The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998

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REASONS (why the typical isp is better than aol, v1.0.7) ******************************************************** by Tom Finley (tfinley@en.com) [write me for suggestions of addition, corrections, comments, flames, etc] ; note, I didn't ask people for permision to put their quotes, etc, in here, but these are USENET posts, and they didn't put a copyright on them so they're public domain. Please note that I _AM_ doing so. :) [not putting a copyright on, simply asking that you cite me if referring to this list]] Another thing, please mail me. I don't expect everything in this list to be correct, but I'd like it if people HELPFULLY tried to make it that way. Thanks. Version 1.0.0: Released 3-14-95 at 8 pm. CHANGES FROM 1.0.0 to 1.0.1: Released 3-14-95 at 10:15 pm. Reason List 1.0.1. New quote from Parker in reason # 44 (used to be 43). A few spelling errors corrected, Internet is now capitalized in all instances, new reason under number 11 supported by quote from Haydie. New quote from Haydie in number #7. New quote under reason #15 (used to be #14) from David Pinero. Title is now included (why typical ISP? there may be some unknown provider out there that is not as the things below say, but I have yet to find one). CHANGES FROM 1.0.1 to 1.0.2a Released 3-14-95 at 10:30 pm. Reason List 1.0.2. Wrapping in reason #20 (about uudecoding) fixed. CHANGES FROM 1.0.2a to 1.0.2 Released 3-15-95 Clarified my writing, a few typos fixed (especially in the it's vs its department). Added quote from Matt fox in reason #24, plus #24 is now more accurate. Lots of spelling errors caught. Basically all corrections received from Steven Burr. The unknown name from reason seven fixed (from David Cassel). A reason #3 added (about TOS being vague). CHANGES FROM 1.0.2 to 1.0.3 Released 3-15-95 Typos fixed, quotes added, just basic asthetic changes. CHANGES FROM 1.0.3 to 1.0.5 Released 3-24-95 More reasons in the arly sixties thanks to Emilie (ecartoun@teleport.com). Is the first public release. Place to get information on alternate ISPs contained at the end. CHANGES FROM 1.0.5 to 1.0.6 Released 3-26-95 Many more quotes, one more reason, restating of some reasons. CHANGES FROM 1.0.6 to 1.0.7 Released 3-31-95 Ditto as above. CHANGES FROM 1.0.7 to Reasons II 1.1. Released 4-9-95 Is only availible at http://www.en.com/users/tfinley/aol-sux/r-contents.html The text version will be dropped completely as soon as AOL gets WWW access.. it will no longer be necesarry. *** Let me start this out with a great quote from Tjames Madison (tjames@netcom.com). "Yep. I'm intolerant to stupidity. I'm intolerant to throbbing, naked greed disguised as an `online community.' I'm intolerant to lies, like the one AOL perpetuates whenever it banners its `INTERNET ON-RAMP.' I'm intolerant to deception, like the one that goes, `Ten free hours, but just wait until you try to cancel.' I'm intolerant to giddiness, which I see whenever I log onto AOL and am straight-armed to an `arena' where I can observe 1200 people ask Courtney Love where she shops. I am intolerant to slow downloads and dropped connections. I am intolerant to inflated membership numbers and shady finances. I am intolerant to being assigned a number after my name: I AM A HUMAN BEING, I AM NOT A NUMBER! I am intolerant to AOL's draconian measures in sending a constant stream of jabbering dupes to this newsgroup to propagandize their two-bit service. I am intolerant to a couple million Internet novices being sent down the Usenet stream to spawn with nothing given in return, not even a clever gopher or WWW, at least not one that doesn't try to proselytize me into signing up. I am intolerant of bad newsreaders and half-assed mailers and ill-dreamt-up chat programs and utterly mediocre online `features,' like magazines and TV shows that rarely get updated - I am intolerant of someone making me pay money to download pictures of food from McDonald's. Most of all, I am intolerant of censorship. And if I could only pick one reason to avoid AOL at all costs, it would be that. You may not care about signing over your right to free speech and even thought, but I'm funny like that." -Tjames Madison Friday, February 24th, 1995 With that, let me make something very clear. This is _NOT_ a joke like "why beer is better than women." These are actual reasons why AOL sucks and why ISPs are better. I'm talking about a _TYPICAL_ ISP. There are too many out there (there are about 11,000 computers out on the `net) to cite each one. I'm talking about typical `net access (SLIP, UNIX, etc). This may not be true for all access points; just the ISPs that I know of. REASONS WHY TYPICAL NET ACCESS IS BETTER THAN AOL 1. On AOL, you're censored for saying "globes" or mentioning a drug for pharmaceutical, not illegal, use. "On 4 Oct '93, I was TOSsed for saying "Fentanyl" (pediatric anesthesia) in a chat room (channel) in front of the most holy GUIDE JAN of Arlington, Tx." Dawn McGatney (mcgatney@access.digex.net) "The kid used the term `goody goody', which GuideEOR apparently construed as being some kind of reference to human breasts (a la `nipples', `Globes', and `melons')." Vinny Hrovat (pilgrim@teleport.com) "BTW, AOL shut down a chat room because its name was `FBI subpoena's AOL.' Justify that." David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) 2. The level to which AOL carries their rules concerning what you can and cannot say is ridiculous. "Any action by a Member that, in AOL, Inc.'s sole opinion, restricts or inhibits other Members from using and enjoying America Online (such as but not limited to, the use of vulgar language; inappropriate screen names; committing, or discussing with the intention to commit, illegal activities), is strictly prohibited. Member specifically agrees not to submit, publish, or display on America Online any defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, racially offensive, or illegal material; nor shall Member encourage the use of controlled substances." From AOL's Terms of Service "Don't hack, don't mailbomb/ping flood, and don't harass people." Tom Finley (tfinley@en.com) Summary of the rules of ExchangeNET "Right...and I was hit with a TOS violation for using the word `pee.' Little children say `pee,' for crying out loud, but the Little Old Lady From Pasadena mentality of TPTB at AOL evidently don't want to know that people go to the john." Mimi Kahn (njkahn@hooked.net) "AOL chat rooms I've been in that were TOSSed: Atomic Rats from Hell Why Men R Jerks (tossed twice) Dazed and Confused TOSsed Salad" Emilie (ecartoun@teleport.com) 3. AOL's rules are hopelessly vague and they won't let their members see the list of words they'll be TOSsed for using. And, when showing the list to other members (the private one) they're TOSsed for `vulgarity.' Typical. *list availible upon request* "We won't tell you what the rules are, but whatever they are, don't break them." David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) "AOL, Inc., at its sole discretion, may remove messages it deems to be unacceptable." AOL's Terms of Service. "When I was an AOL customer, they WOULD NOT LET their paying customers see the list of words. I was friends with several chat hosts and they wouldn't even tell me what was on the list. I applied to be an online host for a major `content partner' of AOL's. This application included an interview, several reference names that were followed up on, and an email questionaire that would have been illegally intrusive had this been a paying job. After all of this stuff, I was STILL not allowed to see a list of `vulgar' words. Apparently I would have been allowed to see this list after taking vows not to share it with others, etc, and after promising to enforce against it. I guess the paying customer there is supposed to intuitively know what's ok to say and what's not. Like I was supposed to know that the words `Lithium Carbonate ... will cause frequent urination,' as posted in a proprietary mental health forum on AOL, was illegal. Whatever." Vinny Hrovat (pilgrim@teleport.com) "I was censored and threatened with discontinuance of service by America Online for using the word `urinate' in a discussion on psychopharmacology in a mental-health related forum. I said that lithium carbonate would make you urinate more frequently. After complaining i was told that it was ok to say `urine' but not `urinate' because it is a verb (?!). I was also told that the very mention of lithuium could be considered a TOS violation (even though it was the nexus of the topic at hand) because it is a `controlled substance.' I was supposed to have intuitively known these things, I guess." Vinny Hrovat (pilgrim@teleport.com) "AOL's Terms of Service are worse even than that. AOL members are told not to use `vulgar' language -- but not what constitutes vulgar language according to AOL's arbitrary standards. You don't find out a word is `vulgar' until you use it in a public place and wind up with a TOS violation on your account." Mimi Kahn (njkahn@hooked.net) "A doctor received a TOS warning for using the word `fentanyl' in a chat room." David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) "So -- I'll agree that AOL can make rules. But if AOL wants to enforce rules, it needs to post them where all can read them *and* enforce them fairly. As it is, everything is written on quicksand." Mimi Kahn (njkahn@hooked.net) "How does one follow rules that one doesn't know? AOL members have to guess what AOL finds `obscene' and act on those assumptions." James M. Egelhof (jegelhof@cloud9.net) "Around January, I tried to create a chat room on AOL called `LifeSucks,' and the entry window wouldn't even let me do it. It said `Profanity not allowed in room names,' or some such bullshit." Daniel Hall (dhall41@portland.maine.edu) "I posted the AOL Terms of service document, which spells out all the no-no vulgar words in a serious discussion of censorship on AOL. The post was removed within 3 hours and I received the following email..." FrankP3897 (frankp3897@aol.com) 4. AOL discriminates against homosexuals. ISPs allow access to the `net for everyone regardless of sexual preference. AOL censors feminists. "I recently came back from a trip to the AIDS conference and found out that my AOL subscription had been terminated by the terms of service department. I have faxed and sent e-mail to tosadvisor@aol.com but they will not acknowledge my communications nor have they reconnected my service. The only reason that the `customer service' department has been able to provide is a message that was sent on the Internet relating to a request for e-mail on a gay island project which my lover is putting together." Previous user pking47672@aol.com "The New York Times ran a story about AOL shutting down any public chat room with "Riot Grrl" in its name. (Riot Grrls are young punk feminists.) They didn't like the content." David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) alt.aol-sucks FAQ part 1 "The Gay Alliance in Ft Worth, TX was attempting to establish some gay teen chat counseling, and thought we could work with AOL. However, you cannot create a chat room named `GAY TEEN CHAT' but you CAN create `TEEN QUEER KILLERS.'" FrankP3897 (frankp3897@aol.com) 5. AOL delivers crappy service and censors any effort to alert its users to that fact. "New users are taught to expect commercial content, pay-as-you-go access, and regulatory oversight determining what's appropriate." David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) alt.aol-sucks FAQ part 1 "LenEBruce : PAT- YOU ARE PAYING WAY TOO MUCH FOR CRUMMY CRUMMY SERVICE AND FASCIST TOS HOSTQuin : LenEBruce ,room disruption is a violation of Terms of Service. Please read them now. Keyword TOS. LenEBruce : `ROOM DISRUPTION?' WOW YOU GUYS CAN DO ANYTHING, HUH? ANYTHING YOU WANT?" Free Speech Online 6. AOL disobeys it's own TOS guidelines (the secret ones): "6. Anti-AOL: We do not want to appear to censor members who speak out against us. Anti-AOL comments, or comments protesting manifestations of AOL such as Hosts, should not warrant a warning. However, comments which insult or harass individual Guides or AOL employees should warnt a warning." "11. Dykes/Queers: This is OK if a member is refering to themselves. If it is used `against' someone then it is warnable. However, this word requires judgement." From the AOL Inappropriate Stuff List "LenEBruce : PAT- YOU ARE PAYING WAY TOO MUCH FOR CRUMMY CRUMMY SERVICE AND FASCIST TOS HOSTQuin : LenEBruce ,room disruption is a violation of Terms of Service. Please read them now. Keyword TOS." LenEBruce : `ROOM DISRUPTION?' WOW YOU GUYS CAN DO ANYTHING, HUH? ANYTHING YOU WANT?" Free Speech Online "I recently came back from a trip to the AIDS conference and found out that my AOL subscription had been terminated by the terms of service department. I have faxed and sent e-mail to tosadvisor@aol.com but they will not acknowledge my communications nor have they reconnected my service. The only reason that the `customer service' department has been able to provide is a message that was sent on the Internet relating to a request for e-mail on a gay island project which my lover is putting together." Previous user pking47672@aol.com 7. AOL doesn't allow you to delete messages in your mailbox (as of 3-2-95). Notice the time: 3 to 5 days. Perhaps long enough for it to be read by a TOS representative, no (simply a thought)? "We have removed the DELETE functionality from the mail system. This feature is not required because your mail will automatically move to your `Old Mail' box once you've read or Ignored it. To review mail you have previously read, click on the Mail menu at the top of your screen, then click on Check Mail You've Read. Mail will be automatically removed from this `Old Mail' box within 3 to 5 days." Dialog Box when I choose to Delete Mail 8. You cannot attach files to Internet accounts through AOL, whereas you can using almost any mailer (all mailers that I've seen, but there may be another that I'm not aware of). "I just get a window with a stop sign that says: `You cannot send attached files to fax, paper, or Internet addressees.'" Alison Rosenstengel (chess@widomaker.com) "The mailer that processes Internet email is not presently configured for the `attach file' feature that you are used to using with inter-AOL mail." AOL Online Help 9. AOL's E-mail from the internet to AOL frequently is delayed. "Help! I was fortunate enough to leave AOL a couple of years ago, but, I left my boyfriend there! :) We communicate almost daily via Internet mail now, but there's a problem!!! Everything that he has sent me the last few days is lost! Right, it never reached me, and it was never returned to him. What is the problem? " ? (Trull@cl4.cl.uh.edu) "I subscribe to seven Listservs. AOL customers on these lists are frequently responding to several-day-old email, that most of us are done with. The AOLers are also complaining about the list's being slow to the Listserv administrators, asking why they're always behind everyone else." Vinny Hrovat (pilgrim@teleport.com) "We had severe problems with delayed E-mail last month..." Steve Case, CEO of AOL (and still do buddy boy) "AOL has lost e-mail. Also reported delays receiving e-mail up to 4 days." David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) "The turnaround time was three to five days. Just for an AUTORESPONDER to get back to me!" Vinny Hrovat (pilgrim@teleport.com) "If a person is using an account solely for Email, why should they choose an account that has a history and reputation of substantial delivery delays and outages?" Rosenstengel (chess@widomaker.com) *no, this problem has yet to be fixed* 10. AOL doesn't allow messages to be viewed or sent that are over 1k (in the newsreader [you have to download the message to view the rest if it's over 1k; unfortunetly, that includes about three lines plus the header] ; in mail, the post is broken up into different parts; :]). "can you guys post messages that aren't so large???? i cant view them" AOLer [name deleted because I know you guys will laugh at him] "The text that can be copied into the Compose Mail form is limited to about 27K. If your text file is longer than that, you will have to split the file and place the remainder in a new Compose Mail form." AOL Online Help "Article exceeds the capacity of this window or contains Uuencoded data. Displaying the first 1k. Download this article?" Dialog Box Seen when tried to view post 11. Their mail utility has no search utility for searching through messages for text/authors/etc. "Could you guys please include this feature? I find it _very_ useful on my ISP since I receive upwards of 50 pieces of e-mail a day there. Heh... not that I would even be _receiving_ the mail..." Tom Finley (tomfinley@aol.com) making a suggestion 12. When you sent e-mail from AOL to other sites, sometimes the mailer gives you bogus problems. Never happens on an ISP, since the systems are actually compatible. "Often, when an AOLer tries to send mail to a non-AOLer, s/he gets an autoresponse stating that the mailbox being sent to is full. The mailbox is not full. My mailbox holds 1000+ emails; i d/l with Eudora a few times a day, and purge from server on d/l. AOLers (but nobody else, of course) have complained that they can't send mail to me, that my box is full. An AOL employee posted on this topic once in alt.aol-sucks, stating that it had only happened for a day or two and was fixed. The problem occurred sporadically for several months, even after said AOL employee's post stating that the problem was resolved." Vinny Hrovat (pilgrim@teleport.com) 13. AOL doesn't allow long time storage of messages without using flashsessions to store it on your own hard drive. :P "Besides, if a person is using an account solely for Email, why should they choose an account that does not allow long-term storage of read Email?" Alison Rosenstengel (chess@widomaker.com) 14. AOL's Newsreader/Mailreader/BB Message Reader doesn't have a killfile. "Whoops. Forgot. `Killfile' is on the `Maybe Sometime This Year, or Next' plan at your `provider.'" Tjames Madison (tjames@netcom.com) In response to Tom O'Brien (tlob@aol.com) "My advice to everyone? *PLONK*" Tom Finley (tfinley@en.com) using a killfile 15. AOL doesn't support tab keys when writing messages. All it serves to do is switch between subject field, and the text you're writing. "The only way in which they have keyboard support, and they have to choose the _TAB KEY_ when writing messages?" Tom Finley (tomfinley@aol.com) complaining to another member 16. AOL doesn't have a spell checker in their editors. On an ISP, you (at least typically) have PINE availible (NTM SLIP mailreaders). 17. No automagic quoting (or quoting of any kind). "On AOL you still can't quote." David Pinero (pinero@luna.ec.usf.edu) 18. There's no search utility for titles, authors, searching the text of posts, you can't search for a newsgroup/forum, in the AOL `Newsgroups' and their AOL-only forums. "I want to search the list of titles here, but does this thing have a search utility? No way! This is ridiculous." Tom Finley (tomfinley@aol.com) "Nope, there is no way to search for specific messages at this time. One just has to scroll down the list." Riograce (riograce@aol.com) "What's the best way to find my question posted on MHM? For a couple of my questions, respondents were kind enough to cc: e-mail me, so I got my answers. I have a hard time finding my question on MHM, though. Is there a way to search (by author or by date)? If not, how are the questions sorted? Thanks! (Please reply w/ copy via e-mail - - otherwise I may never find this again!)" JANTODD (jantodd@aol.com) 19. No way to yank the entire group, which would allow the user to read a newsgroup/message forum offline (unless they go into each message and save it individually... :P). 20. On AOL you can't edit the headers, which would allow you to post a message to other newsgroups as well, limit distribution, edit references, etc. 21. Features in AOL's Newsreader are at an absolute minimum. "Read, List, Mark as Read, Mark as Unread, Preferences, Prior Message, Next Message, Reply, Reply to Author." List of Features in AOL's `Newsgroups' 22. For a site whose users seem to be the most frequent to ask for uuencoded GIFs, their site is really behind; no automatic Uudecoding. Just try saving a file to text in TIN. You get the option to uudecode [also in virtually every other SLIP/text based newsreader]. 23. AOL's Newsreader doesn't word-wrap correctly. "Great, Bob. So your shitty newsreader can append a .sig. When will it wordwrap properly?" Tecumseh (reptile@kaiwan.com) "AOL puts these carriage returns in there at odd spots because of the non-standard window size and non-monospace font. AOL doesn't follow the standard and it makes the messages from here ugly and annoying to read." Alison Rosenstengel (chess@widomaker.com) 24. AOL's newsreader doesn't allow a user to choose to cross-posting to multiple newsgroups, hence increasing net traffic. "You really can't blame them for not crossposting and spamming USENET. Their shitty newsreader doesn't even allow you to crosspost." Tom Finley (tfinley@en.com) 25. The default is set for the newsgroups font to be a non-monospacial font. "> think that it's absolutely rediculous that... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ITS RIDICULOUS YOU FUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nakata (nakata@aol.com) "However, AOL's newsreader will still mangle an ASCII art .sig like mine all to hell." Vinny Hrovat (pilgrim@teleport.com) *however, after exploring for a while, buried under a few layers of menus, you do find the option to change your USENET font - don't ask me where it is - I couldn't find it again if I tried* 26. Some users on AOL are really stupid. People on the `net, you'll find, generally are far more intelligent. The stupidity to intelligence ratio is the highest, you'll see, on AOL. "These were actual questions the AOL-er's asked [V.J.Kennedy]. WHERE ARE YOU? I am a dork please help me- from Ha ha Ha What is your favorite kind of cheese? Kennedy Will you Be My Friend? What is the meaning of life? Are you cool? i think you're really a black man wearing dresses. Are you Regular or Extra Crispy? you should get a tan kennedy You look good in a bathing suit! You should mud wrestle Idalas at the Beach House! You should convince Daisy Fuentes to wear more revealing clothing on Beach MTV !! Will you dance naked on a table for my birthday? ever think of posing Nude? I want to lick your butt Do you shave your private parts? Hey Kennedy are you Bi? Kennedy how big are you under the shirt? uncross your legs kennedy your crushing my glasses Which artist gets you hot? I here that you and Madonna are lovers, is that true? DID U REALLY FLASH BILL BELLAMY TODAY AT THE BEACH HOUSE? THAT WUZ COOL." Compiled by David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) "HO HO Ho!! Youse aRE Meesin with Teh WRONG DOOODE NOW MR FUnny GUY!! MY GINat PEnis will BE Forced Into your TIGHt little asse ANSd I will Laff AT your ATTEMPTS to SPquirm away!! MITY MIGUELS WIIL DESTROYM YOUSE FAT SPOOGEHEEDS!!" Miguel XX (miguelxx@aol.com) "Anyways, this guy posted this message that said `MULTILAND SALE' and he didn't even mention what _TYPES_ of multis were for sale, just a message saying `write me for my multiland sale.' *stares ahead for added effect* That wouldn't have been so bad, except that he REPLIED to his message ten times with the same exact message, nothing changed in its one line." Matt Fox (don't know his AOL address) 27. AOL teaches its users to be abusive of the Internet by making the `net look like an exploitable resource instead of a functioning community. ISPs provide access so intimate w/the functions of the Internet it's nearly impossible to get into this warped mindset. "Tap into the Information Superhighway!" ^^^^^^^^ "Test Drive the Internet!" ^^^^^^^^^^ "...by accessing this amazing resource..." ^^^^^^^^ "It's yet another way to gain access to the resources of the Internet." ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^ Quotes from AOL Online Help and Ads 28. AOL's customers are very abusive of the `net in general and its users have a _very_ bad reputation among the real Internet users. "America Online has been receiving a record number of subpoenas about the habits of their users, says David Sobel, legal counsel for the Washington, D.C.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center." David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) "AOL's philosophy borders on net-abuse. They went online with a Usenet software containing a bug that re-posted every message seven times, and even without that, the worldwide cost of transmitting AOL messages just to the alt.binaries.pictures.* groups over one year has been calculated to be 700 million dollars. { 1790.69 kilobytes per two weeks x 26 x .264 ("cost per kilobyte for each site") x 58402 (number of sites) = $717,836,278.34 }" David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) alt.aol-sucks FAQ part 1 "AOL's customer base, with its smarmy anonymity, short term freebie accounts, here-today-gone-tomorrow screen names, abysmal newsreader and writer tools, and general lack of understanding, have degradated the Usenet community over the past year and a quarter." Vinny Hrovat (pilgrim@teleport.com) "But then again, when have they EVER done anything `in the better interest of the `net'?" Spatch (spatula@unicorn.dorm.umd.edu) "Just a shame AOL's gotten such a bad rap on the net..." AFCChip (afcchip@aol.com) "AOL also puts no effort into user verification. Anyone with a credit card number (whether real or generated by one of the many false number generators that are widely available) can instantly get an account and total access to the system, including the Internet areas." Lynn Turner (sikkid@dopey.cc.utexas.edu) "Especially since all the posts say `me too.' (In the alt.binaries. pictures.* groups the other day, I saw a thread containing about 15 posts, all `me, too' or `add me to the list.' Over 75% sported that familiar, sassy aol.com domain.)" Thomas Parker (parker@pop.interaccess.com) "I have noticed that many of the off-topic messages originate from on-line services (especially from one specific on-line service). I believe that such on-line services should educate the user basic concepts of Usenet before allowing him or her to access Usenet." Mark McLeod (mmcleod@clark.net) *guess which one he meant? heh* "I've just stumbled across this group myself and can see the point of the flamers. AOL is a micro- (or maybe a macro-) cosm of every- thing 'net vets' have long feared -- e.g. censorship of mail, articles, high priced Internet access (although I never see CServe flamed as much and their prices have got to be the worst), and a general watering-down of the 'quality' of the Internet from the days when it was solely an government/academic/research domain. And let's face it, AOL newbies on the Internet are like the proverbial "bull in a china shop." While a few newbies doesn't spoil things, when you have 20 "me too" posts in a row that sort of dampens the Internet experience. Probably their main problem is thinking that they can 'map' the layout/structure/appropriate text in AOL groups and apply it towards the Internet as a whole. I see this crop up when an AOL'er gets flamed by someone in Germany and actually thinks they have some inalienable right to close the flamers account! :-)" Carl Christensen (carl@netaxs.com) 29. Chat rooms are completely mindless. IRC has some good conversations at least some of the time. The users on AOL have no reading comprehension. "PENNYNICKL : Tom is having a tough time with an envelope. What are you downloading? Tomfinley : *sigh* Never mind..." *this is slightly related to the quote in 58* "Kirrmett : A Kirrmett : A Kirrmett : A Kirrmett : A Kirrmett : A Kirrmett : A Tomfinley : SHUTUP!" From the AOL chat rooms 30. AOL's gopher is slow. "I tried AOL with the freebie offer. The gopher was so weak it was a joke! I was used to a real gopher, with worldwide access, FTP, telnet links and *fast*. AOL gopher was slower than molasses in winter. It didn't go anywhere really fun, other than a few government services as I recall. Why anyone would pay for this garbage escapes me." John Leipsic (szleip@chip.ucdavis.edu) 31. AOL's gopher doesn't allow you to get files. "I can log onto FTP servers (but you are correct, I can't get the files)." Doug Litten (gophernut@aol.com) 32. AOL's gopher doesn't allow you to connect to other site except by searching for one using the Veronica server. Simply inputting the site name does nothing. And when you do search for Jughead (which eventually allows you to select a site of your choosing), most of the time it says `too many connections' for the Veronica server. All I (meaning Tom Finley) have to do is type `gopher.' "To get to Jughead, take the following steps: 1. Use the keyword GOPHER to get to the gopher area online. 2. Click the `Search All Gophers' button. This will put you in contact with Veronica. 3. Use `jughead' as your search word. This will bring up all the Jughead resources. Read the `about.jughead' document to familiarize yourself with how Jughead works. 4. You'll notice that there are many, many references to Jughead. Choose the one that is the most extensive: SEARCH INTERNET by Veronica, Jughead, Archie, WAIS... 5. Once in that menu, select All GOPHERS and JUGHEAD SEARCH, then select ALL GOPHER SITES. 6. Now you can select Search Gophers by Name and type in the name of the gopher server site you are looking for." Reply received a few days later when I asked for help to connect to a remote gopher site. When I tried it, out of twelve times now (as of 3-15-94) it didn't work. 33. AOL's FTP client doesn't allow connections to all sites. "Your quality AOL FTP is unable to connect to ftp.trumpet.com.au." Dawn McGatney (mcgatney@access.digex.net) 34. AOL's FTP client, due to over-traffic, is really slow. Matt Fox: "Naw. I can't use AOL for FTPing." Tom Finley: "Why not?" Matt Fox: "Slow as Hell." 35. AOL's FTP client doesn't allow you to upload files to FTP sites. "Allowing their one million users access to FTP sites without consideration of the load was similar; straining resources shared for other work often forces sites to close. Several sites have blocked AOL access because of this. And because of net- citizenship issues: AOL users can *take* files from FTP sites, but they can't leave any, and while AOL charges for access to resources made available to them freely, they prohibit access to any of their own." David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) alt.aol-sucks FAQ part 1 36. AOL's FTP site sucks. The run mirrors at mirrors.aol.com, but AOL still fails to deliver even one of their own files in their own file library. "The only thing that Internet users have access to on AOL right now are some shitty non-standard compression schemes and AOL's client software." Tom Finley (tfinley@en.com) 37. AOL's file directories are compressed with outdated compression schemes even though there are utilities out there to update them... "AOL's file section has files compressed with pkzip 1.1 despite the fact that 2.04g has been the standard for over 2 years. Thus file size is larger, increasing online time costs for downloading." Ahti Eric Rovainen (pmpsoft@crl.com) "Compressed using 1.5.1, a compression scheme that hasn't been used for about three years at most sites..." Tom Finley (tomfinley@aol.com) staring in awe at the stupidity of compressing a new file w/an old compression scheme 38. The Internet has more programs/files. "Many popular shareware programs are not in AOL's Computing and Software, but they're on the 'net (and the other online services for sake of argument). AOL's pamphlet lists Jill Of The Jungle and Hugo as top programs in their file library - these are hardly new, cutting edge programs so if this is the best they have, one would hate to see the worst!" Ahti Eric Rovainen (pmpsoft@crl.com) "120,000? Wow... that's impressive compared to half a billion." Tom Finley (tfinley@en.com) 39. When you upload to AOL, you're paying to give them something. When you upload to an FTP site, guess how much you have to pay, and guess how easy it is? "Uploading to ftp sites is easier and less costly than trying to upload a file for possible inclusion in AOL's Computing & Software. To upload at AOL, you have to click on half a dozen windows and fill in their descriptions, etc, billed except for the actual upload time. For FTP sites you just type something like: ftp <sitename>, bin, cd dir1/dir2/dir3, put <filename>, bye. The charge for this is usually $0 because of Internet flat fee access." Ahti Eric Rovainen (pmpsoft@crl.com) 40. It's easier to find stuff on the net than on AOL. "I believe that it's easier to find information with a browser on the Web than inside of AOL. Just from curiosity, last Friday I gave one of the Lycos* Servers "Dow Jones Industrial Average." Within a few moments, I had access to data that gave me the closing price of the Dow (weekly) from 1/1/00 through last week (it did require accessing three sources, but Lycos laid them out quite clearly.) I then tried the same experiment on AOL. The best I could come up with was an Excel spreadsheet with data on the Dow from 1985-1990; that was the most current data available. And AOL's lame keyword search was no Lycos." Dawn McGatney (mcgatney@access.digex.net) * Lycos is at http://query2.lycos.cs.cmu.edu 41. Fingering someone that is on AOL from an ISP cannot be done, even if the AOL user wanted to have finger info displayed. 42. Fingering someone that is on an ISP from AOL really sucks. "AOL members can finger by sending email to infobot@infomania.com with a subject line of finger somebody@somewhere.org. Results of the finger arrive by email in one or two days." Leslie Jones (lesjones@usit.net) "Obviously, if they arrive in one or two days, it would be useless to determine if a user is on or not." Tom Finley (tfinley@en.com) 43. AOL doesn't offer a basic function of ISPs, telnet. 44. AOL is more expensive than typical ISP access. "AOL would only be less expensive than my provider if I spent less than fifteen minutes a day on AOL. What are you going to do with fifteen minutes a day on an inefficient interface that takes about fifteen seconds to open ONE MESSAGE?" Tom Finley (tfinley@en.com) "This month I spent a total of something just like 150 hours on the net. I spent (divides quarterly costs for two signons, now three) roughly $45, which gives me two dial-in and one telnet- only signon. How much would it cost you to have, let's say, an AOL _and_ a Compuserve (since you seem to like them) signon, and spend a total of 150 hours on?" Tina (eris@pentagon.io.com) "You pay $120 minimum a year for 60 hours of time. I pay $175 a year for 8760 hours of time. 8784 hours of time in a leap year. To have the same amount, you would have to pay $26220." Tom Finley (tfinley@en.com) "It's amazing how cheap prices are getting, anybody still relying on a shitty overpriced service like the big three is in serious need of professional help." Tecumseh (reptile@kaiwan.com) "America Online also offers and Internet e-mail gateway. To go beyond mere messaging, you head for the Internet Center, a pretty but irritatingly slow icon- and list-based front end to newsgroups, mailing lists, Gopher servers, and WAIS databases. As of press time, America Online still had not delivered its promised FTP and Telnet utilities. At $3.50 per hour, almost twice what typical Internet access providers charge, it's an outrageously expensive way to access the Internet. Anyone who wants America Online's style of hand-holding will be far better off with The Pipeline (see above). It's more powerful and easier to use - and costs much less." Page 132 of PC Computing, 9/94 provided by Sean Goodman (amarand@cris.com) 45. You can only pay by credit card or by giving AOL your checking account number. "I pay by check, or by IOU, or by offering to babysit the sysadmin's little tyke. Betcha can't do THAT at AOL." Alison Rosenstengel (chess@widomaker.com) "Since we're all coming clean here, I also do not have a credit card, I pay KAIWAN by money order. TLOB, you're a dope." Tecumseh (reptile@kaiwan.com) 46. AOL continues to charge you even _after_ you sign off with the same rates as if you were on sometimes. "As I was saying, the clock and all else is frozen so I give up and shut down but I'm being charged during all this time and I can't even get the mail... such a deal..." Dessa Dancy (dessadancy@aol.com) in TechLive. "The next time, a tech support person told me that the system automatically severed these inactive connections every fifteen minutes or so. I was told that there was nothing else that could be done but that I wasn't being billed since I was actually disconnected. I questioned this, since clearly the host didn't know I was disconnected. The system continued to bill me for the next 18 hours." Thomas Parker (parker@pop.interaccess.com) 47. AOL's Internet access sucks, while for an ISP Internet is its specialty. "They have piss-poor Internet access." Just Al 69 (justal69@aol.com) "You say AOL's main services aren't the Internet? Then why is this two page ad filled 7/8ths of the way with them saying how their Internet access is so great and only a tiny _PARAGRAPH_ on their other services? If they're pushing that as what they specialize in, then they should really deliver quality Internet." Tom Finley (tfinley@en.com) 48. AOL ran an overactive ad campaign without bothering to sufficiently update its connections. "The first two weeks of February were our worst. It was taking sometimes a week for an America Online user to post messages to the Internet." Steve Case, CEO of AOL. "AOL, hands down, NO MATTER WHAT, is a SHIT online service that has bitten off more than it can chew and now its choking." ? (swain@cybernetics.net) "the holiday buying season has resulted in an unprecedented number of new members. With these new members has come a significant surge in system usage -- particularly electronic mail. ... This surge in Internet mail use has also affected performance of mail that members send to one another on AOL. From time to time (usually during peak evening hours) you may have received a message that states `the host has failed to respond.'" Steve Case, February 1st Letter (sounds like they weren't prepared for the tripling of their member base, eh?) 49. AOL doesn't have its development priorities straight. "Although our development staff is presently exploring the implementation of the attach file option to Internet mail, no definite plans have been made to do so, as the development of other network services are taking precedence at this time." Aol Online Help "America Online, Inc. announced today that its members can follow the famous Iditarod trail sled dog race as it labors across 1,049 miles of frozen Alaskan tundra -- without ever leaving the comforts of home." AOL Press Release *looks like they've got their priorities set straight, huh?* 50. When canceling, on some platforms (Windows?) the software doesn't give you the option of canceling your subscription online. When you try to via the phone, you're usually left with a half hour wait. On an ISP, just ask to cancel your account via e-mail or phone, and it'll be processed. "In the beginning, a human spoke to you when you canceled; he often offered you more time and tried to encourage you to stay a member. Then sometimes you'd get a human, sometimes the recorder. Then you always got the recorder. Now, you have to wait to get the recorder. Does this give the impression that there are massive defections in AOL?" Dawn McGatney (mcgatney@access.digex.net) "CANCEL at AOL only tells you to call 800-327-6364 to cancel." Vinny Hrovat (pilgrim@teleport.com) "I canceled Death w/no problems online... it appears to be some sort of platform dependent thing, but I don't see why." Tom Finley (tfinley@en.com) "Why do you make your members bend over backwards to cancel?" Ann Northcutt (northcut@mindspring.com) *in reply to Northcutt* "Why do you think?" Lynn Turner (sikkid@dopey.cc.utexas.edu) "I finally got rid (I think) of AOL recently when I jumped onto the Internet. I had always noticed when I checked my monthly billing that one of the available options was `Cancel your Billing,' just sitting there, as easy to choose as `People Connection.' But guess what kids, it just is not that easy. When you double-click this option, it prods you for your reason for leaving, ie `Hourly Rates Too High,' and then offers some lame response to one's final complaint. It does NOT however cancel the account. YOU CAN NOT CANCEL THE ACCOUNT ON LINE. No, you have to exit and call their phone number, where, Surprise !, no one will ever answer." Robert S. Hines (enigma1@shore.net) 51. AOL's support staff are completely clueless. An ISPs support is the UNIX guru that runs your site. "Maybe you should telephone the Internet and talk to their tech support people." Internet World, February 1995, p18 "I'm looking for help sending Email to a CompuServe user, I've tried everything and the mail I send comes back to me with the message undeliverable, addressee unknown." "*deleted for privacy* - If you send e-mail to another member, but receive the error `not a known user', that member has deleted/canceled that name/account. For security reasons, we cannot give out information on the status of accounts or screen names. The profile is kept active in case the person wishes to reactivate the account." From AOL Techlive Tom: ...yeah, I downloaded the most recent version. Support: "Huh? Downloaded?" Tom: I, uh, took the most recent version from your machine to mine. Support: "You stole it?" Actual Conversation, 3-2-95. "Netcom isn't an online service. Netcom is the company that makes Netscape, a WWW browser. The WWW is part of the Internet, explained in more detail in my post of 3/16 entitled ABOUT THIS FOLDER." CJ Daye, Internet Connection Cyberjockey Team 52. AOL's online magazines are basically overpriced and underpowered. "You don't want to pay $20/year for a magazine, but you'll pay at a minimum $120/year for AOL access so you can get incomplete texts of this magazine?" Alison Rosenstengel (chess@widomaker.com) *try the Yahoo web server - has links to magazines, etc* *http://www.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Magazines/* Address provided by Steve Burr. 53. AOL doesn't allow access from all platforms. An ISP does. "I was pretty upset to learn that effective 11/1/94 that I would no longer be able to access AOL. In AOL's infinite wisdom, they have decided to shut out all folks who access the system with Apple II computers." Joe Kohn (joko@crl.com) "It [the DOS version] is being phased out and won't get Web or Telnet Internet access." TechLiveCX (techlivecx@aol.com) when asked if there was a version of AOL that didn't have to download those time consuming graphics 54. AOL is deceptive in its promotions. "The Information & Interactive Services Report, a Washington D.C.- based newsletter, reported the following figures for users at the end of 1994: CompuServe 2.45 million America Online 1.5 million Prodigy 1.2 million Thus, AOL's claim that passing 2 million members makes them the #1 service is only true if CompuServe has lost 20% of its membership in the last seven weeks." David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) *but AOL managed to say they were number one IN THE US because they didn't count the international users of Compuserve* "We're on a fast path to provide you with the best and the most comprehensive Internet access, with the easiest and most powerful interface, at no extra charge." AOL Online Help 55. AOL only allows you to run _their_ software. ISPs have many options. "The AOL member's view of the Internet will always be that which AOL wants them to have. AOLers know this, and, deep down, they resent it bitterly. But who wants to admit he spent $2,000 last year for a cyber-fraud? On the other hand, those connected to an ISP have the whole world before them. They can be anything in the world that they like. They can install old apps or the latest beta that just became available last week. They can install five e-mail programs if they like and compare them. They can junk unreliable software for better stuff. *They* are free to determine what they run. And when. *They* are truly `America online.'" Dawn McGatney (mcgatney@access.digex.net) "This means that I can pick and choose whichever programs suit my needs, whenever I want to change them. You, on the other hand, are forced to use what AOL offers you...which is really not the most state of the art programming." Sean M. Goodman (amarand@cris.com) 56. AOL's non-Internet materials are matched or exceeded by the Internet's resources in BOTH quantity and quality. "When your younger sisters reach, oh, about the sixth grade, and they are required to do a term report on, say, Jamaica, you'll find that they rapidly exhaust AOL's Compton's Encyc; at that point, you might want to explain to them the incredible complexity of `Internet paths.'" Dawn McGatney (mcgatney@access.digex.net) "The Internet is much larger and more diverse than the online services, and you don't pay by the hour to participate." Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Internet World, December 1995, p 81 "AOL is the biggest ripoff that I have ever had the mispleasure to be victimized by." Just Al 69 (justal69@aol.com) 57. Companies looking for a point of presence will look upon `net access much more favorably. "Whether you're a large or small business, it makes sense to go with the Internet. It's cheaper. It's less restrictive. It provides more control." John Witchel, XCom Training Internet World, December 1995, p80 "Companies that establish themselves on commercial services must comply with the particular service's practices." John M. Germain Internet World, December 1995, p80 58. Too many fucking pictures to download. "I had to DOWNLOAD THAT WHOLE SORRY 320x120 picture file of an ENVELOPE. A picture of a fu... is there a guide in here? An ENVELOPE. Think about it... I'm being charged a nickle a minute to download an ENVELOPE. What type of lameass service is this?" Tom Finley (tomfinley@aol.com) *see 29 for further amusement* "And it was slow. The machine kept flashing a message that said `adding new art,' and then a color bar would slowly advance until it was at 100 percent." Adair Lara, San Fransisco Chronicle 59. AOL concentrates its resources that probably only one thousand of the members will glance at, and only about thirty will be interested in the slightest in, while ignoring its mail problems of crappy low quality service which is what _ALL_ its members really want to see improved. "America Online, Inc. announced today that its members can follow the famous Iditarod trail sled dog race as it labors across 1,049 miles of frozen Alaskan tundra -- without ever leaving the comforts of home." AOL Press Release "You guys are following a dog race and can't even implement _DELETING MAIL_ or _QUOTING_?" Tom Finley (tfinley@en.com) 60. AOL's service is unreliable. (in a subject Host Not Responding) "Are alot of you getting this message in various areas of AOL? President's letter mentioned problems with it, but I get it about half of the times I go on-line." CL1960 (cl1960@aol.com) "I tried to post a response to a message on one of the music boards. It was my first attempt at this. When I got done typing, and clicked on post, I got a message telling me it couldn't post it. I tried two more times. Both times with the same result. I gave up and moved on. Next thing I know, these boxes start popping up saying it posted my message. THREE TIMES!!! Is this message just telling me it was busy or what did I do wrong? Now that I look silly with my three messages out there, is there any way I can delete two of them? Please HELP so I don't use up unneccessary space." CLFLETCHER (clfletcher@aol.com) (in response) "The same thing happened to me during my very first attempt at posting a message as well as a couple of other times. Now when I get the message "The host has failed to respond." I assume it's a lie! Before I make another attempt, I now check to see if my message is posted. Likewise, with outgoing mail--I check the status of mail I've sent (which the host supposedly didn't respond to)." B12613 (b12613@aol.com) "And it was slow. The machine kept flashing a message that said `adding new art,' and then a color bar would slowly advance until it was at 100 percent. When I tried to do research, it said `Host Not Available' or `Internet Unable to Connect.' The list of magazines available was very weird." Adair Lara, San Fransisco Chronicle 61. You cannot remove a message once you have posted it. 62. Sometimes the service just hangs there doing nothing for a long time, with just an hourglass to keep you company... "I sign on in the evenings , And am having more and more problems with the hour glass not letting me do anything. Last night I had to shut off my computer it wouldn't even let me exit ! Is this a problem with my computer or is it more people signing up for AOL than they can manage? I'am down to twentytwo free minutes and have to decide if I want to pay good money to watch an hourglass :]" Sandibe (sandibe@aol.com) "I've wasted many minutes of online time because sometimes when I try to send e-mail or post a message I get a continuing hourglass. Can't get out no matter what without rebooting and losing everything. Tried Alt F4 ; Ctrl-Esc / End Task, etc. to no avail? Sometimes I can post (if this works ?) but two or three times week I get stuck. Any suggestions would be appreciated . I posted a meesage in customer support about credit the first time but have gotten no reply? If it worked then?" CUSTOMCAR (customcar@aol.com) 63. AOL's paper mail services are pathetic. "Now, AOLers have the oppurtunity of sending paper mail via AOL for 3 bucks (who's stupid enough that they can't do it themselves? that's another story). But, the AOL machine dedicated to this task was fucked up for a couple weeks, causing everyone who was sent paper mail from an AOLer to continue getting one a day for the next month or so. And the poor, misguided AOLer couldn't figure out the $90 bill for `extra services.' Oh well." ATuggle2 (atuggle2@aol.com) 64. IRC is better than AOL's chat. More options and easier to find appropriate rooms/channels. *in reply to TLOB* "You don't know what you're talking about. If I want to find a room on AOL, I `click' on `list rooms'. I have to decide if I want to see `public' or `member' rooms listed. This click will list about 20 rooms. If I want to see more, I have to click again. And again. I'd have to click 50 times to get a list of 1,000 rooms. If I entered one of those rooms, and it wasn't what I wanted, I'd have to go back and...click 50 times again. There's no way to search, or limit searches. If I wanted to find chatrooms about Star Trek on AOL, I'd have to read through that list of 1,000 names until I saw one with a promising name. On IRC: /list #*trek TrekTalk The new movie sucked! Trekkies Spock's Cool Each room gets a name *and* description." David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) 65. AOL suffers from understaffing. "The last official word I heard about this (Steve Case's monthly statement from i think November - the one in which he acknowledged that AOL was being used as a vehicle for child pornography distribution) said that AOL simply didn't have enough `volunteer' staff to take care of properly censoring the chat rooms. Yup, another case of AOL understaffing, just like the problem with the 15+ minute waits you get on their 800 number." Vinyard J. Hrovat (pilgrim@teleport.com) 66. AOL sells information about its customers to other companies without their consent. By default customers are on the mailing list without even knowing. "The bill, SB 524, was prompted by revelations last year that America Online and other service providers were selling information about their customers to direct marketers. In the case of AOL, the users were not informed until after newspapers reported that advertisements for AOL member profiles appeared in a direct marketing magazine. The legislation requires that an "online computer service may not disclose personal information concerning a subscriber to any other person unless the subscriber ...has received notice ... and consented to the disclosure." The consent can be in electronic or written form. Online providers are also required to tell customers up front what information is being collected, how it is being used, and how customers can access their records." From the EPIC Mailing List --- To find an alternate ISP, check out: http://www.teleport.com/~cci/directories/pocia/pocia.html http://acs2.bu.edu:300/Liza/docs/isp-list.html, or ftp://ftp.primus.com/pub/providers/isp-list ftp://ftp.teleport.com/vendors/cci/pocia/pocia.txt This may, of course, change with time. Let me know if you can no longer access one of the sites listed above. ---