website, not only did they say they would look into they sent me a gift card for one of their pizza packages, about a $25 value.    It’s nice to know they are making and effort to make me happy.  AT&T blows, they haven’t even responded to the complaint I sent to the better business breau.

It was forward-thinking of them to win your goodwill from a business standpoint, ’cause the next time the kids want pizza you’ll think of Chuck E. Cheese’s first, won’t you?  <G I don’t complain often.  In the last 6 months the only product that just burned my backside was the "3 day mascara" (Colorstay Overtime) that Revlon put out.  It stayed put, even in the rain.  In the end it was horrible stuff though, mainly because it wouldn’t come off with oily waterproof eye makeup remover (that’s what the instructions said would take it off).  After I tried several different brands of removers I ended up scraping it off my lashes with my fingernails!  They offered to replace it with another mascara if I sent it back.  I said "No thank you, I’ll switch to another company – one that tests their products more thoroughly before bringing them to market".  The lady said "Okay ma’am, have a good day."  Funny thing, I don’t buy Revlon anymore. — Take care, Carmen of Borg Blonde Borgs have the same fun.

Response:

Not a word. The "Known Problems in Newsgroups" hasn’t been updated since September 2002. aol.newsgroups.announcements hasn’t had a sent to it about the problem and Tech Support told those who called that postings are only supposed to be seen by other AOL members, thereby showing that Tech Support doesn’t know the difference between internet newsgroups and AOL’s internal message boards.

Most of the technicians at ISPs — even big ones like AOL — don’t even know Usenet exists.  There’s usually one older geek who was on the net before 1998 who makes sure they have Usenet service because he uses it himself.  At one small ISP I do some work for, they’ve had enough turnover that I doubt anyone there knows about their Usenet feed. — Aaron 280/242/200

Response:

Hi Tricia, When you get poor service like that you have to vote with your wallet.

That’s the way I feel about it, but it’s understandable that others don’t see it that way.  Then again, if I’m in a store and the salesperson is yipping on the phone (personal stuff), or being rude, or otherwise ticking me off I’ll politely but firmly insist they attend to their job.  If they don’t I either just leave or inform the manager.  But I’m a pushy bitch. — Take care, Carmen of Borg Blonde Borgs have the same fun.

Response:

Get a grip. The newsgroups are back and most of us found workarounds for the week it wasn’t working. This is not a big deal.

Oh, shit, it’s back? Not that I would know, since my husband crashed my whole fucking hard drive yesterday trying to "help" me. I don’t know why I ever let that man touch *anything* of mine. It’s always a mistake. Now I’m stuck on Google anyway.  :). Welp, good to know you people who own working computers have your newsgroups back in order. Much vicarious enjoyment over here. c

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thanks, Carmen. He’s got eight applications out there and every one of them is to a school I’d be delighted to see him in. These are all schools that are listed as "highly selective" so we are just hoping for four or five acceptances and then he can make the final decision. It’s an anxious time for him but I foresee that the outcome will be a good one. I’ve got my fingers crossed for him.  :-) — Take care, Carmen of Borg Blonde Borgs have the same fun.

Appreciate it, Carmen. He’s done all he can do so we’ll take all the crossed fingers and toes we can get now. Kitty.

Response:

Hi Tricia, When you get poor service like that you have to vote with your wallet. That’s the way I feel about it, but it’s understandable that others don’t see it that way.  Then again, if I’m in a store and the salesperson is yipping on the phone (personal stuff), or being rude, or otherwise ticking me off I’ll politely but firmly insist they attend to their job.  If they don’t I either just leave or inform the manager.  But I’m a pushy bitch.

The web makes filing complaints about stores, etc so easy. And they will often offer you something in return. Recently we took my niece to chuck e cheese for her birthday and they didn’t have anyone matching the kids to the adults when we left (it is supposed to be their security measure to stamp the kids and adults together, so another adult can’t leave with a child)   So I wrote to them via their website, not only did they say they would look into they sent me a gift card for one of their pizza packages, about a $25 value.    It’s nice to know they are making and effort to make me happy.  AT&T blows, they haven’t even responded to the complaint I sent to the better business breau. Tricia

Response:

Hi Kitty, There’s a history here, Carmen. If someone is going to stay with AOL, it’s up to them to understand AOL’s limitations and develop ways around it. If the limitations become intolerable, then leave. There are aol.newsgroups.help and aol.newsgroups.bugs and aol.newsgroups.talk that I checked out when it became apparent that posts were not going through. They were ugly and the original poster’s AOL VICTIMS post came out of those newsgroups.

That’s an interesting take on AOL. . I’ve been on AOL a long time…since the demise of eWorld and I’ll continue on it until my children are old enough that parental controls are no longer useful and, fortunately, that won’t be much longer.

If parental controls are the crucial feature that keeps you from switching ISPs, there are ways to get the same or better control if you’d like some assistance.  I’d be glad to help. Usenet is a small part of my online time and, yes, it was no big deal.

Thank you for taking the time Kitty.  Sometimes being curious is real PITA. — Take care, Carmen Any closet is a walk-in closet if you try hard enough.

Response:

If parental controls are the crucial feature that keeps you from switching ISPs, there are ways to get the same or better control if you’d like some assistance.  I’d be glad to help.

I appreciate the offer, Carmen. My oldest child (for whom parental controls are unnecessary finally) is currently in the midst of the college application process and all of the colleges he has applied to have his AOL screen name as a contact point. The last thing we need right now is to change the email address and AOL does not have an email forwarding option. My younger son is rapidly closing in on not needing parental controls and once his brother is college bound, we’ll probably make the switch to another ISP. Out of the millions of AOL members, I’m willing to bet that less than 1% know about Usenet. One thing that came out of the problem last week was that the AOL Tech Support people didn’t know the difference between AOL’s internal message boards and the internet newsgroups. I don’t like histrionics and a post with ATTENTION AOL VICTIMS just pushes all the wrong buttons in me. You’re not an AOL victim unless you let yourself be and if AOL doesn’t serve your needs, vote with your feet…..or your fingers on the keyboard as the case may be. Kitty.

Response:

Okay, gotcha.  I hope your son gets into the college *you* want him to.  We moms gotta stick together.  <G

Thanks, Carmen. He’s got eight applications out there and every one of them is to a school I’d be delighted to see him in. These are all schools that are listed as "highly selective" so we are just hoping for four or five acceptances and then he can make the final decision. It’s an anxious time for him but I foresee that the outcome will be a good one. Kitty.

Response:

Hi Kitty, Thanks, Carmen. He’s got eight applications out there and every one of them is to a school I’d be delighted to see him in. These are all schools that are listed as "highly selective" so we are just hoping for four or five acceptances and then he can make the final decision. It’s an anxious time for him but I foresee that the outcome will be a good one.

I’ve got my fingers crossed for him.  :-) — Take care, Carmen of Borg Blonde Borgs have the same fun.

Response:

I’m kind of curious about this.  AOL allowed an entire week to elapse before they restored the Usenet functionality, yet you state it’s not a big deal. As a consumer you pay for that service.  Would you hold the same attitude towards your cable company if they were only on half the time for a one week period?

When you get poor service like that you have to vote with your wallet. Last summer I got cable internet from AT&T and they had some technical issue that kept me completely offline for a week. Then they would get snippy when I kept calling them about fixing it. All they offered me was a credit for the days I was offline.  So I quit and switched to Earthlink DSL  and have been much happier.  ATT could have kept me if they had been a little bit apologetic and offered me something for my trouble, like a free month of service.  But they don’t care they felt like they are a monopoly since they are the only ones here offering cable internet.  AOL has such a large customer base they probably have a similar attitude. There are so many ISPs out there, if one treats you poorly Move to another.  Don’t keep giving the ones with crappy customer service your money!  Keep your email address through something not linked to your ISP (your own domain or even free services like yahoo or hotmail) Tricia

Response:

Hi Kitty, I appreciate the offer, Carmen. My oldest child (for whom parental controls are unnecessary finally) is currently in the midst of the college application process and all of the colleges he has applied to have his AOL screen name as a contact point. The last thing we need right now is to change the email address and AOL does not have an email forwarding option. My younger son is rapidly closing in on not needing parental controls and once his brother is college bound, we’ll probably make the switch to another ISP.

Okay, gotcha.  I hope your son gets into the college *you* want him to.  We moms gotta stick together.  <G — Take care, Carmen of Borg Blonde Borgs have the same fun.

Response:

Call 1-888-265-8003 DEMAND AOL give you at least one month free service to compensate for the internet fiasco. Better yet, ask for two. I got one month free, others have gotten two. Hit AOL where it hurts!

Get a grip. The newsgroups are back and most of us found workarounds for the week it wasn’t working. This is not a big deal.

Response:

DEMAND AOL give you at least one month free service to compensate for the internet fiasco.

What fiasco? Chris SAHM to Punky (11) and PeeWee (2) LowCarber~Scrapbooker~Hoosier Live like there is no tomorrow-Plan like you’ll be here for a million years.

Response:

DEMAND AOL give you at least one month free service to compensate for the internet fiasco. What fiasco?

From January 4 until today, if you posted to the newsgroups directly through AOL, only other AOL members could see your posts. Some AOL members found other newsreaders or new ISPs and some of us started posting through Google. Problems appears to be fixed as of today. Kitty.

Response:

Hit AOL where it hurts! Get a grip. The newsgroups are back and most of us found workarounds for the week it wasn’t working. This is not a big deal.

I read a cancer support group and someone from AOL thought that their letter wasn’t important enough for anyone to answer.  Most AOL people didn’t know their mail wasn’t getting through. Marilyn

Response:

Hit AOL where it hurts! Get a grip. The newsgroups are back and most of us found workarounds for the week it wasn’t working. This is not a big deal. I read a cancer support group and someone from AOL thought that their letter wasn’t important enough for anyone to answer.  Most AOL people didn’t know their mail wasn’t getting through.

Marilyn You snipped most of the post I was responding to which isn’t quite fair. The original poster wanted all AOL "victims" to call AOL and demand a free month’s service. Most posters on AOL know that AOL has a reputation for missing posts and if your post appears to be ignored, you google it to see if there were responses you haven’t seen. AOL members have a reputation for a lack of internet sophistication and the original post to "AOL VICTIMS" did nothing to contradict that. Kitty.

Response:

Hello Kitty, Get a grip. The newsgroups are back and most of us found workarounds for the week it wasn’t working. This is not a big deal.

<Marilyn’s reply deleted Marilyn You snipped most of the post I was responding to which isn’t quite fair. The original poster wanted all AOL "victims" to call AOL and demand a free month’s service. Most posters on AOL know that AOL has a reputation for missing posts and if your post appears to be ignored, you google it to see if there were responses you haven’t seen. AOL members have a reputation for a lack of internet sophistication and the original post to "AOL VICTIMS" did nothing to contradict that.

I’m kind of curious about this.  AOL allowed an entire week to elapse before they restored the Usenet functionality, yet you state it’s not a big deal. As a consumer you pay for that service.  Would you hold the same attitude towards your cable company if they were only on half the time for a one week period?  I can certainly understand your sensitivity about the way AOLers are viewed, but surely that cannot be helped by stating that AOL is known for missing posts too with an implied "Oh well".  The OP was simply urging AOLers not to sit back and take it.  Pretty understandable attitude, after all if AOL isn’t given an incentive to provide better service they probably won’t.  It took a lawsuit to get them off their backside last time, remember? So, after all is said and done, why do you think it’s no big deal? — Take care, Carmen Any closet is a walk-in closet if you try hard enough.

Response:

AOL has sucked since day One! Steve case just quit. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hit AOL where it hurts! Get a grip. The newsgroups are back and most of us found workarounds for the week it wasn’t working. This is not a big deal. I read a cancer support group and someone from AOL thought that their letter wasn’t important enough for anyone to answer.  Most AOL people didn’t know their mail wasn’t getting through. Marilyn

Response:

I’m kind of curious about this.  AOL allowed an entire week to elapse before they restored the Usenet functionality, yet you state it’s not a big deal. As a consumer you pay for that service.  Would you hold the same attitude towards your cable company if they were only on half the time for a one week period?  I can certainly understand your sensitivity about the way AOLers are viewed, but surely that cannot be helped by stating that AOL is known for missing posts too with an implied "Oh well".  The OP was simply urging AOLers not to sit back and take it.  Pretty understandable attitude, after all if AOL isn’t given an incentive to provide better service they probably won’t.  It took a lawsuit to get them off their backside last time, remember? So, after all is said and done, why do you think it’s no big deal?

There’s a history here, Carmen. If someone is going to stay with AOL, it’s up to them to understand AOL’s limitations and develop ways around it. If the limitations become intolerable, then leave. There are aol.newsgroups.help and aol.newsgroups.bugs and aol.newsgroups.talk that I checked out when it became apparent that posts were not going through. They were ugly and the original poster’s AOL VICTIMS post came out of those newsgroups. I’ve been on AOL a long time…since the demise of eWorld and I’ll continue on it until my children are old enough that parental controls are no longer useful and, fortunately, that won’t be much longer. Usenet is a small part of my online time and, yes, it was no big deal. Kitty.

Response: