[91455] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: AOL Mail Problem
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Matthew Black)
Fri Jul 28 15:22:22 2006
To: nanog@merit.edu
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 12:21:52 -0700
From: "Matthew Black" <black@csulb.edu>
X-Original-To: chuck goolsbee <chucklist@forest.net>
In-Reply-To: <p06110407c0ee970fb3b9@[172.16.1.5]>
Errors-To: owner-nanog@merit.edu
On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 09:28:24 -0700
chuck goolsbee <chucklist@forest.net> wrote:
[original message edited for brevity--m.black]
> The fatal flaw in AOL's feedback system is that it is user-generated, and
>users will classify virtually anything as "spam". It is actually quite
>entertaining to skim the scomp feed... ecommerce confirmation/shipping
>notifications, mailing lists they subbed themselves to, personal
>correspondence(!), etc. I have heard that the AOL mail UI puts the "report
>as spam" button right next to the "delete" button, which perhaps accounts
>for the error rate which (at least in our case) exceeds 96%.
I get the AOL feedback for my university and am also quite
amused what their customers consider as spam:
- Notification of acceptance of admission to the university
- Notification of financial aid award
- Personal replies from campus faculty to students
- Confirmation of employment application submission
Someone told me that it's probably a careless error when users
make these mistakes. However, my friend has AOL and when I looked
at his client, the Submit Spam menu choice was nowhere near Delete.
I have to agree with a poster who claimed e-mail is as dead as
citizen's band radio. I better plan for alternative employment.
matthew black
california state university, long beach
