AOL To Discontinue LISTSERV

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Posted by Soulskill on Friday November 4, 2011 @12:55AM from the yes-aol-still-exists dept.

alphadogg writes "On December 1, AOL will shut down its free LISTSERV-based mailing-list hosting operations, the company has told mailing list administrators. 'If your list is still actively used, please make arrangements to find another service prior to the shutdown date and notify your list members of the transition details,' an email notice sent out by AOL stated. At the peak of the service's popularity in the late 1990s, AOL was the third-largest provider of mailing lists, serving more than a million users."

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This is huge news! by MyLongNickName · 2011-11-04 00:56 · Score: 5, Insightful

I didn't even know AOL was still in business...

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1. Re:This is huge news! by nospam007 · 2011-11-04 01:02 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  For you young whippersnappers, before you were born, listserv was/is like Twitter, just without any size limits.
  You just send an email to a server sign up^h^h^h^h^h^h^h follow someone or unfollow.
2. Re:This is huge news! by acidradio · 2011-11-04 01:20 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Young whipper-snappers won't and don't understand the significance of ^H either.
3. Re:This is huge news! by Hatta · 2011-11-04 01:25 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Yes. And USENET was just like web fora, except with all your forums under one powerful interface. And IRC was just like IM, except, well no IRC is exactly like IM.
  Why did we need to invent twitter, web fora, and IM when we had Listserv, USENET, and IRC?
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
4. Re:This is huge news! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-11-04 01:30 · Score: 1
  
  Yes. And USENET was just like web fora, except with all your forums under one powerful interface. And IRC was just like IM, except, well no IRC is exactly like IM.
  Why did we need to invent twitter, web fora, and IM when we had Listserv, USENET, and IRC?
  Because if something doesn't have a flashy web interface people are somehow too retarded to use it, the question is how were AOL users able to use these things?
5. Re:This is huge news! by bryan1945 · 2011-11-04 01:32 · Score: 1
  
  And for you.. whatever... pen and paper was like communication. You just send it over TCP-BuggieCarriage (RFC -031).
  
  --
  Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
6. Re:This is huge news! by obergfellja · 2011-11-04 01:36 · Score: 1
  
  A... O... L? I remember something like that, back when the internet was untame and they tried to make something of it.
7. Re:This is huge news! by Zoxed · 2011-11-04 01:48 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  > Why did we need to invent twitter, web fora, and IM when we had Listserv, USENET, and IRC?
  The few USENET groups I used to follow basically died due to trolls.
  The "real" users migrated to Web Forums, sometimes funded by advertising, which usually have some degree of Moderation.
  But I really miss the functionality associated with the single interface to all USENET groups, (although you could of course chose *which* tool to use).
  Some people tried to write plugins that converted web forums to pseudo USENET groups, but I think they all failed (I had tried one ages ago to read Slashdot in Xemacs/Gnus.)
8. Re:This is huge news! by operagost · 2011-11-04 02:00 · Score: 2
  
  AIM didn't have netsplits.
  
  --
  
  Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
9. Re:This is huge news! by omnichad · 2011-11-04 02:05 · Score: 1
  
  GP didn't understand it either. Unless he meant to say: You just send an email to a server follow someone or unfollow.
  More likely, he meant ^W, and still forgot one ^W: You just send follow someone or unfollow.
10. Re:This is huge news! by residieu · 2011-11-04 02:17 · Score: 2
  
  Yeah, remember when you could have online discussions with decent thread management?
11. Re:This is huge news! by Chrisq · 2011-11-04 02:20 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I remember AOL UK suggesting that the towns Scunthorpe and Pensitone change their names to Socnthorpe and Pennistone because people could not register using them (they caught in the primitive obscenity filter). The absolute anger of citizens of these towns was really amusing I remember one person pointing out that thir town was much older than America, let alone America Online and they were buggered if they would change their name.
  
  Another classic of cultural insensitivity was when they told people on the Wales regional forum that they had to post in English and Welsh was banned!
12. Re:This is huge news! by betterunixthanunix · 2011-11-04 02:51 · Score: 2
  
  Why did we need to invent twitter, web fora, and IM when we had Listserv, USENET, and IRC?
  People do not know how to use their computers, that's why. Prior to Google Groups most people have no idea how to access Usenet, and most still have no idea that half the groups they access via Google are on Usenet. Listservs annoy people because they have no idea how to create message filters and their webmail client (probably Gmail) has some horribly broken method of displaying threaded discussions. Decent IRC clients require some time to learn, and using something like Pidgin makes IRC seem even worse than it really is (and let's be honest, IRC is just terrible).
  
  These thing were developed by highly sophisticated users, to be used by other sophisticated users. In an age where the most common help desk resolution is, "Is it plugged in?" is there any surprise that these systems are so obscure?
  
  --
  Palm trees and 8
13. Re:This is huge news! by Klync · 2011-11-04 02:58 · Score: 2
  
  > Why did we need to invent twitter, web fora, and IM when we had Listserv, USENET, and IRC?
  Because corporate firewalls blocked everything except port 80. So, everything moved onto port 80.
  As an aside, ten years ago I predicted to my colleague that one day we'd see DNS over HTTP, and probably even TCP over HTTP. I've recently seen *both* of those come to pass via /. stories, although I don't have the links handy atm.
  
  --
  
  ----
  Not to be confused with Col.
14. Re:This is huge news! by cashman73 · 2011-11-04 04:05 · Score: 1
  
  Not only are they still in business, but they still have 3.5 million dialup customers! Apparently, the 1% still uses AOL dialup. For once, I feel fortunate to count myself among the 99%.
15. Re:This is huge news! by Hatta · 2011-11-04 04:11 · Score: 1
  
  and let's be honest, IRC is just terrible
  What's wrong with IRC?
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
16. Re:This is huge news! by desdinova+216 · 2011-11-04 04:50 · Score: 1
  
  the only problem I could see with welsh is that no one else would be able understand anything.
17. Re:This is huge news! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-11-04 05:42 · Score: 1
  
  I didn't even know AOL was still in business...
  Me too!
18. Re:This is huge news! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-11-04 05:48 · Score: 1
  
  Can't you read? It's just terrible.
19. Re:This is huge news! by UnknownSoldier · 2011-11-04 12:28 · Score: 1
  
  Going to get modded down ... but you know the really old joke ...
  American
  On-line
  Losers
  How people could actually _pay_ to use that crap is beyond me ...
20. Re:This is huge news! by Millennium · 2011-11-04 14:44 · Score: 1
  
  Something about stealing 40 cakes back in the 1990s, if I recall.
21. Re:This is huge news! by cthulhu11 · 2011-11-04 18:38 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe because LISTSERV was an artifact of the batch-orientation of BITnet? Even the truncated name was a BITnet artifact.
22. Re:This is huge news! by bryan1945 · 2011-11-05 21:39 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, I was trying to go older school, lol. I actually put 1149 in one of my presentations during grad school- the confused looks I got from my classmates was disturbing. At least my prof got the joke.
  
  --
  Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
This doesn't affect me in the slightest by Anonymous Coward · 2011-11-04 01:14 · Score: 5, Funny

I moved all my stuff to Compuserve last year.
1. Re:This doesn't affect me in the slightest by tepples · 2011-11-04 01:16 · Score: 1
  
  I moved all my stuff to Compuserve last year.
  Except AOL owns CompuServe. Or was that the joke?
2. Re:This doesn't affect me in the slightest by Megane · 2011-11-04 01:50 · Score: 1
  
  Seriously, though, SBC--er, I mean AT&T--still uses prodigy.net domain names for some of its internal e-mail servers. (for outbound mail, I think).
  
  --
  #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
3. Re:This doesn't affect me in the slightest by Myopic · 2011-11-04 01:52 · Score: 1
  
  Compuserve is for fogies. I like eWorld.
The end of an era by Ixne · 2011-11-04 01:17 · Score: 3

Next you'll tell me that FidoNet is going away!
1. Re:The end of an era by Antarius · 2011-11-04 01:40 · Score: 1
  
  Good ol' Fidonet.
  
  I still remember my node (I ran a BBS), all these years later. (3:800/428)
  
  Now you've made me miss GoldEd on my old OS/2 box. =(
2. Re:The end of an era by betterunixthanunix · 2011-11-04 02:29 · Score: 1
  
  Fidonet is still operation, and there are still dialup and shortwave links between BBSes. It is particularly popular in rural regions of Asia.
  
  --
  Palm trees and 8
3. Re:The end of an era by satsuke · 2011-11-04 03:36 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, amazing how a system tailor built for non-persistent network connections (store and forward) can be adapted to regions without persistent network connections.
  Last I looked at it, it was still very popular (relatively) in Africa and SE Asia, with the actual nodelist being bigger now than it was in it's heyday .. though the observance of zonemail hour is probably nil and I have no idea if echomail or netmail is reliable in any sense.
  I just find it funny that there is still a couple nodes left on my old local 1:280 , one of which appears to be a zombie BBS with the last user listed as logged in being myself from a year or more previously.
4. Re:The end of an era by Uncle+Warthog · 2011-11-04 05:34 · Score: 1
  
  I still remember my node (I ran a BBS), all these years later. (3:800/428)
  
  I had one of those too. Mine didn't have a colon or slash in the number though.......
5. Re:The end of an era by Antarius · 2011-11-04 06:19 · Score: 1
  
  If it didn't then it wasn't on Fidonet
6. Re:The end of an era by _Shad0w_ · 2011-11-04 22:29 · Score: 1
  
  I was a CoSysOp on a BBS, back in the day. I used to run as a point node off it (and a couple of others). Shamefully I can no longer remember my node numbers though. Used to use FrontDoor for grabbing my mail and doing file transfers.
  
  --
  Yeah, I had a sig once; I got bored of it.
Converting from LISTSERV by joelsherrill · 2011-11-04 01:18 · Score: 1

Out of inertia, a music mailing list I subscribe to is still on AOL LISTSERV. Does anyone know of any magic scripts or howto's on converting from LISTSERV to anything else? I would like to move the content and users over to GNU mailman on my server. I have the dump of all the messages which are not in mbox format so that appears to be the first challenge. :(
1. Re:Converting from LISTSERV by corbettw · 2011-11-04 01:36 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Check and see if fetchmail can handle it, it does some converting from mail box types to others. Also, procmail might work for you.
  Just make sure you don't accidentally start sending out those old messages all over again. Probably best to do the work offline, just to be safe.
  
  --
  God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
Loss of archives is going to be bad by JoshuaZ · 2011-11-04 01:22 · Score: 5, Interesting

From TFA:

ne list still somewhat active is the discussion list for AOLserver, AOL's open-source Web server software. The administrator for this list moved it to SourceForge, where the AOLserver code is housed. However, the administrator, Dossy Shiobara, noted that there was no immediate way to move the decadelong archives of this mailing list, along with related announcement lists, to SourceForge. Fortunately, much of the content is mirrored on other sites, however.
Not all of the lists are going to have their archives mirrored. This is going to mean that a fair bit of internet history is going to get lost, and contribute a decent amount of linkrot in the process. While I suspect that most of that will just be inane flamewars, it always saddens me when data that could be preserved isn't preserved. I do hope that someone finds a way to move the archives of the various lists somewhere.
1. Re:Loss of archives is going to be bad by omnichad · 2011-11-04 02:10 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe they'll let Google archive it over on Groups. Or do they do that sort of thing? You'd think they would - more useful searches at Google.com as a benefit.
2. Re:Loss of archives is going to be bad by omuls+are+tasty · 2011-11-04 02:36 · Score: 2
  
  it always saddens me when data that could be preserved isn't preserved
  Is that you, Mr. Zuckerberg?
3. Re:Loss of archives is going to be bad by Paradoks · 2011-11-04 10:19 · Score: 2
  
  Some people from Archive Team (archiveteam.org) are working on it, which means that, most likely, some amount of data will eventually end up on archive.org.
  Still, it'd be nice if AOL would say, "Here's all the data we have. Please save it." and present it to archive.org, rather than depend on a group of rogue archivists to not miss anything.
Re:Subscribed to a few lists by Trepidity · 2011-11-04 01:25 · Score: 1

I'm still on quite a few. For whatever reason, most of the "serious" discussion groups I'm in (working groups, academic discussions, etc.) don't seem to have moved from listservs to webforums, whereas most of the "hobby" groups I'm in (music fan listservs, etc.) have long since abandoned mailing lists.

--
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
backspace by jabberw0k · 2011-11-04 01:36 · Score: 4, Informative

Control-H, character 8, is the ASCII code for Backspace, see the ASCII chart.
1. Re:backspace by Canazza · 2011-11-04 01:50 · Score: 1
  
  Could be vi they're referencing, and in that case why they just don't do ^W is beyond me
  
  --
  It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
2. Re:backspace by mcavic · 2011-11-04 05:11 · Score: 1
  
  No, it's a Unix terminal reference. Some terminals use backspace, and some use the delete character. If your terminal is misconfigured and you press the backspace key, it'll print the ^H instead of backspacing.
Re:What? by Talderas · 2011-11-04 01:39 · Score: 1

No. We just recently broke the Enigma code.

--
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
Re:What? by Frenzied+Apathy · 2011-11-04 01:46 · Score: 2

Yeah, supposedly they're trying to compete with some company called "Apple" and their own "Macintosh" personal computer.

Amazing times we're in...

--
The cake is a lie.
September by RMingin · 2011-11-04 01:46 · Score: 2

Can it be? September will finally end?
It's too late, I think. The damage was done.

--
The preceding comment is my own, and in no way construes an opinon of the Emperor of Mankind.
1. Re:September by Gideon+Wells · 2011-11-04 02:36 · Score: 1
  
  Nah, September has moved on leaving only a retirement home and a few paleointernet-anthropologists behind.
  
  --
  by Anonymous Coward: I, for one, welcome the shift from car analogies to pizza analogies. um.. overlords?
Re:Subscribed to a few lists by Anrego · 2011-11-04 01:51 · Score: 1

I've noticed this too.
Mailing lists still have a weird aura of seriousness around them that doesn't transfer over as well to web forums and IRC.
Comment removed by account_deleted · 2011-11-04 02:27 · Score: 3, Funny

Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed by account_deleted · 2011-11-04 02:33 · Score: 4, Informative

Comment removed based on user account deletion
Re:Subscribed to a few lists by betterunixthanunix · 2011-11-04 02:36 · Score: 2
For whatever reason, most of the "serious" discussion groups I'm in (working groups, academic discussions, etc.) don't seem to have moved from listservs to webforums
Probably because the interface to web forums is so terrible when compared to a well developed mail client. I have seen serious discussion lists try to switch to web forums, and the result has usually been on of the following three outcomes:
1. The entire group falls apart because they prematurely kill the mailing list, and nobody is motivated to rejoin.
2. Nobody ever goes to the forum, everyone keeps posting to the list.
3. The forum becomes a place for people who are less serious, while the serious discussions remain on-list. This is basically what happened with the Fedora mailing lists; Fedora Forum has a few serious discussions but is mostly new users asking for help (and thankfully receiving it) while the mailing lists are where highly technical discussions tend to occur.
What we really need is something like Google Groups, which allows less serious users to read and post to Usenet newsgroups. If there were a way to get mailing lists and web forums to interoperate, people who just prefer to use web interfaces would not be excluded from the discussions.
--
Palm trees and 8
Re:What? by afabbro · 2011-11-04 04:24 · Score: 1

No. We just recently broke the Enigma code.
No, I think they're still working on it

--
Advice: on VPS providers
listserv by Anonymous Coward · 2011-11-04 05:03 · Score: 1

Now where am I going to find another CP/M users mailing list... -:)
Re:What? by desdinova+216 · 2011-11-04 05:39 · Score: 1

Obligitory XKCD http://xkcd.com/875/
Thanks giant corporations ! by bd580slashdot · 2011-11-04 05:42 · Score: 1

Because then giant corporations can control and profit from them? Unlike the totally distributed and federated nets.
Needed to set up and maintain a fiefdom. by jbn-o · 2011-11-04 17:57 · Score: 1

Nobody needed to, but people did so they could set up their fiefdom more effectively. It's the same sentiment that drives various "app stores" and other attempts at monopoly. It's not easy to impose ridiculous rules when one has to build on systems like email and NNTP. It's apparently more effective to develop one's own system with preposterous rules and play to a naive sense that says popularity is more important than anything else.

--
Digital Citizen