Thursday, November 17, 2005

Perspective

(Just one more post on the reactions to the banner ads placed on AOL journals.  Tomorrow, we shall return to irregularly scheduled journalling.)

Item:  Please, don't call it "rape."  That's an insult to rape victims.  Can we have a teensy bit of perspective here?  It's a banner ad, for cryin' out loud. 

Item:  Don't confuse malice with incompetence.  Which is to say, yes, the banner ads were most definitely intentional and we can and should get riled up about them.  But all of the other errors that came along with this install -- like the inability to add or save entries -- that's just incompetence.  I totally accept the Joe's explanations for those things.  Why?  Because I've been with AOL for over ten years and they've never rolled out a new version of anything that wasn't crawling with errors.  I got AOL disks dating back to 3 1/2-inch floppies of version 3.something.  I'm running 9.0 now.  That's years of new installs.  And by around 6.0, I started realizing you should never download the new version from AOL when they first offer it.  Why?  'Cause it has errors so plentiful and obvious, you wonder if they had monkeys beta-testing it.  (And I'm talkin' stupid monkeys.  Not the kind that understand sign language; the ones that fling their poo at you.)  ANYWAY, I've learned to wait a few months until they've gotten most of the bugs out.  Because AOL always seems to release stuff that doesn't work all that well on an unsuspecting public.  It's just their way.

This sounds rather more like an indictment of AOL than a defense of it -- but my point is this:  Yes, the banner ads on journals are a new low in AOL's attempt to make advertising bucks off the same people it gets subscription bucks from.  But bugs in a "new and improved" version of anything from AOL?  That's just the standard incompetence you should come to expect from being a longtime AOL user.  Take a deep breath, know that that will be fixed in time, and focus on the real battlefront.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have no idea how or why you put up with AOL for 10 years.  That is WAY TOO MANY times they've screwed with you.

I agree with you about the "rape" comments, although I haven't mentioned that word being thrown around so casually.  It is a VERY strong word to use, a painful word, and it does not apply to banner ads.  just my opinion.

A few of our community have migrated to the UK version of AOL.  I don't quite understand how that "hurts" AOL in the long run.  They don't care, just keep giving them the money.  

I can't stay here and continue with the incompetency, their arrogance, their stupidity, their callous disregard for their paying customers feelings/ thoughts/ opinions.  It saddens me greatly that "home" reminds me in a way of my childhood.  No choice.  Deal with it, and shut up, kind of attitude.  I feel taken advantage of, among many other things.  

I hope you'll visit me in my new home, NZ.   ((((hugs))))

Anonymous said...

You are right about using rape. Actually - I block things out quite well. I didn't even see the banner ads until people started mentioning them. Is that singlemindedness or what. AOL will not be making any extra money off me, LOL. Rhonda
http://journals.aol.com/rgwindland/Imgivingup/

Anonymous said...

I am staying. I have too many friends to let an ad I don't pay any attention to make me leave them.

Anonymous said...

Thank you.  Well put.
Lori

Anonymous said...

I definitely agree with the "rape" and "whore" analogy points.  

And my issue goes beyond the ad itself.  I am upset with the sheer arrogance and total lack of customer service with which AOL has handled this.

Chris
http://inanethoughtsandinsaneramblings.blogspot.com/
http://www.bigoven.com/~swibirun