# Please help disprove this AIM thing. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 3, 2003, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093 "2003-04-03T01:09:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/1 "2003-04-03T01:09:47Z")
One of my friends decided to send the following to me through AOHell Instant Messenger. I’m assuming this got started on April Fool’s Day. I would like to prove to her that it is false, but it’s not on Snopes yet…can anyone help, please? > [@](#): > > Dear AIM users,Because of our overloading of our servers, we are being forced to extract our non-active AIM users. Because this is a free service, AOL has exceeded the budget for the AIM service. We are asking that you send this exact message to 20 other AIM users to ensure us that you’re an active AIM user. Our system tracking devise will pick up this message to keep you on our active list. You have 72 hours to complete this task or your service will be cancelled immediately. Starting April 9, 2003, we will be charging a small fee for registering of a screen name for AIM. Thank you for your time and for using AOL or AIM.Sincerely,Mark JenkinsAOL Time Warner ~ monica ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/2 "2003-04-03T01:16:42Z")
[This close enough?](http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa020300a.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/73ab20/32.png) [@Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caesar_s_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/3 "2003-04-03T01:18:48Z")
It sounds like the following, debunked on Snopes, only in a different form. [Hotmail Hokum](http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/hotmail.htm) [Don’t Kill the Messenger!](http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/im.htm) I haven’t seen that particular one before, but it’s extremely obviously a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/4 "2003-04-03T01:20:14Z")
Found it on [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/hotmail.htm), too. It’s near the bottom of the page. ---
**Author:** ![Sqube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Sqube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sqube)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/5 "2003-04-03T01:28:56Z")
I grow weary of that message. I’ve received it 7 times, and my (admittedly vitriolic) responses have included everything from porcupines with distended rectums, to jackhammers, rusty nails, and wrenches (don’t ask). I’ll just send those links to everyone who sends me that. Thank you. Thank you so much. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/6 "2003-04-03T02:44:00Z")
AIM is what keeps AOL alive. They’d never do something like that. ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/7 "2003-04-03T02:44:24Z")
Thank you. My friend will be duly sent these sites. I appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/8 "2003-04-03T03:28:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Our system tracking devise will pick up this message to keep you on our active list. … “devise??” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/9 "2003-04-03T03:41:28Z")
how about a logical argument as well? Non-active members use exactly 0 bandwidth so that point is moot. Now, saving their aimlist to AOL’s servers take a few bytes. I just saved mine of 200 sn’s to desktop(with all those extra options that AOL doesn’t save for you.) it takes a whooping 6.29 kilobytes. 1024kbx1024 = = 1048576kb = 1 gigabyte. 1048576/6.29 = 166705.2464. so… by my calculations a SINGLE gigabyte of storage(all they really need to keep INACTIVE members) will hold 166,705 inactive users. Theres about 15 million users total. By my calculations it’d take 89 gigs to store ALL the user’s data. Whup de fricking do. Your friend is trying to tell you that AOL can’t afford an extra 100 dollar harddrive. (oversimplified of course) ---
**Author:** ![Kevin\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kevin\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevin_H)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/10 "2003-04-03T03:58:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr2001 \* > \*\*AIM is what keeps AOL alive. They’d never do something like that. \*\* How is that? AIM is free…And I thought all the ads were from AOL itself. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/11 "2003-04-03T04:38:34Z")
> [@](#): > > How is that? AIM is free…And I thought all the ads were from AOL itself. WAG: This way AOL users have people to talk to whom aren’t on AOL. It’d be damn boring being able to only talk to AOL users. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/12 "2003-04-03T04:51:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kevin H \* > \*\*How is that? AIM is free…And I thought all the ads were from AOL itself. \*\* The ads aren’t all from AOL; my AIM window has an ad for eBay on it right now. (I’m not an AOL member.) ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/13 "2003-04-03T17:07:19Z")
AIM has ads? Heh…guess I did pretty well at configuring it for my workgroup as we don’t see ads, news flashes, stock tickers or any other junk. 😃 But seriously, AOL is developing a corporate messaging solution. Last I saw, it was unimaginatively named Enterprise AIM. It’s going to be a for-fee system. In exchange for said fee, the system will be ad-free, more reliable (read: high availability) and will archive all messages. This is an important thing for bankers, stock brokers and anyone else conducting business transactions through a messaging system that needs to be concerend with SEC compliance. In other words, they’ve taken something that they’ve been giving away (250 million users as of last October) for free and adapted it to a sellable version so they can make some more money. For now, my workgroup is staying with the free, unarchived version. ---
**Author:** ![Wyld\_Stallyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Wyld\_Stallyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wyld_Stallyn)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/14 "2003-04-03T19:21:31Z")
There’s a program called MyIM that removed the ads. I’m sure a search will find it, cuz I’ll be damned if I can remember the link directly to the creator’s site. It also allows you to do other smooth things such as run multiple instances of AIM. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/15 "2003-04-03T19:30:37Z")
Or you could run trillian, the greatest IM client ever. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-disprove-this-aim-thing/166093/16 "2003-04-04T05:36:12Z")
Notice how the AIM logo is becoming the new AOL logo? (As seen in the recent “AOL for Broadband” commercials.) AIM is something AOL controls that continues to be popular, unlike their other content, which is mostly all available from internet sources.