AOL and its CompuServe subsidiary are now blocking all e-mails sent from this newsletter's mail server at eogn.com.
Any e-mail sent from the eogn.com mail server to any aol.com or cs.com e-mail address is returned with the following error message:
SMTP error from remote mail server after end of data:
host mailin-01.mx.aol.com [64.12.137.249]: 554-:
(RLY:CH) http://postmaster.info.aol.com/errors/554rlych.html
554 TRANSACTION FAILED
Following that URL leads to a message of "Your IP address has generated AOL member complaints…" The message appears to be bogus as AOL Customer Service this morning told me they have no complaints about eogn.com.
This produces three problems for AOL members:
- When you subscribe to the Plus Edition, a "thank you" message is sent a few seconds later confirming the transaction, your user name, and password. It also tells how to read the current Plus Edition newsletter and the two previous editions online at http://www.eogn.com/plusedition. Due to AOL's block, AOL and CompuServe members will never receive that e-mail message although everyone else will.
- When you forget your user name or password, you can go to http://www.eogn.com/amember/member,php and ask for that information. The user name and password will be sent to you in e-mail. Due to AOL's block, AOL and CompuServe members will never receive that e-mail message although everyone else will.
- Fourteen days before your Plus Edition subscription expires, an automatic renewal notice is sent to you by the mail server. Due to AOL's block, AOL and CompuServe members will never receive that e-mail message although everyone else will.
UPDATE:
I have a suggestion for AOL and CompuServe members: Get a free e-mail account someplace else and use it as a second e-mail address. Gmail, Yahoo Mail and HotMail all provide far better e-mail service than does AOL and they are free. It may seem illogical but almost all the free e-mail services provide a better service than the AOL mail service that you pay for. Both Gmail and Yahoo Mail also have much larger storage space; they won't delete your messages after several months like AOL does.
I am partial towards Gmail at http://www.gmail.com although Yahoo and HotMail do a good job as well. Gmail requires an "invitation" from a friend to join it. If you need one, send an e-mail to gmail-request@eogn.com and I'll send you an invitation.
There is no requirement to replace your AOL e-mail address unless you want to. You can use two e-mail accounts, one at AOL for all your friends and another at Gmail or Yahoo or HotMail to receive newsletters and other e-mail from bulk mail services that you want to receive. That way, you will receive the newsletters from me as well as from Ancestry.com, RootsWeb, the Wall Street Journal, Disney, Consumer Reports and all the other newsletters that AOL blocks.
You can keep two e-mail accounts forever, if you wish, or you can switch all your e-mail to the new address over a period of several months. The choice is yours.
