What is AOL?
Not Patrick Stewart
giuseppe <moc...@iol.it> wrote:
> WHAT IS AOL?
We need a new FAQ.
AOL is America Online, a proprietary online service much like
CompuServe.
In recent years, AOL has added a number of limited Internet features to
its offering, coupled with a huge marketing campaign to convince the
messes that AOL and the Internet are synonymous. Your question, of
course, shows just how silly that is. The American public,
unfortunately, is gullible enough to believe it.
AOL charges far more than its direct Internet competitors for what is
generally agreed to be inferior service (there are a few people who
believe AOL's service is good, but there's no accounting for taste).
Combined with heavy-handed censorship, dishonest billing practices, and
a habit of strip mining the Internet's free resources for resale, the
company has made many enemies.
I guess that Italy has been spared so far. Germany, the UK and Japan
haven't been so lucky.
If, at some time, the AOL bisks start rolling into your mailbox, be sure
to burn them, freeze them and slam them against the boor.
Ise
giuseppe wrote:
>
> WHAT IS AOL?
I think this is a serious question (yeah right)
AOL stands for America OnLine. It is a propietary online service (as opposed to an
Internet Service Provider or ISP). AOL provides services that they "claim" only they
have (but these services are becoming more and more common on the World Wide Web.) The
main difference between AOL and an ISP is that the vast majority of ISPs charge a flat
monthly rate for internet access while AOL charges a small fee for 5 hours a month;
anything over 5 hours is charged hourly. This is considered a deceptive practice
because if you spend a lot of hours a month on AOL, you get charged a lot. Their main
customer base are people who are beginners on the internet. AOL advertizes heavily on
American television. They also mail out floppy disks with the AOL software ready to be
installed on your computer (even though a lot of new computers already have the AOL
software on then.) They have the annoying habit of sending out several of these disks
to the same mailing address. In this newsgroup (alt.aol-sucks) we ridicule these disks
and refer to them as "bisks" (note the alternate spelling.) They also have deceptive
accounting practices; for instance, they manipulate the customer base figures to make it
seem that they are growing at a faster pace than they really are. When people cancel
the service (even during the free trial), AOL has been known to continue billing their
checking account and/or credit card. I do not know much about chat on AOL (I was a
subscriber on GNN for 2 weeks before I found out that GNN was an AOL subsidiary--but
I'll post that topic another time) but I have read many posts about chat on AOL (unlike
Internet Relay Chat which is free, AOL chat users are charged $2.95 an hour.) They also
have a restrictive document called the TOS (Terms of Service) which basically states
that you can be kicked off of AOL if someone who is a guide does not like what you are
saying in a chat room.
AOL is based in Vienna, Virginia near Washington, DC. I am a close observer of their
business practices since they are a local company to me (I live in Maryland and I work
in Virginia...the same area that AOL is based in.) As a local company, they keep a low
profile in regards to doing anything for the communties around here (I admit I may be
wrong; anyone with information to the contrary please email or post.) That is one
reason I dislike AOL.
Another reason, of course, is that:
AOL IS SUCKS!
Ise
PS To all of the regular newsgroup posters (pro- and anti-AOL), please post or email any
comments you have about the above article. I reserve the right to post any email
received.
Philip Blaiklock
giuseppe <moc...@iol.it> wrote in article <538pho$h...@mikasa.iol.it>...
> WHAT IS AOL?
Dude, if you have to ask you'll never know........
Sincerely,
__________________________
|PHILIP BLAIKLOCK /|\
| "Truth /_|_\
| Transcends \ | /
| Reality" \|/
|__________________________V
Come visit me at http://www.owlnet.rice.edu:80/~philipb ,
The place where you can view my twisted creations,
learn why you should leave your online service,
and contribute to the TNG Top AND Bottom 10 Lists!
giuseppe
WHAT IS AOL?
tod...@premiernet.net
>giuseppe wrote:
>>
>> WHAT IS AOL?
If you honestly don't know, consider yourself lucky. It's like being
raped, I guess -- you don't know what it's like, and you don't wanna
know. Stick with your current internet service provider.
TODD
SOBELRL
America Online you fucking idiot
Kathryn Graham
In article <543r15$o...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, sob...@aol.com (SOBELRL) wrote:
> America Online you fucking idiot
Please read the Terms Of Service (the living document) before Adam4U has
heart failure.
aol is sucks
Kathie
Rich Jankowski
On 16 Oct 1996 19:27:33 -0400, sob...@aol.com (SOBELRL) wrote:
>America Online you fucking idiot
Funny an AOL'er should be calling someone a 'fucking idiot' because
this person (not an American either) doesn't know what AOL is.
Who's paying $3/hr to read Usenet, while the rest of the world is
paying about $20/month? Who's settling for substandard software, and
a moron-friendly interface? Who's subject to the TOS Thought Police?
Who thinks that they get 5 (20) 'free' hours a month?
Who's the fucking idiot?
<!-- Posted and mailed to this dumb fucking AOLamer -->
__________
Rich Jankowski
ri...@superlink.net
PGP 2.6.2, finger for public key.
***Lets Go Yankees!***
Ise
SOBELRL wrote:
>
> America Online you fucking idiot
Forwarded to ab...@aol.com.
AOL is sucks.
TOS is sucks too.
Hazel for Troll of the Year.
Ise