SCI/TECH: AOL Treats Fla. Emergency E-Mails As Spam

Efforts by one Florida County to put out weather alerts by e-mail have hit a high-tech roadblock: AOL is tagging their alert messages as spam. The problem dates back to last year's unusually busy hurricane season when Indian River County was hit by two major storms, Frances and Jeanne. Some 42-hundred people signed up for the county's e-mail alert service, which offers quick alerts on hurricanes, tornadoes and other weather emergencies, however; many of those that signed up for the alerts never received them, thanks to AOL's spam filter.



Leave it to AOL to screw up a counties Emergency weather alert system. Their spam filters suck and anyone that has used AOL knows it. When I called and complained they told me there was nothing they could do. I in return told their customer service I could fix the problem fast. The Customer service girls asked how? I then said by canceling my account thats how. I then got a new ISP and my own spam filter and have not had a problem since.

Technology is great when used right. Just why AOL's does not work when others do is beyond me. Guess that is what happens when you leave it to an ISP to determine what is and what is not spam for you.

Related News Links:
www.forbes.com
www.businessweek.com




[edit on 5/2/2005 by shots]

The problem with AOL is that they are more concerned with making the company grow than with providing quality service for their users.

They thrive on suckering those who are new to the internet. Their "user-friendly" software (which is a bear to get rid of on a new machine!) fosters dependence on big brother AOL to keep the user safe from the big bad internet. They try to make it all seem much more complicated and frightening than it needs to be.

I have never used their service, and never intend to. Their corporate greed disgusts me, their software sucks, and their service is more expensive than other providers!

Thats ok. I treat AOL email as spam. And I am probably more right than they are.

roadscholar
The problem with AOL is that they are more concerned with making the company grow than with providing quality service for their users.

Isn’t that the truth it is also a very big shame they cannot treat their customers better then they do.

indy
Thats ok. I treat AOL email as spam. And I am probably more right than they are.

Bingo indy a lot of the spam I have blocked does come from AOL also, well until I block it that is. I wish I could just block the whole domain however I do have one family member who travels a lot and uses AOL so I cannot block the whole domain, if I could I would

I guess it is alright for their customers to send it out though. Why don’t they do something about that? I will tell you why they would loose a customer that’s why.

I know a guy who thinks he's a big shot because he's an engineer and he brags about having AOL. Every time he starts going on and on about how cool AOL is, I have to laugh. Of course, I keep my opinons to myself. I have never had AOL, but from what I have heard and read all over the internet, it's like having your mother running the internet for you.

[edit on 05/5/2 by GradyPhilpott]

Nice Grady. I hope you see the irony in that statement.

I'm sorry, Jahmun. I don't actually see the irony in my statement, unless you mean my judging AOL without trying it. Maybe it is ironic, but learning from the mistakes of others seems to be really quite prudent. Frankly, my engineer acquaintance is the only person I have ever heard speak well of AOL, although discussing ISPs doesn't take up a lot of my time. I'm so glad I'm able to keep you amused and so easily, at that. Now, please expound on my inadvertent use of irony.

[edit on 05/5/2 by GradyPhilpott]

Well, it has more to do with politics. In particular, the dreaded Bush administration...

Originally posted by Jamuhn
Well, it has more to do with politics. In particular, the dreaded Bush administration...

No offense, but lets keep the thread on topic ok? If you want to bash Grady about bush there are other forums you can do that.

Blah Blah. Maybe you would have picked up on my post that I didn't want to go there and it was more of a personal message to Grady rather than hijacking the thread.

By the way, AOL's marketing ploy is to show that they have excellent spam filters. The best way to have excellent filters is to block nearly damn everything. If you want to know the truth, the way you avoid AOL's spam filters is by calling them and getting on their "white list." Many email providers have these and ensure that anything coming from your servers don't get blocked. All it would take is one call from the Florida administration to resolve this.

But anyway, it's their server and they'll do what they want. But seriously, AOL does suck.

It's good to see everyone agrees that AOL sucks. In my personal experience (which is admittedly limited), AOL seems to get the newbies (at least for a little while) and the ones who don't bother to do any personal research/comparisons concerning what is offered (and delivered) for what price.

As an aside, have any of you tracked the research reported in PhysOrg News related to plasmonic crystals and near invisibility?

The uses of the free AOL cd's you get in the mail
I live in belgium and a couple years back, even we got these CD's 3 or 4 times a year.

Borders
In a teen's bedroom they make a nice substitute for a wallpaper border (it takes ALOT though). If you don't have that many you could also use them for a window or mirror border. Put them side by side or overlap them

Candle Display
Use cd's shiny side up to sit small pillar or votive candles on. The reflection off the cd's is great for centerpieces on buffet tables, especially during the holidays

CD as template for a circle
when you need a perfect circle for a project and you have two sizes

Christmas Light Reflectors
We use them as reflectors for Christmas lights outside....the c-7 size bulbs fit thru the opening and then we put the light string on outdoor stakes and line a sidewalk...looks REALLY cool when it is lightly raining...the clear colored bulbs work best

Christmas ornament ideas
Using a permanent marking pen, Xmas shaped sponges and\or small simple stencils, I traced small stockings, bells, trees, stars and snowman on the shiny side of the cd and then cut them out using a small electric scroll saw. The key was to go slow. Then I used the dremel to smooth the edges and punch the holes to slip cord through to hang them. The finishing touch is to paint the label side with acrylic paint sponged on, or use snow texture paint, or glue and glitter. The commercial cd's show a pretty silvery color and writeable cds a lovely gold color. You can personalize the small ornaments with kids names written with a metallic permanent marker or acrylic paint. Or string a whole bunch together for a wonderful homemade garland

Gardens
Run a string through the hole and hang from trees or fences to keep birds away from garden

Make a clock
buy clockworks at your local craft store, the CD has a readymade hole in the center.

Make bowls
Place in oven on low heat over a metal bowl shape, or heat with a blow dryer. When softened, they can be bent (gently). Glue to small plates or seal hole and use for candy dishes, fountain bowls, etc

Mosaic
Break them into small pieces (take your frustrations out on them) and use as mosaic tiles

Reflectors
Fasten to a wooden stake by pre-drilling and screwing/nailing it to the wood, shiny side OUT, and use as reflectors along your sidewalk or driveway

Use as coasters
cover the bottom with felt


The presense of AOL and other ISP's like them on the net actualy degrades the global quality and speed of internet services by a alot.

The presense of AOL subscribers on forums and chats is usualy very noticable, alot of 1337 speek and flaming originates from them.

On game servers, the lag caused by an AOL subsciber degrades the game quality for everyone on the server.

I could go into the subject further, but its been done to death already.

The botomline is, AOL indeed preys on the internet impaired and makes life miserable for everyone else too.

[edit on 3-5-2005 by thematrix]

Well wile I wish I could argue the good points of aol the facts are the facts they bite.
I never touched a pc in my life about 2 years agaio now My wifee started pestering me to buy one . On and on for 6 long months she constantly pointed out pcs at the fle market and I told her no way wed ever use one of thous new fangeled things .
finely in a fit of desperation I bought the bigest PC of garbage I could find for the bargon price of 125$ . Brought it home and pluged all the gagets in turned it on and though now what? Of corse aol disk were ever ware and opening the cd rom I could do so in it went.
And It was like magic All of a csudden a whole new world opened up to me Easy accesss info on how to use pcs only a click away .
Learned pcs with a quickness and found to my amazment I Liked them . No I loved them . Then it turns out that when I work with a pc I feal like Im working on a car ( Wich I know just about everthing on ) It was realy weird
But I gess I just have the knack . Two years later 4 up graded pcs later. Each better then the last as I learned what it took to run more and more safisticated programing I spent more on my last pc then my car and wouldent touch aol with a ten foot pole Its a resorce hog on its best day.
But No other service provides such easy learning tools as aol and its a great service for newbees. Of corse anyone who uses a pc for more then chat and weather quickly learns and goes to DSL Or cable if possible not using aol lol.
Now I can do basice programing and of corse fix any pc problem I mite have and can do 3d graphics (Gmax , Rino , And finly found the info I need to start creating my own games from scrach . And wile theres PLEANLY of people much better then me still that quite an achavment in just two years . Try downloading Gmax and making 3d models you will understand then. All thanks to aol teaching me the basic net . Was worth the extra money I spent and you could find all kinds of programing in there files .
Pss put toghter my first game 6 months after I got into pcs .
( put toghter in so much as saying I found 400 files and a small programe the would open them stuck it all toghter to play ummmmmmmmmm poker with a twist.

Originally posted by Jamuhn


If you want to know the truth, the way you avoid AOL's spam filters is by calling them and getting on their "white list." Many email providers have these and ensure that anything coming from your servers don't get blocked. All it would take is one call from the Florida administration to resolve this.

I did call and the answer I got "When I called and complained they told me there was nothing they could do.

What you are saying makes no sense at all regarding a simple phone will fix it when in fact it will not fix the problem. If one phone call would have worked which I am sure they did. because the body of the story clearly stated "The county is working with AOL to fix the problem.

There you have it two examples that clearly show a phone call will not work.

[edit on 5/3/2005 by shots]

The county has to provide AOL with the relevant server IP's. Thus, if the county does not have all the required information it will take time. Plus, I meant that the server sending the mail would have to call AOL, not the end user.

But, trust me, AOL can unblock mail easily enough.

Originally posted by Jamuhn
The county has to provide AOL with the relevant server IP's. Thus, if the county does not have all the required information it will take time. Plus, I meant that the server sending the mail would have to call AOL, not the end user.

But, trust me, AOL can unblock mail easily enough.

Let me guess you use A
OL right. Trust me I was told there is nothing they could do, I know I was down that road.

As for the county not knowing their own ip address goes to show you how lame AOL users are. It takes about one minute if that to find out an ip address yet they are still working with aol which can only mean one thing AOL still has lousy software programers.

Here is ATS ip it took me 20 seconds

NS1.DENYIGNORANCE.COM 66.98.176.42
NS2.DENYIGNORANCE.COM 66.98.177.168

The county website Name Server: NS1.VETROL.COM
Name Server: NS2.VETROL.COM

Server Name: NS1.VETROL.COM
IP Address: 216.242.204.2
Server Name: NS2.VETROL.COM
IP Address: 216.242.204.3


Now what was that about taking time?????

[edit on 5/3/2005 by shots]

[edit on 5/3/2005 by shots]

There are a myriad of factors shots. For example, they could be sending mail from different servers. They could have a third party sending mail for them. Or, AOL could just be lazy. But, trust me, that's not something hard to fix for AOL. And, I really don't understand the point of this conversation anymore except for you trying to prove me wrong. Call the county, call AOL, they can tell you more about the story than I can.

Originally posted by Jamuhn
There are a myriad of factors shots. For example, they could be sending mail from different servers. They could have a third party sending mail for them. Or, AOL could just be lazy. But, trust me, that's not something hard to fix for AOL. And, I really don't understand the point of this conversation anymore except for you trying to prove me wrong. Call the county, call AOL, they can tell you more about the story than I can.

Why do you keep defending AOL?

Here a little back ground for you. I used AOL for longer then ten years before cable service came to my area. (honestly I can not even rember how long it was it could have been almost 20 according to my wife. I got my first computer an apple ii then a two plus and I used A
OL on both of them as well as my IIgs then one of the first macs, so it has been far longer then I care to remember.

I beta tested for AOL on both the MAC and Windows platforms and lastly one of my relatives works for AOL programming.

There is not a myriad of factors here the county uses one domain thats it. I realize you want to protect your loved AOL but it will not work.


[edit on 5/3/2005 by shots]

[edit on 5/3/2005 by shots]

Originally posted by shots
There is not a myriad of factors here the county uses one domain thats it. I realize you want to protect your loved AOL but it will not work.

Haha, you're funny. I haven't even been on AOL in about 3 years. And I haven't had an account in about 5. If I am wrong, then it only goes to show how bad AOL's programmers are, because it SHOULD be that easy.

But anyway, what took you so long to get AOL? I guess it takes awhile to get cable out in the boondocks.