I eat my peas with honey, I’ve done it all my life
It makes the peas taste funny, but They Sure Stick on the Knife!

I’ve done all my personal computing, 1997 to be exact, on AOL. It was for lack of understanding at the beginning, for familiarity through the years, but truth be told, even after all this time, it is because I am still a little afraid of the internet and I still feel like I will miss something if it is not pre-approved by AOL. So when AOL tells me that I need to do something, I’ve been loyal, they believe and respect me, right? And so I’ll do it. Upgrade my security and firewalls? Sure. Upgrade to the newest version for MY benefit? Nice. A new reporting system to capture where and when a problem with AOL has occurred? Hurrah! I’ll do it.

So just now as I was signing on, once again seeing the all too oft given “encountering a problem, AOL must shut down” but with it was offered a gentle maternal pat and the words that cooed “do you want to report this problem?” I dutifully and hopefully pushed “yes” and in a heartbeat an error report was
1) prepared
2) connected to the server
3) checked for the status of this problem
4) completed

What’s wrong with this picture? The report was generated because of system lock up on connection, furthermore they have now established shutting it down, and yet they are able to prepare/connect/check/send and complete in a flash? One of two things is afoot here: either connectivity is available to them when it is not available to me or… the report is a sham. A lie. A patronizing way to placate the uninformed. NO! Aol wouldn’t do that to a loyal customer. Would they?