[or-roots] AOL

[Leslie Chapman]

Just for the record folks, if you are sending a message to someone who is on
AOL and you get a message back advising you that your email has not reached
the AOL person, DO NOT PANIC, I don't know exactly what it is all about, but
I have had this happen to me and gotten a reply to my message right
afterwards. I can't guarantee this of course, sometimes it means the person
has some kind of security setting or some such nonsense that won't allow
your email in because it isn't on thier "approved" list or whatever,
sometimes between their sending and your replying they have been dumped by
AOL for abuse or the fact that someone has managed to make AOL think they
are abusing. And sometimes I think AOL just randomnly decides it doesn't
like you that day and is not going to accept your message. My nephew sent me
an email about mid day yesterday and I answered it about this time last
night and got a message back telling me he didn't have an account with his
provider. My son then tried from his account and got a message telling him
he was sending a virus, which was bogus, apparently some third party sent a
virus and got my sons email through my nephew and spoofed my sons email
address to everybody in my nephews' address book, at least I think that is
what happened, we still haven't gotten a message through.

Unfortunately when we are emailing people we don't know personally we can't
pick up the phone and say, "hey, did you get my message and you're just to
lazy or busy to reply, or didn't you get it"

That's the biggest reason i always try to reply to folks who contact me or
seem to be trying to contact me, even if I can't possibly help them, I want
them to know that is what the situation is and not leave them wondering if
their message disappered into the great Bill Gates Void or I am just too
arrogant or stupid to answer. I saw a message from some guy the other day
who was talking about hundreds of emails a day he was getting, under those
circumstances you can definitely understand why some folks don't answer
every email.

Les C