AOL dumps newsgroups

[MikeYankee]

Yesterday AOL flashed a message to all users clicking on newsgroups to the
effect that it would no longer support newsgroups as of "early 2005" (see
below).

When I inquired about this, AOL said this new policy "was based on user
feedback" -- yeah, like we've all been banging down AOL's door asking them to
reduce their service.

If you're an AOL user and you think this really stinks, use keyword "Tell Us"
and let those bastards hear from you.

----------------- actual text of AOL message ------------------------

Please Note: The AOL Newsgroup service will be discontinued in early 2005.


For members using AOL over a dial-up connection, you will no longer be able to
access Newsgroups. If you have a separate high-speed connection, you can
contact your broadband provider to see if they offer Newsgroups. Newsgroup
services can often be accessed through a third party reader, such as Mozilla
Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/).

Alternatively, you can access Newsgroups via Google at
http://groups.google.com/.

We apologize for this inconvenience.


Mike Yankee

(Address is munged to thwart spammers.
To reply, delete everything after "com".)

 

[David Kerber]

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> Yesterday AOL flashed a message to all users clicking on newsgroups to the
> effect that it would no longer support newsgroups as of "early 2005" (see
> below).
>
> When I inquired about this, AOL said this new policy "was based on user
> feedback" -- yeah, like we've all been banging down AOL's door asking them to
> reduce their service.

The feedback was probably that very few of their users were using
NewsGroups; not enough to justify their continuing to support them.

.....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

 

[JimLane]

David Kerber wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] says...
>
>>Yesterday AOL flashed a message to all users clicking on newsgroups to the
>>effect that it would no longer support newsgroups as of "early 2005" (see
>>below).
>>
>>When I inquired about this, AOL said this new policy "was based on user
>>feedback" -- yeah, like we've all been banging down AOL's door asking them to
>>reduce their service.
>
>
> The feedback was probably that very few of their users were using
> NewsGroups; not enough to justify their continuing to support them.
>
> ....
>

Breaks down to ROI. It is always about money.


jim