AOL/AIM help, pleease. I'm so very frustrated here.

The thing is, in a nutshell, I cannot get my buddy list to come up in the email window where I usually use it. I can’t, for the life of me, think of anything I did that could have affected it, it just suddenly won’t work. I get a message telling me to sign in, and then I get a message telling that I can’t sign in. If I get a message at all. Sometimes I just get round and round and round connecting. I’ve been all over both the AOl and AIM help pages and there isn’t anything there. My computer whiz friend tells me it’s because I have AIM signed in otherwhere, which can’t be true, as I’ve done it that way for months if not years now. Plus, I’ve tried every possible combination of signed in/signed out I can think of and it doesn’t change anything.

My daughter told me I should just use the buddy list and IM through AIM, but I’d rather not if I don’t have to. I know it’s not a big deal, but I really hate being told, “Well, just do it the way I do. It’s okay.”

Yeah, I know it’s AOL, which isn’t our internet provider anymore, but we still have the free email. Kept us from having to change all the names.

So, please? Anybody? Help?

If it helps, this is the message I get when I try to sign in to AIm in email.

Your connection to the AIM system has been lost. Please try signing in again.
Target rate limit reached

Except the Target rate thing is grayed out.

Back when I still had AOL, which was a decade ago, they wanted everyone to install every damned upgrade they came out with. Have you tried reinstalling AOL?

Personally, when I use an instant messenger, I use AIM or Trillian. I don’t know when I last signed on, though.

Also, AOL is evil. Trust me, I used to work for them, they are evil. Not as evil as I am, but evil, nonetheless, and also they are STUPIDLY evil, which is the worst kind.