GoodBuy AOL and GoodBuy Yahoo Users!, Part 2

With respect to the previous article, "GoodBuy AOL and GoodBuy Yahoo Users!", Infopackets Reader 'BigTShane' from AOL writes:

" [I can't believe that there will be] no more infopackets [email] newsletter because *you* are giving up without a fight. You are going to let AOL and YAHOO censor email? UNBELIEVABLE!! "

My response:

Whoa! Now wait a minute. I didn't say I was giving up! If you read the previous article closely enough, I provided two viable alternatives in order to continue to receive our newsletter if you're an AOL or Yahoo user.

To recap, you can either:

a) subscribe using another email address, or

b) subscribe using RSS

As far as AOL and Yahoo's decision being "my problem" -- sorry, but I don't see it that way. AOL / Yahoo is your service provider, not mine. If you want to get anywhere with them, you'll have to hurt them where it counts.

Infopackets Reader 'Richard' chimed in with similar sentiments:

" I am curious about the way you (as well as other mass-mailers) seem to just 'rollover' when a Bully company such as AOL and Yahoo blithely announce they are going to block *my* mail... and it then becomes a problem for YOUR customers ... It would seem only fair that you guys [should] organize and urge your subscribers to switch providers! "

My response:

I'm with you on that one. If you consider this whole thing from a "numbers game" perspective, things start to make a little more sense. For example:

With respect to point (c): a similar online petition has already been started and doesn't seem to have had any affect. Once again, the quote from redHerring.com (from my previous post) reads:

" ... A disparate assemblage of about four dozen groups ranging from the National Humane Society to the Gun Owners of America have put aside their differences to focus on AOL and its plan to charge businesses for guaranteed delivery of bulk email ...

The groups have set up a web site, www.dearaol.com, which will include an online petition demanding that AOL keep Internet email free for all ...

'There is nothing substantive about the events today,' said Nicholas Graham, an AOL spokesperson. 'We will go ahead with the implementation in the next 30 days. Mark it on your calendars. These are organizations that exist to protest and perform political fundraising online, and they've selected the wrong target in AOL.' " (Source: redHerring.com)

In conclusion

If you're an AOL or Yahoo user and you want to do some real damage, you'd better take it upon yourself to call and complain. Or better yet: do as Richard suggests: threaten to switch to another service provider if they block your emails.

At any rate, in closing I'd like to re-iterate that infopackets isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Whether you choose to receive our newsletter -- and how you go about doing it -- is entirely up to you. And as I've suggested many times before: there are plenty of alternatives to AOL and Yahoo email [hint: RSS is a *great* start!].

So keep your chin up. And as a friend of mine Douglas says:

This is supposed to be fun! ;-)