Okay, fellow AOLers (have no shame! It’s just an online service, fercryinoutloud), has anyone else been spammed with BuddyChats from random strangers with some cheesy motice? Grrrr…
I’ve noticed that in the last month or so, rather than get random IMs or random Emails from someone offering porno/get rich quick schemes, I get an invitation to a BuddyChat from someone like “MonicaMohagany,” etc. Some of them are sex stuff, some are money stuff, some are just plain junk (well, they all are). Of course, attempting to IM the source of these stupid BuddyChats always gets the “_________ is not currently signed on.”
Yet another way AOL is being abused. These people are determined to sell me porno. (The other day it was naked Christina Aguilera spam Email–ooh, naked, underage, and famous!)
Is anyone noticing this or other new ploys in the spamming of America?
Ruffian - don’t get me started on AOL. Yes I have had all of the above mentioned spam occur to me, its sad that an ISP (thats like, what - 2 steps away from taking over the planet ?) cannot control the enormous amount of fraud taking place on it. Aside from that the customer service has been atrocious. Plus I cannot even trial another server, because the AOL on my computer acts almost like a bully, it won’t let anything else run in full. Blasted ISP, I call it “Eh!Oh . . . Hell.”
“Solos Dios basta” . . . but a little pizza won’t hurt.
You are just now getting all that stuff? I am shocked.
I have been on there 5 years and it’s always been a problem.
Me, I kind of blow it off, although sometimes I get pissy about it. I have a friend that does porno sites, he says AOL is 40% of his business. He has never stated to me that he spams AOL though, cuz he knows I would kick his porno making butt < giggle >
If you have a profile you are more likely to get spam mails. If you frequent chat rooms again you will get more spams. Since AOL is the world’s largest internet content provider, it makes sense that their members are the target for all kinds of spam.
The nice thing about AOL is I get to look at the subject of the email before I open it. With my ISP it’s downloaded to my computer first then I have to decide whether or not to read it.
If you want to deter spams, have one screen name that has no profile and you don’t chat with, have another that let’s you use it as your internet email address to places like this, no profile, and another that is strictly for messing around AOL. That way when you open up the mailboxes, you have an idea of what might be lurking in there.
My master screen name is never used for anything at all. I never have mail in the box and that suits me just fine
Oops. And I thought my husband was looking at porn and was making some lame excuse when he said that he “just gets these emails sometimes”. I owe him an apology.
BTW, AOL sucks ass. We’re trying to find something else, but it sounds like signing up for AOL was like selling our souls to the devil.
Yeah… i know all about that porno spam. I had to get a whole new screen name, for chrissakes. It seems marketers are just watching the chat rooms, esp. “The Flirt’s Nook”, etc. If you visit for just 5 minutes you’ll be spammed the next morning.
What TechChick said works. AOL also has some filtering features. (never tried, look under “mail center”, i think.)
I need a new ISP…
When it’s you against the world, bet on the world.
While I don’t use AOL as my ISP, I do use IM for chatting. It seems this past week, that I’ve gotten three or four people out of the blue start chatting with me…including some cyber come-on’s…I find that…disturbing. So far, I don’t get any kind of SPAM, but that’s because my e-mail isn’t anywhere in my profile or IM account…
I’m on AOL and, somehow, I’ve never had any spam; not even once. I don’t understand it myself; a year or two ago my brother was going online and signed up with AOL at first. Something was wrong with the computer or software, couldn’t really get the thing to work beyond the first AOL screen for some reason, so he never let his email address get out. Still, within a couple of days he had about 200 spam emails; but, still, I’ve never had a problem. Odd.
Cessandra – If you pull down yer ‘Buddy List’ and select ‘Block all Members and IM Users’ from the Privacy Preferences you can send messages at will and anyone trying to respond just gets the message saying that you are not on-line. (Also, you won’t show up on their ‘Buddy List’ if they have you listed.)
I can’t tell you what happens if you accept the chat, since I never have.
I’ve been bugging AOL for a month now to explain why they can’t stop this nonsense. Their strategy for avoiding substantive response borders on genius – They don’t let you correspond with the same Tech Support person twice, and each of your inquiries meets with a response from someone new asking you to repeat the question.
Dr. Watson
“AOL: Assholes On Lithium.”
I have no AOL profile, and my IMs only allow the people I have on my buddy list. I still occasionally get porno spam in my email, but I just delete it without reading it.
“…being normal is not necessarily a virtue. It rather denotes a lack of courage.”
Y’know… for about the same price as AOL and a second phone line, most places can get DSL or Cable Modem access.
AOL is for newbies. It has been for newbies as long as I have known of it. As such, it is the best place to go to prey on the inexperienced. Scamming people on AOL is like shooting puppies in a barrel, without the cheap visceral thrill. I understand that there are intelligent people out there that don’t want to change, but the fact is, you are walking naked through a warzone. AOL is looking for ways to squeeze as much money as possible out of you. The spammers are looking to scam and dupe you. There’s just no safe place to go.
Personally, if I had to pick a dialup ISP, I’d go with Mindspring. So far, that’s been the only place I’ve worked for where I’ve respected the way the company treats its employees and customers. (Out of 5-6 ISPs I’ve worked for.) Barring that, WorldSpy (which I’ve also worked for) isn’t very user friendly, but their support is good for a free isp, and they don’t flash banner ads at you.
As far as the porn spam goes, if I ran a porn site, I’d probably do the exact same thing. AOL makes it too easy, and they can’t stop it without major changes.
http://www.madpoet.com
I’ve got a little black book with me poems in. I’ve got a bag, toothbrush, and a comb.
Yeah, those buddy chat invites are a pain. I have Power Tools for AOL, and that allows me to block buddy chat invites. Well, what it does is click the cancel button for me as soon as the window pops up.
What AOL needs to do is put an option on the Buddy List Privacy Preferences allowing one to block all buddy chat invites. If you’re on AOL, why not go to keyword: SUGGESTIONS and suggest that?
Most spammers collect screen names from the members directory and chat rooms. AOLl 5.0 now allows you to make up to 7 screen names. One can create a SN only for chats. Block ALL email to that sn. If you meet someone in a chat you’d want to exchange email with, you can tell them what SN they can use to email you.
