http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/10/15/15851/770 <a href="http://www.aol.com/">AOL</a> (or America Online) used to be the tie that bound personal Internet users together. Now it is <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/tuesday-is-layoff-day-at-aol/">tightening its belt in massive layoffs</a> and pondering how to redefine itself as a company. en-us Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:07:51 EST Wed, 24 Oct 2007 10:14:06 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/10/15/15851/770#7 <i>also, the behavior of some AOL users on non-AOL discussion boards irritated the self-considered Internet Glitterati at the time.</i><br> <p><br> This was especially true on Usenet.  I regularly participated in Usenet discussions in '98 and '99, and Wed, 24 Oct 2007 10:14:06 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/10/15/15851/770#6 Maybe I got this wrong...but IIRC, some AOL users got a hold of non-aol users and starting spamming the living shit out of them...also, the behavior of some AOL users on non-AOL discussion boards irritated the self-considered Internet Glitterati at the tim Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:03:30 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/10/15/15851/770#5 AOL was my first ISP (way back in the early 90s).  Therefore, I was one of those noobs you say were disasters.  How does that play out?  From my experience, most AOL users stuck pretty much with AOL using the content AOL provided.  When Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:50:47 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/10/15/15851/770#4 I never used AOL and distinctly remember when AOL connected it's network to 'net and what a disaster all the n00bs were.   From my perspective, AOL was always a transient business until it's users could figure out how to get a better 'net connection, Fri, 19 Oct 2007 12:20:15 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/10/15/15851/770#3 I think that's pretty accurate.  I do remember that getting on Friday nights was tough.  By the late 90s I had moved on, so I wasn't around for the true collapse.<p> AOL + Comcast?  That's a scary thought.  It'd be a singularity of fail Fri, 19 Oct 2007 08:21:57 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/10/15/15851/770#2 AOL was definitely a victim of its own success to some degree. They always had a weird dynamic going on where they charged you <i>more</i> than other ISPS on the justification that they were a "premium" service provider, but they had awful connection spee Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:15:43 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2007/10/15/15851/770#1 Here's where I think AOL went wrong.  First, they got out-priced by other ISPs (often dramatically).  AOL was $20/month for dial-up right before broadband became widespread, when you could get often more reliable service for half that.  I se Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:00:12 EST string http://www.treesandthings.com/search/