Christopher Mahan wrote:
You will note that AOL is the only ISP which does not assign session-length IPs for dialup users. This is a technical feature they have decided to implement in order to disallow banning of internet users from non-AOL sites, since by the strength of their numbers they can influence content providers to not block this many potential customers.
When you say "in order to" are you saying that this is their motivation for the way they do this? I doubt it, that's all I'm saying. I mean, if anything, their system (whereby one person may show up at a large number of ips during a single session, as far as a website can see) would likely lead to *more* problems for AOL users than *less*.
You have an option: You can leave AOL and use a different provider.
I disagree completely.
My understanding is that AOL is actually more often at fault for being *overly* zealous about cancelling people's accounts, not for not taking action. I remember reading a story that said that people have been cancelled based on sending a couple of emails to an ex-girlfriend, etc.
I think if anyone says boo about an AOL user, the account will be cancelled.
It just makes good business sense for AOL to be that way. An ISP that is willing to stand up for users who get themselves into trouble on the net is going to incur some serious costs looking into the allegations, sorting out who is right or wrong, etc. Believe me, it's my nearly-fulltime job on Wikipedia. :-)
It's a lot easier to just kick people off -- they aren't the customers you want. The customers you want just pay their money and don't cause any trouble. That's profitable. A person who causes trouble is just going to cost you money in dealing with complaints.
--Jimbo