# Is AOL dead or something? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 16, 2002, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071 "2002-12-16T13:22:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/1 "2002-12-16T13:22:43Z")
I just sent several broadcast emails (to the Diplomacy games I’m running). Every single AOL address bounced on me. Anyone hear anything? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/2 "2002-12-16T13:25:13Z")
Nothing on slashdot. Maybe their mailserver just went down temporarily? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/3 "2002-12-16T14:22:51Z")
I just e-mailed my other AOL address and it went through. ---
**Author:** ![super\_head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@super\_head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/super_head)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/4 "2002-12-16T14:38:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Is AOL dead or something? We can certainly hope so. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/5 "2002-12-16T14:47:53Z")
Oh, goody! A new Slashdot troll. Something to push that hoary old `BSD is Dead’ out of the way. AOL isn’t dead, it’s just making hot grits with a nude Natalie Portman. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/6 "2002-12-16T15:01:20Z")
AOL is cutting its tech staff in downsizing. That might just explain your problem. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/7 "2002-12-16T15:11:11Z")
> [@](#): > > AOL isn’t dead, it’s just making hot grits with a nude Natalie Portman. Imagine a beowulf cluster of AOL mail servers… ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/8 "2002-12-16T15:26:02Z")
Slashdot troll? And one of my pals got the ax on Thursday in AOL’s Virginia office. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/9 "2002-12-16T18:22:59Z")
And I just got another set of bounces from AOL accounts. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/10 "2002-12-16T19:03:00Z")
Truth be told, the most likely explanation (not knowing anything else) is that these people haven’t checked their mail in a while and they’ve been overrun with spam. FWIW, I haven’t had any problems. What are the specific bounce messages you’re getting? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/11 "2002-12-16T19:23:26Z")
Well, they’re sending to me and I can get them. But not send to them. Here’s what I get (I received this one about 5 minutes ago)… > [@](#): > > Delivery failed 3 attempts: [XXXXXXXXXXXXXX@aol.com](mailto:XXXXXXXXXXXXXX@aol.com) With the username blanked out, obviously. This is truly weird. ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/12 "2002-12-16T19:25:59Z")
Jon ~ I’ve been receiving emails just fine. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/13 "2002-12-16T20:10:48Z")
Could be a full mailbox. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/14 "2002-12-16T20:12:22Z")
**Jonathan** are they addresses that you were previously able to send mail to? Now and then an AOL user e-mails our record label, we reply and then get a “550 Error”. Checking wit AOL, we got the following explanation: > [@](#): > > “This error indicates that the AOL Member has configured his account, _possibly inadvertently_, to only accept mail from certain addresses and/or domains on the Internet. Using Mail Controls he will have to modify those settings to receive mail from you. AOL Postmaster can not override these Member defined settings.” Italics mine. They can only accept mail from people on their “buddy list” but they _don’t even know it_. They can also still send mail out with no problem. The annoying thing then is that the person follows-up with a “how come you aren’t answering me???” message, to which we _still_ can not respond, then they send us flame mail and disappear thinking that we have the world’s lousiest customer service. If it’s 550 Errors, that’s the problem. (It became so common, we had to put up a special link for AOL users that opens a window that explains the issue.:rolleyes: Otherwise, perhaps someone who uses the same provider as you was spamming and AOL blocks your ISP. ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/15 "2002-12-17T00:39:20Z")
I used to have AOL. But this month we got rid of it so my new e-mail address is a Hotmail thing. Bah. It’s like, almost a hassle to check your mail when you have Hotmail. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/16 "2002-12-17T02:10:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lno \* > \*\*Imagine a beowulf cluster of AOL mail servers… \*\* Ahhh… multiple lossage. 😃 Seriously, I’m not surprised. The AOHell division of AOLTimeWarnerSatanAgglomerationZaibatsu hasn’t been profitable for a while and is currently facing the axe. The way I see it is this: AOL sells the Internet with training wheels. Keywords, `content,’ moderated chat rooms, and other things the real Internet lacks are offered by AOL in a form geared for newbies who barely know how to turn on their computers. They offer a branded, bastardized version of Netscape to integrate with the AOL Internet, further altering the appearance and functionality of the Internet to make it newbie-safe. This worked amazingly well through most of the 90s, when everybody wanted to be online but nobody knew how that dangol Internet thingy worked. AOL made an absolute killing during the initial Gold Rush Era. Then people grew up, and found that they were paying $30/month for crappy service and junk aimed at newbies. A service aimed at newbies is usually of very limited use to anyone who isn’t a newbie, because the main way to make something user-friendly is to hide functionality. If you have been online for the past four or five years, you start to _want_ what AOL has always hidden, and you have found less expensive ways (compared to AOL) to get it. Once the settlers have built towns, it’s time for the guides to move on. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/17 "2002-12-17T02:15:47Z")
These are all people I’ve been able to email in the last few days. I could understand if it’s just one account. But this is seven. ---
**Author:** ![Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/2bfe46/32.png) [@Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xavier)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/18 "2002-12-17T02:21:43Z")
Sorry **Jonathan**. It has been slain. There is nothing you can do. ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/19 "2002-12-17T02:23:39Z")
AOL and other services are set to return broadcast emails over a certain limit if they are all sent from the same domain within a very short time period. However, that number is usually in the thousands. So it wouldn’t be your case, unless someone from your domain just happened to also send out thousands of emails at the same time recently. ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071/20 "2002-12-17T03:00:48Z")
I work for an ISP, and every so often we’ll have a rash of “I can’t send mail to any AOL account” support calls/emails… the problem always resolves itself pretty quickly. I’d think it’s got something to do with routing. [Here](http://members.aol.com/postmaster/mailer.html) is AOL’s Postmaster Error Page, in case it comes in handy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-aol-dead-or-something/143071.md?page=2)