AOL Message Boards Rise from the Dead

I hadn't been able to even see if they were still around because there were no links on aol.com. I thought it might be that you needed to use AOL's software directly, or maybe they were truly gone. I'd been discussing the situation with folks on a usenet writing group and thought I'd take another look on aol.com tonight. Well, there were complaints, it seems, and AOL gave in and restored the boards they'd deleted. There were only 2 posts (1 each on 2 of my Favorite Boards) to read and I wonder if folks will keep trying and discover they're back.

But the Journals are gone and now Yahoo is taking down Geocities webhosting service. The internet/web has become a very different place since AOL (and Compuserve and Prodigy) launched, with a lot of newer, better options for the things these services offered when there was precious little else like them.

People, however, get comfortable with something and many don't like to change. Sometimes, it's best to move on. But I'm glad the boards are back. At least one has been a real community for a long time and AOL did the right thing. Customer service and building communities should still be part of their mandate. If not through journals any more, at least with the message boards.

~~~o0o~~~

Your Email, Yourself

I saw this link on Bill Crider's blog and couldn't resist taking a look: What Your Personal E-mail Provider Says About You. Firefox blocked 2 popups, so beware. Anyway, given I mostly use Gmail (since soon after it was rolled out in 2004), I was amused by this:

"@gmail.com
When Gmail rolled out in 2004, you thought you were pretty darn special because someone had invited you to use the free service and you could ditch your now passé @yahoo.com account.
TYPICAL USER: Thirtysomethings who are trying to feel as cool as twentysomethings and who also hate Microsoft (mostly because they think it's cool to hate Microsoft) and have entrusted entirely too much of their personal information to those "Do No Evil" Google guys."

Yeah, I guess we 50-something Baby Boomers don't count. And the account I ditched was AOL. Meanwhile, I also have a Yahoo email addy I use exclusively for online shopping.

So, I'm not typical, because I use gmail and because, according to the article, I typically would have stayed with AOL. Then again, I've rarely been accused of being typical.

So, what does your email say about you?
~~~o0o~~~

Noteworthy

The Library of Congress just unveiled its YouTube channel.

Facebook is trying to be more accessible to people with disabilities. They made a FAQs page discussing the issues and how people who cannot access the site normally can still use it.

~~~o0o~~~