ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Should Paying AOL Customers Really Be Upset Over Ads Being Placed in Personal Emails?

Updated on February 25, 2009

 Today I got an email from my friend Beth. Beth normally does not email me seeing that we talk more on Myspace and Facebook than we do through our personal email accounts.

Today however she had something urgent to tell me, so she felt it would get to me faster if she sent it to me through email.

I got her email, but noticed something horrendous going on in her personal email to me.

Her email had an ad placed at the top, an ad placed in the middle, and 2 ads placed at the very end of her message.

I was pissed off and disgusted for her... and I honestly don't even think she realizes how pissed off she herself should have been.

AOL was using my friend as a tool. Pretty much using dear ole Beth to send out some advertising, spam if you will; crap that no one wants to see in a personal email no less.

I quit AOL ages ago because I hated their service, hated their customer service, and hated the way the rep talked to me when I went to cancel their shit service.

I got to thinking that Beth should either receive a discount for the ad placements, or get free AOL service. I mean hell, every email she sends contains links, which are nothing more than money making opportunities for AOL, and no one else.

I took my search online to see if anyone else was pissed off by the AOL in email ad placements. I found a slew of angry customers. All of them had pages and pages of non-stop complaining and moaning over these ads being placed in their personal emails, and honestly I was all on board, and on their side... until...

I realized...

I pay close to $100 a month for Cablevision, and I get ads upon ads upon ads all invading  my normal programming schedule.

I don't get a discount, I don't get free service. I pay for this shit. I pay to have Cable place advertising within the programs I watch. I pay for the interruptions, the ads and nothing is offered to me.

I guess seeing that ad placements in emails is relatively a new concept to people, it just pisses them off. A lot of things piss people off, but at least with AOL people have the choice to simply cut the chord with their services, instead they find excuses on why they need to keep their shitty AOL accounts.

Where I am from Cablevision is pretty much Monopoly. No Fios, no nothing of that sort. Nothing else but Cablevision is offered... that is unless you want to pay for Satellite which is absolutely horrendous. If the wind blows, the TV goes.

So before all you blokes run out to add your name to some class action lawsuit against AOL for the email ads, realize that every time you turn the tube on, you pay to watch those fucking commercials too.

The world won't ever be free from Ads. I do however think AOL placing them in personal emails is just about as low as they can go. I feel for the customers plagued with this crap, but at the same rate... you have choices... lots of them.

 

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)