[Mailman-Users] Recent AOL thread

[Chuq Von Rospach]

>
>>  But the same error message over multiple mailings for *all* AOL list
>>  members over a week or more would indicate that it is correct.
>
> 	Maybe.  Remember that I used to work there.

Brad's right here. I've dealt with this stuff and AOL enough to be able 
to confirm they don't always have their act together. it's gotten 
better over the last year or so, mostly, I think, because they're 
shedding subscribers at a huge pace and shrinking down to a size their 
infrastructure and staff can actually get  a handle on.

But whenever AOL acts up for me and users complain, I always tell them 
the same thing -- to move to a competent ISP. AOL's got a tough job, 
given their size and the sheer volume of spam that they have to fight 
off. but they've done a lousy job of dealing with it, and it's a job 
that badly impacts their users (and they don't tell their users what 
they do or give users a chance to evaluate their actions, unlike places 
like Earthlink). And they've done a horrible job of teaching their 
users how to use the system. I finally got tired of constantly getting 
bogus spam reports and feeling like AOL was making me responsible for 
teaching their users how to use the system -- instead, I tell them to 
move to a competent ISP instead....

I've given up trying to fix AOL's problems for them. They're just not 
worth the hassle to me any more.