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AOL To Launch Blogging Service
Jorkapp writes "Later this summer, AOL will launch its 'AOL Journals' blog service, provided free to its members. AOL Journals (named as such, since a survey showed the average user found the word 'blog' to be confusing) will allow users to post text, pictures, and voice entries. More information can be found at the Washington Post."
...also found the words "unlimited," "free," and "useful" to be confusing.
The average user also thinks creating a buzzword for keeping a journal, an idea that has existed for centuries, is stupid.
"People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
I wish AOL would fix what they have first before adding new things like this Blogger that others likely do better anyway:
Specifically, their e-mail system:
1) They have absolutely no spam filtering (ability to get only e-mail from approved addresses, or blocking the exact address a spam comes from does not count). The free services have better e-mail than AOL.
2) They don't have a way to download complete intact e-mails (file cabinet does not handle attachments.
3) They have a "feature" that destroys e-mails that are left in the inbox for more than a few weeks. Since they make it tough to download them, this means you have to constantly forward them to yourself to keep them there.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
I never found the word 'blog' to be confusing - just stupid.
Thanks to AOL for naming it something else instead.
www.firastudios.com
..that blogging can be officially declared out, just as the newsgroups was when someone let the hordes from AOL in.
On the other hand, it's good to see that an IPS can do more than just take your money and provide shitty service :-)
Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
This, I think, will certainly help the fledgling Weblog (or 'blog) industry. I know that more ane more of these have been popping up all over the internet, and there have been a lot of Slashdot stories about them, but I hadn't ever really bothered to follow any, as most of them are just rants about auto racing or something.
Anyway, now I think blogs will become a much bigger factor on the internet with a name like AOL behind them. I know if I were surfing around the internet, and just come across somebody's blog (I guess we'll all be calling them Journals, now), anyway, if I came across somebody's Journal, I probably wouldn't care that much, but if it's got a brand like AOL on it, I think I can expect a little higher quality, and maybe some of that will rub off on the rest of the Journalists (or should it be Journalistas now?) out there. I mean, look at what AOL did for USENET? Before AOL get their tech-savvy users on that thing, it was just a dead service full of posts about Nazis and modern art. now it's a place to really do some business! Maybe AOL can repeat their success in the blogging (journaling!) field!
Consensual sex is boring.
I'm not an AOL user, but I find the term "blog" stupid, not confusing.
It's a freaking diary, keep it under your bed. What makes you thing the rest of the world gives a damn. And if you're too stupid or lazy to say "weblog" and have to save two characters, then I guess it makes sense that you're too stupid and lazy to learn something as simple as HTML.
about content ownership? With all these blog hosting services... do the licenses permit them to republish your information? What kind of information are they gathering out of all those blogs, neatly stored on their servers?
We freak out about the government wanting to pry into anything, yet we see no issue when the largest ISP on earth wants to encourage everyone to post their innermost thoughts online for all to see, to be forever archived by the googlebot?
july 18 - i just tried to connect to america online. ive heard it is the best online service i can get. i cant connect. i dont know what is wrong.
july 19 - some guy at the tech support center says my computer needs a modem. i dont see why. hes just trying to cheat me. how dumb does he think i am?
july 22 - i bought the modem. i couldnt figure out where it goes. it wouldnt fit in the moniter or the printer. im confused.
july 23 - i finally got the modem in and hooked up. that nine year old next door did it for me. but it still dont work. i cant get online.
july 25 - that nine year old kid next door hooked me up to america online for me. hes so smart. i told the kid he was a prodigy. but he says thats just another service. what a modest kid. hes so smart and he does these services for people. anyway hes smarter then the jerks who sold me the modem. they didnt even tell me about communications software. bet they didnt know. and why do they put two telephone jack holes in the back of a modem when you only need one? and why do they have one labeled phone when you are not suppose to hook it to the phone jack on the wall? i thought the dial tone sounded funny! boy are modem makers dumb! but the kid figured it out by the sound.
july 26 - whats the internet? i thought i was on america online. not this internet thing. im confused.
july 27 - the nine year old kid next door showed me how to use this america online stuff. i told him he must be a genius. he says that he is compared to me. maybe hes not so modest after all.
july 28 - i tried to use chat today. i tried to talk into my computer but nothing happened. maybe i need to buy a microphone.
july 29 - i found this thing called usenet. i got out of it because im connected to america online not usenet.
july 30 - these people in this usenet thing keep using capital letters. how do they do that? i never figured out how to type capital letters. maybe they have a different type of keyboard.
JULY 31 - I CALLED THE COMPUTER MAKER I BOUGHT IT FROM TO COMPLAIN ABOUT NOT HAVING A CAPITOL LETTER KEY. THE TECH SUPPORT GUY SAID IT WAS THIS CAPS LOCK KEY. WHY DIDN'T THEY SPELL IT OUT? I TOLD HIM I GOT A CHEAP KEYBOARD AND WANTED A BETTER ONE. AND ONE OF MY SHIFT KEYS ISNT THE SAME SIZE AS THE OTHER. HE SAID THATS A STANDARD. I TOLD HIM I DIDN'T WANT A STANDARD KEYBOARD BUT ANOTHER BRAND. I MUST HAVE HAD AN IMPORTANT COMPLAINT BECAUSE I HEARD HIM TELL THE OTHER SUPPORT GUYS TO LISTEN IN ON OUR CONVERSATION.
AUGUST 1 - I FOUND THIS THING CALLED THE USENET ORACLE. IT SAYS THAT IT CAN ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS I ASK IT. I SENT IT 44 SEPERATE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE INTERNET. I HOPE IT RESPONDS SOON.
AUGUST 2 - I FOUND A GROUP CALLED REC.HUMOR. I DECIDED TO POST THIS JOKE ABOUT THE CHICKEN THAT CROSSED THE ROAD. TO GET TO THE OTHER SIDE! HA! HA! I WASNT SURE I POSTED IT RIGHT SO I POSTED IT 56 MORE TIMES.
AUGUST 3 - I KEEP HEARING ABOUT THE WORLD WIDE WEB. I DONT KNOW SPIDERS GREW THAT LARGE.
AUGUST 4 - THE ORACLE RESPONDED TO MY QUESTIONS TODAY. GEEZ IT WAS RUDE. I WAS SO ANGRY THAT I POSTED AN ANGRY MESSAGE ABOUT IT TO REC.HUMOR.ORACLE. I WASNT SURE IF I POSTED RIGHT SO I POSTED IT 22 MORE TIMES.
AUGUST 5 - SOMEONE TOLD ME TO READ THE FAQ. GEEZ THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO USE PROFANITY.
AUGUST 6 - SOMEONE ELSE TOLD ME TO STOP SHOUTING IN ALL MY MESSAGES. WHAT A STUPID JERK. IM NOT SHOUTING! IM NOT EVEN TALKING! JUST TYPING! HOW CAN THEY LET THESE RUDE JERKS GO ON THE INTERNET?
August 7 - Why have a Caps Lock key if youre not suppose to use it? Its probably an extra feature that costs more money.
August 8 - I just read this post called make money fast. Im so exited. im going to make lots of money. I followed his instructions and posted it to every newsgroup i could find.
August 9 - I just made my signature file. Its only 6 pages long. i will have to work on it some more.
August 10 - I just looked at a group called alt.aol.sucks. I read a few posts and I really believe that aol should be wiped off the f
I've got a fever and the only prescription is more COBOL.
They already have, sort of. The Beta Google Toolbar includes a "BlogThis" button, similar to the Bookmarklet that Blogger offered before.
I wouldn't mind a blog-only search engine, considering how much noise blogs have added to the web. It's so annoying to search for a song lyric or quote to find the source, only to find that thousands of blogs have cleverly used it as a title.
For more information, click here.
AOL users know how to read and write? ;)
I know the consensus is that AOL sucks; mod me down if you must. Considering their contribution of a stupendous project like mozilla (funding, many full time Netscape developers, hosting, existing software, robust set of tools, all donated to make the best browser free software), I hope any good ideas they come out with increases the # of their subscribers.
A blogging feature not original, or particularly timely, but there is no time like the present. This is a great idea for AOL to add great value to their free AIM service (and AOL). I'd say most people have an intrinsic need to espouse their daily lives in a public setting. Current blogging offers require, at least, a smidgen of tech-know-how to find livejournal, download a client, or whatever. With AOL, the user only needs to know what a "Journal" is and have AIM/AOL installed; I believe the service will be quite popular.
Journal Entry #1
:) I heard it's gonna be a long winter. :/ This JOURNAL service is awesome!
:) I am the best employee, my company said! I heard I'm getting a bonus. The weather looks like it will improve... Until next time!
:)
February 1st, 2003 02:40:11PM PST
Woot! I just got this sweet new job. Finally, no longer uenmployed!
~Dave
Journal Entry #200
February 30th, 2003 17:55:16PM PST
Just wanted to say... happy 200th post to myself!
~Dave
Journal Entry #214
March 2nd, 2003 12:00:04PM PST
GOOD NEWS! that AOL just e-mailed me. My journal was selected to be automatically published in AOL Advertising when the service is launched in the summer. !!! I'm so excited! TTYL, I gotta oil the plants, water my hose.
Things couldn't be better! I'm so strung I'll probably end up pressing SUBMIT 1,000 times!
~Dave
Journal Entry #2,340
March 2nd, 2003 12:04:34PM PST
OMG! Haha Look that. Got it to 2,000 in four minutes. I'll try 10,000 and then submit bug report. OK anyway, oil the plants, water my hose.
~Dave
Journal Entry #11,699
July 11th, 2003 15:22:56PM PST
It has been hell. The outfall shows no signs of ceasing in the near future. I am writing this from beneath the downpour. This could be my final entry. I don't know how much longer I can cope. I am conserving the battery as much as I can. I'm out.
~Dave
Journal Entry #11,700
July 12th, 2003 00:26:32PM PST
Still holding in there. I thought checking off "mail a copy of each journal entry to me" would be in e-mail form. How I was wrong. My hand is slowly immobolized. My BACK is hurting (the discs are a pain in the ass.)
~Dave
Journal Entry #11,725
July 12th, 2003 14:20:20PM PST
DAMMIT! Can't anybody see me type? HEELP!!
Journal Entry #11,740
July 13th, 2003 23:59:44PM PST
I'm losiong cohersion. The postman visited today. They just won't stop. Turn on the light! Cant.. handle... the weigh.......
--
[End of Flash Presentation]
Thank you for browsing a sample journal entry!
Sign up now, and we will automatically mail you hard copies of each entry directly to your house! As a bonus, we will include a couple of AOL 9.0 MEMBERSHIP DISKS for EACH journal entry, to give out to your new online friends!. (Beta testers received 5+ disks in each packet.)
Press continue to learn more!
(C) Copyright 2003 AOL Time Warner. This web site may not be...
Cover your eyes and click this link!
I didn't know you met my grandparents. You should teach them the difference between their yahoo email name and aol screen name. Next time they get it mixed up I don't have to drive 20 miles to fix it and remind them that they aren't the same thing.
My grandmother has about had it with AOL. She wants to know why everyone wants to enlarge her penis. My personal favorite was when I was helping her out and she got the pictorial advert for fisting transsexuals. They've got more than just mail. I've never heard grandma say a single swear in my entire life, until that day. Thanks AOL.
"This word shows the worst side of tech--inventing a word for something that A) already exists in the physical world and B) has undergone ZERO changes outside of being ported to new technology."
What about "C) just sounds plain awful"?. Blog. Blegh. Imagine this conversation of a mother and AOL subscriber, and her 14 year old son:
"Johnnie, what are you doing?"
- "I'm blogging, ma!"
"Stop that right now!!! You'll go blind!"
By the way, the tech world will indeed invent awful new words for things covered by your points A), and B). Business, however, will patent them.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Wouldn't AOL blogs be one person posting what they did for the day and everyone else posting "Me too!" ?
a survey showed the average user found the word 'blog' to be confusing
They just need to translate it into AOL:
"DUDE!!1 A bl0g iz a plaze 4 ur shit dat u write n stuff! U can put linkz n shit in there! Write back, k?"
Yep. Pretty much AOL makes things that are available to normal internet users available in a stupified form for stupified users. Or old people. At a higher price and a lesser quality too.
What next? A P2P service that allows you to exchange .midis? A MMORPG that's 2d and the only characters are different colors of the little AOL guy? Instead of having normal movie trailers, having the .mp3 trace of the trailers? I pity da foo who is stuck with AOL... And yet sometimes it's the only provider... And that makes me sad.
I mean, if AOL isn't bordering on a (wired) human rights abuse in itself, I don't know what is.
Well, because it is a new idea. Diaries were kept for private viewing, a few notable exceptions notwithstanding. The idea of being able to post your "diary" globally is certainly empowering. Yeah, yeah, we're /. and we look down on anyone who cannot do HTML. Fine, be elitist, but most of the world is not, and never will be, programmers, or even scripters. And blogging software has given the rest of the world a simple tool that enables them to do what we have been able to do for years.
Blogs are more than the sum of their parts, furthermore. It's not just that these "diaries" are online. The blog phenomenom is based on the mutual linking that goes on. It's a community -- that hardly describes a diary or a journal -- of users connecting to each other. Does that sound familiar? Sure, it's the promise of the web, only now accessible to a lot more people.
Finally blogs are not just "diaries." For example, I have my web site where I have fun with the wording of headlines. In order to see how the power of blogging works, I recently created a blog of my site in order to see if the connectivity of the blog community would increase awareness. I'm playing with the blog phenemenon, in other words. Yet there is nothing about me at my blog, no diary entries, nothing. It's all about the humor.
Blogging is about the community, not just a diary.