|
February 15, 1999
(Mon) - After years of watching AOL deteriorate into a system of
censorship, blatant disregard for customers, increased money spent toward advertising
instead of better service, the slowest internet connection I have ever seen,
uncontrollable spam, shoddy newsgroup reader, etc, ad nauseum, I have canceled AOL
[Click here for the
story.] and moved to an ISP. Please bear with the website
during this transition. Image links may be broken, and images may not appear. It's also
come to my attention this website is NOT 100% compatible w/ Netscape browsers. This, too I
will remedy.
February 17, 1999
(Wed) - You'd think I'd be suffering some sort of withdrawal. I'm not. At all.
Speaking with a friend on the matter yesterday, I compared it with "The Jerry
Springer Show." Jerry was a kick the first few hundred times, but after that point,
it gets old, tired, boring, trashy, and predictable. One night while watching Jerry
Springer, out of habit, because it had grown into that, I realized my disgust with the
show, and realized it was the habit that had taken over turning it to FOX when 11:00pm
came. It was crap and I despised the way it made my skin crawl, so I gave it up for a
better, more empowering show that comes on at that time. Giving up AOL is like that.
Liberating.
February 28, 1999
(Sun) - After waffling back and forth, to and fro, from Earthlink /
Mindspring / BellSouth / MSN, I have decided to go with Mindspring! Earthlink's access
number here, never got me above 28,800 though my modem is a 56KFLEX (which I flash
upgraded to v.90 compatible). BellSouth was the fastest connection (over 50K consistently)
but they want to charge you to make a home page and out of principle I refuse to do. MSN
plainly sucked so bad, I can't even begin to get into the why's. Mindspring is the best I have found. Here's what I
got for the money: For $17.95 a month (aka *The Unlimited* plan) I get unlimited dial up
access, (none of those pesky "You have been idle" or "Click here to stay
connected" messages) have not yet received a busy and have called in at all hours,
including so called *peak*, 5 MB webspace, a mailbox ~~> kathimcmanus@mindspring.com, a consistent
connection speed of around 45K (right now it's exactly 45, 333), a tech support phone call
wait of only two minutes, a competent guy named George, uncensored newsgroup access (which
allows me the freedom to killfile spam and users I don't want to read (using Forte Agents
NewsReader)...and best of all...cheaper, very *user friendly* for you AOLers who haven't
learned yet, and they even include an Escape
AOL section to help you with the transition. I think they're the best, I think they
care about their customers, and is why I have decided to stay with Mindspring.
June 23, 1999 (Wed)
- It's been about 4 months since I last updated my progress on how I'm doing without AOL.
That, in itself, should tell you something. I cannot tell you how much I am in love with
my independence...I actually find myself looking FORWARD to my email. Scared of the spam
that is so pervasive on AOL, I dreaded my email. It was the most depressing time...as I
would quickly click SHIFT....scroll....scroll....scroll....release DELETE. I am currently
subscribed to about 10 email announcement lists. LoVe iT! I am able to confidently set my
mail rules to go to my designated folders, and I can happily peruse them at will. Again,
LoVe iT! I am able to keep in touch with my family, friends and clients who choose to
remain on AOL, with AIM, and this is a pleasure. (SO, I am still on their buddy list, but
as kmcmanus99 ... ) Life on the internet is SUCH a NON-stressful
event thanks to my firing AOL. And speaking of Jerry Springer, after comparing AOL to that
show, during my second report, have you noticed that we're back to the OLD Jerry Springer?
Yes, seems Jerry is in litigation. Can we say, "Premonitional Doppelganger?" ; )
July 18, 1999 (Sun) -
[An aside: Thanks to the guys at http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com
(Inkara, Greg, Rollerball, Freedom, Suzanne, Peter, & David) I have finally fully
optimized the jumpboxes for Netscape users. (whew!) As I told them, I enjoy utilizing
MSIE's features, but the downside, apparently, is that those same features are not
compatible w/ Netscape. Perhaps the aesthetics aren't to my appeal, but at least it's
functional for everyone.] On to AOL. I hope the guys who write me expressing the desire to
leave AOL are pleased with the Cancel AOL section. It
occurred to me after so many were writing that AOL apparently doesn't make it so easy. I
would also like to express gratitude to the person who signed up w/ Mindspring using me as
a reference. (That $10 credit may come in handy one day ; )) Speaking of Mindspring, they
are nothing if not consistent. Right now I have a connection of 45,333 (Like I did
on Feb 28th's entry) and those on AOL think they have it made..ha! I haven't been on ICQ
lately and sorry about that. Work (paid AND unpaid) has been keeping me quite busy but
I'll be back to it ASAP! I've moved the diary to it's own *low fat* *few frills* page to
keep the byte size down on the main page and I think I like it here better. Talking to a
friend the other day, out of nostalgia, I asked: "So how are the
internal newsgroups doing?" (Internal being the aol.newsgroups.talk
and similar). He goes on to tell me about the latest news. (Doc & Carol are being
CIVIL [?] to each other!! Norm has like retired to Africa - at a very young age - and is
living the good life. And Ike hasn't missed a Lemming posting...) I wistfully told him:
"I wish I could see that..." He said: "Well, so come back." I said:
"Never! No way! I am making a point." He's like, "What point?" Heh.
Heh. Well, for one, AOL -- as an entity --sucks. For two, what would my "Cancel
AOL" campaign readership think of me? For three, WHY would I even use
Mindspring to connect to AOL only to have to PAY AOL $10 to maintain the control and
ability to censor me --connection speed aside? Maybe I do have a LITTLE nostalgia, but as
far as I am concerned, AOL only kept me as long as they did DUE to the internal
newsgroup's hysterical shenanigans and histrionics. In short, if one isn't using something
on AOL specific to AOL, they should seriously leave. Even if one IS using something
specific to AOL, there are many OTHER venues out here on the REAL internet that can do
perfect imitations.
August 22, 1999 (Sun) -
Dumb marketing. AOL does dumb marketing. In fact, if I had to give a dumb marketing award
to anyone, right up there a close second with that dumb commercial whoever has with the 3
or 4 guys sleeping amid a sloppy bachelor pad not fit for dirty lice infested hogs, then
getting up, eating cereal, going back to bed, with the announcer's voice whispering,
"Breakfast is back." I have boycotted that cereal as any self-respecting person
should. Regardless, AOL sent me a bisk this past week. WHY? Why would they send me a bisk?
99 free hours or not, after leaving AOL for Mindspring, I'd dare NOT corrupt my clean, AOL
free hard-drive with their corrupt version of the Internet. I know you current AOLers
cannot understand this, but trust me, when you leave AOL and remove it from your
harddrive, the liberation is unsurpassed. For you refugees of AOL, you know what I speak
to be true. For those never having AOL, well in this case, to fall for the sake of seeing
what it feels like, would be a good learning experience. Not advocating leaving your
current ISP, but going ahead and installing the bisk only to remove it after 99 hours must
surely give you a taste of what I speak to be true. I can't believe they sent me a
bisk....Still reeling...marketing...dumb marketing. Dumb DUMB marketing. Explain to
me...*who* would walk through hell's fire to leave Communist China simply in order to
return? "Why, here's a free airline ticket for you to return!" Sure you may miss
your friends over in Communist China, but with any sense you'll discover AIM, ICQ, or
Yahoo! Pager...After all, while in Communist China you only really knew your friends via
Buddy List anyway.
Most
Recent
September 18, 1999
(Sat) - Accountability. Do AOL members feel discriminated against? How long will
they let the suffrage remain but a distant dream? Do they realize they are at the mercy of
the patriarch? ? ...Uh...wrong speech...wait a sec...where the? Oh here it is:
Accountability. Do AOL members have any sense of accountability? Yesterday my sister
phoned me: "I need you to log on under my AOL account." I asked why of course
and she said: "I need you to take back an e-mail I sent." For you unsavy AOL
virgins there's an option in AOL e-mail that allows you to UNSEND e-mail that is sent to
other AOL members. My sister asked me because she was on the phone with me and doesn't
have an additional line, knowing I do. Is this the mindset of the AOLer? Has AOL been
unkind in allowing its members to unsend their e-mail? It makes me think of the child that
says: "Okay. I take it back." What sort of mutant non-human is AOL producing?
First it's e-mail, then what? Shoplifting? Voting? Murder?
Speaking of e-mail. Why is it
that internet web forms have to succinctly articulate to the AOLer exactly HOW to go about
filling in their e-mail address? (ie, "AOL members, enter your e-mail address like
so: screenname@aol.com") I won't name names (see above) but I knew an AOL member that
when asked what her/his email address was s/he'd say "(screenname)*. Is AOL TRYING to
dumb down the once intelligent person or are they simply forcing themselves as a crutch,
one of which no one can do without? They need to rethink their strategy. Like Phoenix from
the ashes, when an AOL member leaves the crutch behind, it is indeed a glorious thing,
forcing a return to knowledge! It's miraculous in the simplicity!
I hope my sister decides to
wise up as I worry for her future and her mindset of "Taking her e-mail back."
It's not as if I haven't heard her speak of this before. I have. I thought it would pass.
I thought she had outgrown it once she discovered her e-mail address was the complete screenname@aol.com
... It's simply not one of those things I felt I needed to take seriously. But now I
worry. It's been too long. God only knows how far she'll take this and nothing I can say
or do is going to reach her I fear. God forbid the *AOL think* of taking it back. I don't
want to visit my only sister in jail one day due to this evil thrown upon her
impressionable little mind. I pray nightly she'll not eventually kill and dismember her
harassing ex-boyfriend but, using AOL think, thinking the whole while: "Oh I
can take it back. And if I'm on the phone, Kathi can."
|
|
Diary of an ex-AOL User