If I hear the new AOL commericals again I think I'm going to puke

[glenn1]

Am I the only person who is completely disgusted by these commercials, talking about how AOL has all these ideas about how to "make the internet better" ? What a complete and utter load of crap...

 

[bobbybe01]

 

[Attrox]

:thumbsup:

 

[Gurck]

For people who avoid spyware like we avoid neffing, AOL is indeed making the experience better...

 

[Svnla]

AOL = American Off Line..lol

I can't believe people pay over $22/month for their craps. I pay less than $6/month for unlimit internet.

 

[Sysbuilder05]

Originally posted by: glenn1
Am I the only person who is completely disgusted by these commercials, talking about how AOL has all these ideas about how to "make the internet better" ? What a complete and utter load of crap...

I was going to post the same,total BS. All AOHell subscribers have to do is ask and they will give it to you free!! OK,how about you STOP the practice of charging peoples credit cards for an additional month AFTER they cancel your crappy service??

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: glenn1
Am I the only person who is completely disgusted by these commercials, talking about how AOL has all these ideas about how to "make the internet better" ? What a complete and utter load of crap...

You mean the ones where they think it's a great idea to provide free virus scanning for your computer? Yes, those are pretty bad.

 

[KnickNut3]

Free virus scanning!
Free anti-ad software!
Free anti-adware software!
Free anti-spyware software!

All stuff that sounds useful but you're too stupid to realize that they're free on the internet!

 

[40Hands]

Worst company evar. The AOL fluffers are usually not computer literate.


"Fix my computer" button! OMGWTFAWESOME!!!!! My name is MikeJP6925985674@aol.com and I love da fix my puter button!!!! I will give AOL full control of my computer because they rox!

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: KnickNut3
Free virus scanning!
Free anti-ad software!
Free anti-adware software!
Free anti-spyware software!

All stuff that sounds useful but you're too stupid to realize that they're free on the internet!

Yes, but AOL customers are not very resourceful - which is why they love AOL.

 

[KnickNut3]

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech

Originally posted by: KnickNut3
Free virus scanning!
Free anti-ad software!
Free anti-adware software!
Free anti-spyware software!

All stuff that sounds useful but you're too stupid to realize that they're free on the internet!

Yes, but AOL customers are not very resourceful - which is why they love AOL.

Yes, but it's still wrong to advertise it as if they're giving something to you of value.
And I love how the media overexaggerates the prominance of viruses and spyware. "OMG If I don't have virus protection I'll get infected in seconds!" As long as you have a decent firewall and don't click on anything stupid you're fine.
It's outright deception of the ignorant.

 

[iamwiz82]

I really liked NetZero's parody of that commercial.

 

[nakedfrog]

Sometimes I wish I had a punching bag shaped like the yellow AOL dude.

 

[Qwest]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
I really liked NetZero's parody of that commercial.

:thumbsup:

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
I really liked NetZero's parody of that commercial.

Yes, i LOL'd at the 2 NetZero's parodies I saw.

 

[jjones]

AOL does make the internet better; they keep most of the total idiots too busy to access the rest of the intarweb.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Sometimes I wish I had a punching bag shaped like the yellow AOL dude.

That's actually not a bad idea, I wonder if the tech-savvy are prevalent enough to make that profitable? And if AOL would let it happen uncontested...

Originally posted by: jjones
AOL does make the internet better; they keep most of the total idiots too busy to access the rest of the intarweb.

Not to mention how all those rebo's buying 256mb fx5200s and such bring down hardware prices for the rest of us.

 

[Amused]

I still cannot understand the hostility towards AOL on this board.

If you don't like it, don't use it. And you don't. So why hate it?

It just seems so irrational to me.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: KnickNut3

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech

Originally posted by: KnickNut3
Free virus scanning!
Free anti-ad software!
Free anti-adware software!
Free anti-spyware software!

All stuff that sounds useful but you're too stupid to realize that they're free on the internet!

Yes, but AOL customers are not very resourceful - which is why they love AOL.

Yes, but it's still wrong to advertise it as if they're giving something to you of value.
And I love how the media overexaggerates the prominance of viruses and spyware. "OMG If I don't have virus protection I'll get infected in seconds!" As long as you have a decent firewall and don't click on anything stupid you're fine.
It's outright deception of the ignorant.

first off, stop bumping all the AOL threads just because you don't like AOL.

secondly, companies sell the above products. many of the ones on the internet are not as sophisticated. many have freeware and pay versions with additional features. if mcdonalds started giving away free sodas then burger king started advertising free sodas, it's not wrong for them to advertise it.

just because someone else offers the same thing that you do free does not mean it's wrong to advertise that you offer it free. anyone who thinks that advertising is morally required to advertise only something that no other company on the planet offers is actually the dumb one, in my opinion.

 

[shenaniganz]

Yes, these commercials are nearly as annoying as the Capital One commercials.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: Amused
I still cannot understand the hostility towards AOL on this board.

If you don't like it, don't use it. And you don't. So why hate it?

It just seems so irrational to me.

Few reasons...

1) When someone is annoyingly stupid on the internet, their ISP is almost invariably AOL.

2) AOL attracts the type of people who require frequent fixing / cleaning of their PCs. Many here wouldn't have a job if not for them, but venting frustration is natural - and even people like me, who'd go homeless before doing tech support for a living, get stuck with it sometimes.

eg. Just this past week I had to fix & clean a family friend's PC - over 2500 instances of ad/spy ware and over 1300 viruses & trojans. They have a DSL line through Verizon, but insist on AOL's "AOL for broadband" service, which, for $10 a month, basically just gives them an email address with AOL and installs a lot of proprietary bloatware, seriously about 8 running processes thanks to their crap.

3) AOL spyware/virus infections are worse than normal ones since the combination of its users' noobiness and the proprietary software makes said software a primary target for malware writers. One of the most annoying and hardest to clean malware gems on the PC I had to clean exploited AOL's active desktop thing, which is supposed to display probably a menu or something.. instead it was displaying a porn ad background The most clueless of noobs couldn't have gotten that on their PC without AOL's software installed.

4) Waste of money, what's their dialup, like $25 a month? And if you cancel they continue charging your card anyway... my dumbass parents went through this. (btw a nice dialup ISP for the folks is access4less.net)

In one way or another, all these things affect us whether we're customers or not.

 

[royaldank]

How is AOL going to stay in business dropping broadband support?

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: royaldank
How is AOL going to stay in business dropping broadband support?

They stay in business through scale (millions of noob customers), through overcharging by 400% for dialup, and through a $10/month "AOL for broadband" "service" which is 100% profit - all it does is install their software, give the customer an email addy, and set their homepage to AOL. It requires actual internet service from someone else (ie. cable / dsl).

 

[royaldank]

Originally posted by: Gurck

Originally posted by: royaldank
How is AOL going to stay in business dropping broadband support?

They stay in business through scale (millions of noob customers), through overcharging by 400% for dialup, and through a $10/month "AOL for broadband" "service" which is 100% profit - all it does is install their software, give the customer an email addy, and set their homepage to AOL. It requires actual internet service from someone else (ie. cable / dsl).

True, but they are discontinuing broadband and dialup is only going to get smaller and smaller. Or, are they just discontinuing providing broadband, and not AOL for Broadband?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Gurck

Originally posted by: Amused
I still cannot understand the hostility towards AOL on this board.

If you don't like it, don't use it. And you don't. So why hate it?

It just seems so irrational to me.

Few reasons...

1) When someone is annoyingly stupid on the internet, their ISP is almost invariably AOL.

If it wasn't AOL, it would be someone else. Someone would fill the beginner market.

2) AOL attracts the type of people who require frequent fixing / cleaning of their PCs. Many here wouldn't have a job if not for them, but venting frustration is natural - and even people like me, who'd go homeless before doing tech support for a living, get stuck with it sometimes.

eg. Just this past week I had to fix & clean a family friend's PC - over 2500 instances of ad/spy ware and over 1300 viruses & trojans. They have a DSL line through Verizon, but insist on AOL's "AOL for broadband" service, which, for $10 a month, basically just gives them an email address with AOL and installs a lot of proprietary bloatware, seriously about 8 running processes thanks to their crap.

So you like to bite the hands that feed you? And, again, if it wasn't AOL, it would be someone else.

Also, AOL's email system is less likely to spread viruses than other email programs. So AOL gets a plus in this area.

3) AOL spyware/virus infections are worse than normal ones since the combination of its users' noobiness and the proprietary software makes said software a primary target for malware writers. One of the most annoying and hardest to clean malware gems on the PC I had to clean exploited AOL's active desktop thing, which is supposed to display probably a menu or something.. instead it was displaying a porn ad background The most clueless of noobs couldn't have gotten that on their PC without AOL's software installed.

Again, if it wasn't AOL, it would be someone else. AOL doesn't create newbies, it simply caters to them.

4) Waste of money, what's their dialup, like $25 a month? And if you cancel they continue charging your card anyway... my dumbass parents went through this. (btw a nice dialup ISP for the folks is access4less.net)

In one way or another, all these things affect us whether we're customers or not.

It doesn't effect me at all. Again, if AOL wasn't here to cater to newbies, someone else would be. It's not AOL you hate, it's newbies. AOL simply found a way to make money off of them. This is a bad thing... how?