We sent BAA Bulletin #313 last week in the same manner that we have been sending Bulletins for several months.  Almost immediately we began receiving e-mails stating that the Bulletin arrived as an attached, zipped file that could not be opened.  After several hours, it was obvious that the problem was an AOL problem.  How did I know that?  Because every single person who wrote to complain of our "new way of sending the Bulletins" had an AOL address.  A few wrote back stating that the problem could not have possibly been caused by AOL.   I am not sure if size was a factor, but it was a large Bulletin.  In any case I am 100% positive that the file was zipped and attached by AOL (possibly because of size restrictions).  Even stranger is the fact that some AOL folks did receive Bulletin #313 in the usual manner. 

I am sending this short note today (without any images) in hope that it will reach the AOL folks.   If you are an AOL user who received a zipped file and you get this copy of the Notes, we would greatly appreciate receiving an e-mail at birdsasart@att.net to that effect.   In any case, if the problem occurs in the future (the next Bulletin should be another large one), the AOL folks will simply have to visit the Bulletin Archives here: http://www.birdsasart.com/bn.html and click on the latest post.

Long time readers already know my feelings with regards to AOL.  Not too long ago AOL black-listed us as spammers every time that we sent a Bulletin.  We would be unable to reply to folks with AOL addresses for 48 hours.  We sent countless e-mails and filled out countless forms until that practice finally stopped. But now they are back <smile>   I have several friends who, despite my long time advice, continue to use AOL.  From what I have seen it is surely the very worst e-mail system on the planet for many, many reasons.   I have long thought that with the huge numbers of customers and such a poor product combined with poor customer service that they should receive some sort of Nobel Prize for advertising....  

If you currently are using AOL, my loving advice is to bite the bullet and switch.  We have both ATT and Verizon accounts and are happy with each of them.

THE BAA BLOG