Brad wrote:
> We are *very* interested in being proper net.citizens, and are
> not only working to adhere to the rules to the best of our ability
> (as model net.citizens), we are also helping to write the rules when
> there is new ground that hasn't really stabilized yet.
As a former AOL subscriber, and someone who later helped bring another online
service onto the Internet, I think AOL is actually doing reasonably well
these days, especially since they tend to get the bulk of the clueless
new users. And I can relate from experience that it's very difficult to
TRAIN new users. (You can lead a horse to water...)
There was a time when AOL was a whole lot less cooperative when dealing with
standards and netiquette. I think their mail blocker is a good idea, but
still needs refinement to deal with the issues we've been discussing here.
I've got over 100 AOL subscribers on my lists, and I have a lot more trouble
from other services with a lot fewer subscribers. (But, if AOL would just
increase their mailbox size...)
And being the big dog, AOL is going to be the whipping boy for the industry.
(Compuserve and Prodigy took their lumps, too.)
BTW, my 11 year old son keeps pointing out that AOL is still running some
spot TV ads.
--
Mike Nolan
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