AOL's Calacanis: "Pull the Ads"

Weblogs' Jason Calacanis, now part of AOL, is now calling for a removal of the Ambush Advertising on paying customers' AOL Journals.

He writes in his blog:

What happened: AOL added a big-old advertisement to the top of everyone's blog on AOL Journals--without warning them in advance. These leaderboards (an IAB standard size) are fairly large, but not uncommon on the Internets (we have them at the top of all our blogs). Some bloggers were shocked when they had these advertisement sprung on them a week ago, and a small group of folks (less than 100) defected from the service in protest.

From what I've read the service has 600,000 users so losing 100 isn't a big deal on a pure numbers basis, however it's bad from a PR standpoint and I would suspect these are some of the best users of the product.

What we did wrong: The main issues: a) the advertisements were added without user permission (just like the AIM buddies last week!) b) the adverisements were added without warning, and c) when the issue boiled up we had the PR department give the following canned statement:“

The decision to implement banner advertising on AOL Journals is consistent with our business and advertising practices.”

Now that was bad--really bad. We sound like we're freakin' robots, and bloggers do not want to talk to robots. They want to speak with a human being, preferably one who is also a blogger!

Moral of the story?

Someone at AOL gets it - and has the gonads to say so! Now we just need to see if any of AOL's decision makers have the capacity to listen to Calacanis, since they're not listening to us!

AOL Keyword: Clueless

Kathie Brockman of AOL tells the Washington Post that their new practice of invading paid-customer's Journals with unwanted advertising is "consistent with the practices of other major blog providers on the Internet."

Update:

The News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) has picked this story up as well.
And The Journal News.
And Biz Report.
And The Blog Herald.
And The Austin American Statesman.
And The Alameda Times-Star.
And Inside Bay Area.
And The Inquirer (UK).

Stand back and salute. The Bullshit Flag riseth.

I don't see any unwanted advertising here on blogspot.

Guess where a lot of AOL's former long-time customers have gone after AOL ambushed their customers?

AOL apparently considers this part of their "audience strategy" - where they aggressively remain completely oblivious to their audience, pretend to listen to them (while hearing only that which they want to hear), and refuse to give them the courtesy of a reach around.

Is it any wonder AOL is losing customers at break-neck speed?!

Check back soon for an update on whether the AOL Corporate site sets-up shop at AOL Keyword: Clueless.


(Thanks to Yuki Noguchi for hearing our case and running our story!)

The McCain Amendment

We should be asking this question of each and every member of Congress who claims to support the McCain Amendment: If we had credible information regarding an ongoing al Qaeda plot to detonate a nuclear weapon in the continental United States, and we had just taken into custody an al Qaeda militant who was in a position to know where and when the attack was to occur but who was refusing to cooperate, are you saying we would need to let thousands of Americans die rather than harm a hair on the terrorist's head in an effort to extract the information that might save them?

If the answer to that question is "no," you have no business voting for the McCain Amendment. If the answer is "yes," you have no business serving in a government whose first obligation is the security of the governed.

- Andrew McCarthy, National Review: Say "No" to the McCain Amendment

AOL Exodus

Unsurprisingly, there isn't a lot to update you on regarding AOL's "upgrade," but here goes:

AOL has chosen to remain irresponsive.

Various people tell me they have called AOL HQ and were told the advertising was not coming down. (I have not verified this).

Scalzi and Editor Joe are pretending to be happy go lucky about "helping" us work through the recent "upgrade" while focusing on a few minor splinters despite the plank in their eye.

My e-mails to the Executive Office have been read. No response.

I have approached National Press about this. There is some interest.

That's all for now. More to come...



Tag: AntiJournalsAds

Boycott AOL Journals

Silly, to have to post even this entry here... but in anticipation of AOL deleting my entry, or my entire Journal again:

JOIN THE BOYCOTT OF AOL JOURNALS!

- Until the advertising is gone, you will find me at http://armandt.blogspot.com/

__________________________________

Pardon my flair for the obvious...

AOL has thrown-down with advertising on our PAID Journals?!

Not that I pay while "enjoying" 18 free months of service compliments of an AOL "ERROR" (see keyword: SNAFU), but mine is a 'paid' account.

What if I have moral objections against the companies AOL is advertising on my journal?

What if I simply don't want that crap on my journal?!

WTF, AOL? Take that shit down!

Come to think of it, I do have a moral objection to the Bank of America advertising on my Journal. Bank of America does an absolutely horrible job of managing the Government Travel Card program that service members are REQUIRED to use. I don't want my journal used to advertise - especially for companies that are held in such low regard by service members like myself!

That didn't take very long, now, did it?

Comments left - so far - at Magic Smoke:

Joe,

The advertising on our paid Journals is INTOLERABLE.

The advertising goes, or your customers go.

Armand
http://journals.aol.com/armandt/sense

Comment from armandt - 11/15/05 8:08 AM

I will add one more voice to what is going to be a large list of complaining customers. Please tell AOL that the advertising on our journals... that which we have already paid for, is disgusting and unacceptable. Its like a slap in the face. If AOL doesn't learn quickly from this mistake, I will be looking elsewhere to journal. I am a long long long time AOL member (since 1993!), and this is the most offensive thing AOL has done.
Virginia

Comment from ecori - 11/15/05 7:36 AM

Journals now look like trash this morning. If I wanted a seizure-inducing ad at the top of my blog....... well............ I Don't. This is ridiculous and I would like to know who thought it was a good idea to ruin the look of OUR journals with YOUR advertising. I am completely disgusted Joe and cannot believe that someone even dreamed that this was acceptable.

I also cannot ad or save an entry to my journal....... is it because of this tinkering overnight????????

I want these ads off my journal.

judi
Comment from judithheartsong - 11/15/05 7:22 AM

Dear Joe,

I pay AOL-HELL $54.95, a month for my broad band service and this morning I wake up to ads on my journal headers. ???? Joe, I want these off of my journals. As much as I pay for my service I should not, nor should my readers be subjected to spam advertising. If they are not removed, I will be moving my journals elsewhere and going with another server for broadband that is exactly $20.00 cheaper than AOL-Hell a month.

Gabreael


http://journals.aol.com/gabreaelinfo/GabreaelsBodyMindSpiritJournal/

http://journals.aol.com/eparanormal/EasternParanormal/
Comment from gabreaelinfo - 11/15/05 7:12 AM

Joe, I cannot ADD / EDIT my own journal??? But I certainly can read the new add on top of it that AOL kindly put there. Whats wrong with this picture??? I need this fixed - I Pay for this service , I dont need an advertisement on my own blog.

Ellen
http://journals.aol.com/eml625/Onedayatatime
Comment from eml625 - 11/15/05 6:51 AM

I am going to repeat what the others said, I am unable to update my journal and what's with the add banners? I thought only AIM users had to see that???? Please let us know when we will be able to use our Journals again, thanks so much!

Gwen
aka Jadejonez04
Comment from jadejonez04 - 11/15/05 6:50 AM

Joe, Joe, Joe, I have a complaint to make . . . why does AOL feel they can advertise in our journals that we keep now?? I pull up my journal this morning to find that Bank of America is prominently displayed at the topof my journal. We PAY for this service correct? Why do we have no say on where and how AOL uses advertisements? I mean, what's next? Advertisements for Viagra on my journal?! I am not surprised people are leaving AOL by the thousands. This is not good customer service at all!
Lisa
http://journals.aol.com/lisbnjvi/LisasMommyJournal/
Comment from lisbnjvi - 11/15/05 6:46 AM

Well, I'm logged on to my screen name "bookncoffee" but for the life of me CANNOT update my journal as there is no "button" to do so. And I also see we are running ads at the top now. I don't like that b/c it defaces the journal and takes away from how we want it to look. I'll log off and log back on again. I came to your journal hoping to see what was going on. You know we always let you know when we don't like something...but I will say that I enjoy AOL and enjoy journaling and know that you all try to fix things we have trouble with or don't like.
Thanks for that.
Sonya
Comment from bookncoffee - 11/15/05 6:32 AM

Tag: AntiJournalsAds

He Finally Said It...

"while it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began."

- President Bush, Commander-in-Chief
Transcript: WaPo

Freedom Costs a Buck-o-Five

Freedom isn't free.

Therefore, your friendly Presidential Administration has implemented new plans to finance the truly-global war against "Freedom Fighters" who just want someone to hug their nuts while they lop our heads off and round-up our daughters for their pool of virgins they owe to yesterday's "martyrs."

Did I mention I'm intrigued by the disparity in the vocalized anger between what a relatively few bad soldiers do (and actually pay the price for), as compared to the same people's anger over what these mere "Freedom Fighters" are doing every time they get the chance? But I digress...

A few weeks ago, the McHitlerburton Administration resolved to create victims of opportunity in order to garner additional financial support to accomplish it's goal of global domination. As you know, suicide bombers presented themselves in Amman, Jordan shortly thereafter.

Surely, the King of Jordan's ire will result in a small tip for King George's tip jar... probably somewhere around a buck-o-five.

Ok. So I pulled that out of my fourth point of contact and it's completely unsupportable tripe that no one would sign-off on. Right?

Probably not. Let's see how long before the conspiracy theories start floating in from the Michael Moore crowd. If you see one, drop a link in comments for me, huh?

Meanwhile, I'll be putting-in my buck-o-five and maybe antagonizing the spitting protesters if I can find them this weekend at Veteran's Day observances.

Image: The Statue of Freedom, which now resides atop the U.S. Capitol Building

Bigamist Judge Walter Steed

Meet Walter Steed:

- Judge
- Husband
- Husband, and...
- Husband.

That's right. Steed the Stud has three wives... who are sisters. He likes it that way and supposes he can do his job just fine, despite the fact that he is breaking the laws he swore to uphold.

Utah's Judicial Conduct Commission placed their flare for the obvious on the line by finding him to be a bigamist; however, studly Steed is not being placed on administrative leave. Apparently, third-degree felonies punishable by up to 5 years of milk and cookies and the local country club (ok, so they call it "prison"... I call it what it is) are not enough to remove a judge from the bench.

I guess it's all ok, though, because the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints (a Mormon break-away sect) says it's ok - and Utah is not the boss of them!

A-yep. If you kin gitcherself a reelijin t' say "m'kay," den you gots no worryin t' do... 'ts all good.

A-no.

We are a nation of laws for a reason. We don't pick and choose what laws to follow when and if we want, and people who choose to break our laws must be subject to the penalties for breaking those laws.

Steed suggests he can still do his job despite his disregard for the law, and wants to know why he should be removed as long as he can do his job.

"Can?" Try "May." Anyone "can" do their job after robbing the local kwik-e-mart, beating their wives and step-children, or firing up a joint, but that doesn't mean they should get to stay on the job. What they "may" not do is break the law simply because their religion says it's ok.

Think I'm full of it? Stick to those guns when Usama bin Rapin' moves next door to your house and takes a liking to your 13-year old daughter who he thinks is meant to be one of his 72 virgins. His religion told him it's ok.

If you don't like our laws, then work to change them - through your LEGISLATOR, not your judge. And if you are a judge, you don't get to legislate from the bench and you DON'T get to pack your three wives into the car for the family vacation. Defend our laws or get off the friggin' bench!

Meanwhile, the Utah Attorney General and Washington County Prosecutor both decline to prosecute Steed. These two need to go down for some kind of Accessory crime. Period.

Steed is free to go on expressing his religious beliefs, but breaking the law comes with a price.

It's time for Steed to pay.

Despite Media Battle, Terrorists Fail to Stop Progress in Iraq

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2005 – Despite a desperate media battle in Iraq, terrorists are failing to stop Iraqis from advancing on the political and security fronts, a senior military official in Baghdad told reporters Oct. 30.

"To the terrorists, the media is a vital force multiplier," said Air Force Brig. Gen. Donald Alston, director of strategic communications for Multinational Force Iraq during a briefing at the Combined Press Information Center in Baghdad.

That's why terrorists targeted Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, a base for many media outlets, during an Oct. 24 car bombing, Alston said. He called the bombing a signature al Qaeda attack, set to inflict as much death and destruction as possible while guaranteeing maximum media coverage.

"(Terrorists) attempt to use the media to appear more capable than they really are and to intimidate others with attack videos and Web site postings," Alston said. Desperate because they can't gain credibility any other way, they resort to "mindless destruction at the media's front doorstep," he said.

A letter from al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, reflects that desperation, Alston said. Intelligence operatives intercepted the letter before it reached its intended recipient, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the main leader of terrorists in Iraq.

"We are in a media battle in a race for the hearts and minds of the (followers of Islam)," Zawahiri wrote, acknowledging that it's al Qaeda's only hope of success in Iraq.

But despite their efforts, "Zawahiri, Zarqawi and others have failed to stop the march toward democracy time and time again," Alston told reporters.

Terrorists failed to stop January elections, the seating and meeting of the Transitional National Assembly, and the drafting of the constitution and the referendum approving it, he said. "They will also fail to stop the elections in December," he said. Iraq's parliamentary elections are slated for Dec. 15.

Alston congratulated the 10 million Iraqis who voted during the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum. Eight million supported the draft constitution, and 2 million opposed it. These people, regardless of how they voted, seized the opportunity to decide their country's future and build a new Iraq, he said.

"A new Iraq is what they will have with the December elections when they select a permanent government," Alston said.

As the political process advances, Iraq's security forces are gaining in numbers and capability, he said. More than 207,000 Iraqi soldiers and police are patrolling the country's streets and borders, and the number of Iraqi battalions taking the lead in combat operations has jumped 50 percent since July.

"These additional forces allow us to continue to put pressure on the enemy every day of the week, and it is paying off," Alston said.

Meanwhile, the "un-biased" media and MoveOn.DemocratUnderground@NPR.DNC will tell you that we're making NO progress in Iraq and that we need to pull out yesterday.