This wasn't a bash on AOL this was a statement of fact. If AOL was
truly responsible it wouldn't have taken the threat of court action to
get them to take action.
In the end, their "settlement" was to their advantage not to the users
and doesn't compensate listowners for their time and problems because
AOL's servers could not handle the load.
It is not my job, nor the job or any other listowner, to help AOL
solve their problems. That's why their subscribers pay them. Most
listowners are not paid for maintaining the lists they own.
You will also note that the press release and settlement came AFTER I
made this statement. At the time I made this statement, this was not
true. And, their "settlement" still doesn't compensate list owners for
the bounces, the tie up of server resources handling said bounces, the
error message or the problems that AOL is causing by allowing their
subscribers to stop mail from a list/server without properly
unsubscribing from that list.
There are all kinds of excuses that AOL has for their actions. They
have the resources to first run "controlled tests" of their email
before providing it. Whatever problems their email or subscribers
cause is still their responsibility *not* the responsibility of the
listowners who are providing service to everyone.
AOL is a commercial service and despite illusions of grandeur,
doesn't own the Internet. I personally wasted three days cleaning up
after AOL. Three days which could have better spent elsewhere.
Leonard
On 30 Jan 97 ,Brad Knowles insightfully wrote:
> At 5:19 AM -0500 1/24/1997, Dr. Manion wrote:
>
> >This is another example of AOL irresponsibility. They know they
> >can't handle the load, yet, they continue to advertise their
> >services and offer -- and expect everyone else to just deal with
> >their subscribers.
>
> Check the press releases, and the recent settlements. We're not
> going to be advertising until we spend major money on major
> upgrades, meanwhile coming back with major refunds for people who
> have been hit with access problems.
>
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