NOTICE TO AOL SUBSCRIBERS: AOL MAY BE BLOCKING MY REPLIES TO YOU!

I recently received a message from AOL that says they have blacklisted my domain name and will no longer accept emails from me. The message is reproduced below for your information.

The reason is that some spammer is "spoofing" or forging my email address in the "reply to" box of spam emails to AOL subscribers. Enough subscribers have complained that AOL has taken this action. I certainly don't have any hard feelings toward anyone complaining about spam. However, AOL is too stupid, lazy, and/or arrogant to put effective spam filtering in place, and take action to track down and block the real spammers.

Further, in AOL's message to me, they--in clear violation of anti-spam regulations themselves--do not include a valid "reply to" address which would permit me to plead my case. The only redress available to me appears to be a link to a website through which I must surf and troubleshoot by myself. This shifts the burden of effort and cost onto me and ultimately you, the customer.

If you want me to respond to you, please do not send me email from an AOL account. Even if you feel like you are stuck with AOL, you can set up a Hotmail or Yahoo free email account, or send from another computer. I'm very sorry for both of us that AOL has made this necessary.

Curt Scott at www.Kitcar.com has long done battle with AOL over other technical "innovations" that save AOL money, but degrade the quality of YOUR Internet experience. You can read his editorial and tips on getting around some of AOL's "improvements" at http://www.cobracountry.com/aol.html.

I strongly encourage all AOL subscribers to switch to a real Internet Service Provider. I've been in this game long enough to know that there are no great ISPs, but there are certainly many better than AOL. My website and email are hosted at Earthlink and that might be a good start for you. Try http://www.Earthlink.net.

Thanks for your patience and again I apologize for any inconvenience.

AOL Message to me:

The information presently available to AOL indicates this server is generating high volumes of member complaints from AOL's member base. Based on AOL's Unsolicited Bulk E-mail policy at http://www.aol.com/info/bulkemail.html AOL may not accept further e-mail transactions from this server or domain. For more information, please visit http://postmaster.info.aol.com.