The demise of AOL Journals & The Skateboard

That's what you get when you try to view the original Slapinons site, home to this blog for just shy of four years. It's a shame, and I'll miss it. RIP.

I'm very annoyed at AOL. You might have picked up on my absence here for much of the last week. About the time of YaYa's birthday I realized that about 1000 of my blog's pictures - 1021 to be exact - failed to move over to Blogger.

That meant I had to download the pictures, one by one, from AOL Hometown, then upload them all to Photobucket, then go spreading the new html around the site like pixie dust. I managed to save all the pictures but didn't get them on the site in time. No worry, really. The erroneous code is still in place, and so when I find an entry with a big red 'x' I just adjust the code.

Still, what a pain.

* * * *

The other week some workers left behind a trio of skateboards. With the business owner's permission I took one home, intending to keep it for an older Smiley. But the kids caught wind of it and wanted to try it out. They weren't very good at it and could barely get it moving (unless they held onto my hand as I walked alongside).













It was a beautiful evening. Sorry about all the blurry/grainy pics, but my camera phone isn't exactly the best in low-light.

Like Joe Mac says, it's officially ovah

Like the lyric's say, it's officially over.

Yesterday I added the 123 comments from my off-site guest book to the corresponding entries, threw the pictures of the Inauguration on three posts I did in January of '05 . . . and then I sat around looking for something else to do, some reason to stick around and delay leaving my beloved AOL site.

In the end there was nothing, and I realized I was hanging around solely for sentimental reasons. I logged onto Blogger and portered the site over, then spent some time trying to gussy up the site. It's still pretty plain, but I'll work on it.

So that's it. Just like that 3 years, 11 months and a week of blogging is kaput. Sure, I'll carry on and I don't want to make this into more than it is, but AOL was the scrapbook for a HUGE portion of my life. Not chronologically of course, but in terms of pure value.

Looking over my old entries I saw YaYa's first ever day of school, pictures of LuLu as a rambunctious toddler (man, do you forget how they change when you see them everyday!), and shots of Smiley as a baby - in fact, I remember running home from the hospital to post a picture of him the very day he was born.

[Last night I showed him those posts and he argued, in Smiley-speak, that I was wrong. 'Bay-bee!' he said forcibly, time and again. Apparently he believes he was put on this Earth fully formed as a toddler ;)]

There are comments about my Grandma's reactions to posts, and there is the post about her passing away. There are posts about big events like that and small but special things that I'd long forgotten, like LuLu having a rare accident on the floor during her potty-training or stopping for a burger in D.C.

During the four years this blog chronicled our family grew by two children, we bought our own home, I was promoted and left third shift, and most importantly the New Kids on the Block reunited (I kid, I kid - that's no more than the 10th most important item from those years).

Two things I notice from the old posts: I had a consistent and public desire to improve the product that was AOL Journals, dating back to posts of April of '05. Many of the items I groused about led to the insular, niche mentality that doomed these journals, and it's sad to see the writing on the wall even then. Second, while I look more or less the same ol' same ol', my wife looks 10,000 times hotter than she did when we were in the midst of expanding this family. That may sound like a half-assed compliment, but trust me - I thought she was hot then, but I'm a much bigger fan today :)

Anyhow, adios AOL. To paraphrase whoever, we really knew ye.

You can find me now at www.slapinions.blogspot.com

If you typically enter via www.slapinions.net, it will still direct you here until the end of the month, when I'll have it start to point to Blogger.

See you on the flip side and remember - last one out, please turn out the lights.

Goodbye!


Tags: The End

Blogger Progress, Smiley, Runway

I portered over my test blog to blogger today and it went very well. As for Slapinions proper, there is still housekeeping to do before the move. As a 'for instance' I'm adding pics to my posts from my time at the Presidential Inauguration in '05, and I need to move over all the comments from the non-AOL comment site I used for a few years. I could do it post-move, but I'd rather wrap it up nice and tidy in a format I'm used to working in.

* * *

On a personal note I'm eating like SH*T - well, not quite. I haven't had a candy bar in two months and I have avoided pizza in recent weeks, but I've hit the brownies and starches hard. Argh, scratch that. At work (where the problem seems to be the worst) I had pizza the other day, nasty greasy eat-it-with-a-spoon pie :(. I also chowed on ice cream cake today, but we'll explain that later on in our program.

I have, however, kept up the exercise, taking the kids out for bike rides even as the weather grows harsher. Today, for example, I tossed the three youngest in the bike trailer and headed out for a brisk 15 minute ride. Hills that used to stop me now fly by with barely a notice, which is great, and I've grown rather fond of the 'burn' in my calves after a bit. Now I just have to find a good winter activity to keep me at a 'reasonable' size .

* * * *

Great family night. LuLu, who really enjoys helping in the kitchen, helped Lisa make breaded pork chops and scalloped potatoes. We had to pass the pork off as 'chicken' to the kids, even the assistant chef. They tore it up, but tell them it's anything else and they'd go 'ewwww'.

Afterwards the bike ride and some time in the backyard, where Smiley gently scolded Lump by saying 'Bay beee', which floored me. When I asked him to repeat it he couldn't, but it was clear as day.

Later the whole family (minus the sleeping Lump) cuddled on our bed to watch Project Runway. LuLu is a big fashion nut and nearly every morning it's an ordeal to get her dressed because she wants things 'just so', so we knew she'd love Runway.

YaYa and Lisa rooted for Leanne, Lu and I for Kenley. Both girls wanted Jerrell voted off because of his gender and got their wish, but I'd have kicked Kato (sp?) to the curb myself.

[I was proud of Lu for identifying Kato by saying 'the woman with the dark skin' rather than as 'the black girl'. It seems a miniscule point in print, but out loud it was a nice confirmation that, at least as of now, she views color as a secondary or minor trait.]

During the show Smiley sat fidgeting, bored out of his mind. And then again, out of nowhere, he said 'Bay beee', and this time could repeat it on command. Lisa and I gave him a big hug and told him we were proud of him, and you should have seen the grin on that kids face!

A teacher at the girl's school said Smiley would do fine there next year. I'd have bought the argument if she hadn't gone ahead and said she'd had 'lot's of kids that didn't talk at the start of the year' but wound up jibber-jabbering by spring. I like the woman and she's a fine teacher, but I'm about up to my neck in yahoos writing off his problem as 'something that'll just go away' or that came about because we don't 'make' him talk.

My vote - and Lisa and I differ here - is that he stays where he is, not only because they know him and his needs, but because the girl's school is at times a vain place, and I won't have my son singled out as an 'oddity' by anyone.

We'll see.

Uncle Karol

In September 1939, on a quiet farm in Western Poland, my Great Uncle Karol was busy tending his cows when he saw a cloud of dust on the horizon. A few minutes later he happily ran into his house, bursting with excitement.

"Marta, come quick!," he said. "Those German boys are coming early for Oktoberfest this year! Maybe they vill bring sum beer!"

If I truly had a Great Uncle Karol - and I wouldn't put it past my gene pool - then he was no more a fool than I was this morning. It serves me right for seeing a banner ad from AOL and posting about how it may be (golly gee!) the long awaited 'save' function for our journals. Poof! - it turns out AOL Journals is going under.

Dear AOL Journals user,

We're sorry to inform you that on Oct. 31, 2008, AOL® Journals will be shut down permanently. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

It is very important that you save your Journals content before the shutdown. We're working on a way to easily move your Journal to another blogging service -- you can expect an email within the next week with more details about how to do it. We want the transition to go as smoothly as possible for you, so you'll have two choices. You can either save your information manually and find another place to blog on your own, or let us handle the migration for you and automatically transfer your Journal to a different blogging service.

In the meantime, please bookmark the People Connection Blog, where you can find out more about AOL Journals. You can also subscribe to the People Connection Blog RSS feed to stay informed about any changes. We'll be updating the People Connection Blog often, so please check it regularly.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we make this transition. We look forward to getting your blog settled into its new home.

Sincerely,

The AOL Journals Team

 

What crap. What absolute boondoggle. I'll let you in on a little secret. For months I have been sooo excited to reach my 4th anniversary here in early November and have tried like mad to have it coincide with my 1000th Journal entry (counting this one I'm at 954). It is irrational how hurt I am to learn that will not be allowed to happen.

 

What's worse, for three years I remained skeptical about this whole 'JLand' community, never reaching out, never joining in except on rare occasions. That's all changed in the last year, and I can't fathom not having a steady stable of Journals to read each night.

 

I will set up another blog somewhere else - I can't not spew words - and AOL has promised to porter over all content, including pictures and video. With due respect, I'm not going to rely on that. This journal includes four years worth of memories, of events, of relationships. That's too important to be trusted to AOL alone, so a webmaster friend of mine is calling tonight to come up with a backup solution.

 

Meanwhile I'm going to pretend everything is hunky-dory and leave the tears to October 31st. :)

Tags: screw AOL, blogplugs, the end of the line

Calling all J-Landers

Does anyone else have a banner across their journal that reads 'A blogger is always prepared. Don't be left behind. Learn how to backup and save your information now,'?

When I click on it it goes to the AOL People Connection page but refuses to load. I've tried the link on two different computers and nada.

Is this the long awaited save and print option for our journals? [insert excited smiley here] Can someone in Jlaand verify it one way or the other?

Thanks!

aoljpictureUpload, aoljpictureUpload_1, aoljaolPictureAdd, aoljaolPictureAdd_1

A Request for Help for a Fellow JLander, Sorrow for a Departed Friend, and Thanks for an Award!

I've been perusing http://journals.aol.com lately, and despite its many flaws I like the 'recently updated blogs' list. I'll often pop on to a blog I haven't seen before and take a look. You'd be suprised - or perhaps not - at the many great blogs on AOL, and the few that are absolutely dreadful.

My favorites tho' are the odd ones, the 'my minister is sleeping with my grandpa and they are plotting to kill the mayor because he's a Republican from Jupiter' versions.  And these people seem absolutely serious.

Sweet.

One of the brand new one's I stumbled on was Roses are Read (a nifty play on words, I think). She's brand new to the web and I've tried helping her with a few issues she's had here in JLand.

The trouble is she's now attempting to add music to her entries. I've always been print-centric and loathe to include anything that couldn't eventually be printed out - even my Youtube entries make me squirm - so I have no clue how to do it.

I've tried to help but it's no go. If you know how to do this, please stop by her site.

* * *

While trying to help her I came across the help site of Pam from One Girls Head Noise, a woman who was very kind and helpful to me when I started out here. She passed away in '06 but even now she reached out a helping hand.  Her alternate site is full of hints and tricks, and worth a look whenever you're stuck. A link to her site even created the license plate at the start of this entry.

Man, I really do miss Pam.

* * * *

I was flattered to receive my first award or recognition here in JLand, and it came from across the pond. Over at Villiage Life I was put up for a Nice Matters award with the following kind words:

I have only been looking in on Dan's journal for a few weeks now but he sure has a way with words and has a lovely family.

Thanks for the kind words. As you all can see I've loaded the award graphic in the sidebar and will display it with pride.

* * *

Ok, I really don't care and probably won't even watch, but as an American I'm obliged to give my Super Bowl picks. My head says the Patriots (gag) by a TD or more, but the rest of me is hoping the Giants take it by 3.

Tags: SuperBowl

A follow up on our efforts w/ AOL Journals

I want to thank everyone who stopped by and supported our efforts to get a save and print option for our Journals.

Just so everyone knows I didn't give up the cause, I sent the following letter to some AOL editors.

"To all AOL Editors:

 

Last week I used my blog to request that AOL give us a means of making our journals a little more permanent, either by creating a ‘save’ feature or a ‘printable’ version of each entry.

 

http://journals.aol.com/slapinions/Slap-Inionscom/entries/2008/01/13/to-all-aol-journalers/2206

 

The entry seemed to hit a nerve in J-Land, since as of this writing nearly a hundred journalers have stopped by to lend their support in the comment section of that post. And small wonder – for most of us our journals are scrapbooks and biographies recording entire years of our life.

 

Each of these journals represents not only a valued customer but a consistent source of ad revenue. Remember, an ad banner runs across every page of an AOL Journal. There are many blogs that post dozens of entries a month and garner hundreds of hits or more- with each visit putting money in AOL’s pocketbook.

 

We ask again that AOL create both a save and a print option for our journals as soon as possible.

 

Thank you,

 

Dan (aka slapinions) and luddie343, hunybea4him, midwestvintage, mutualaide, manda2177, mleighin21st, rebuketheworld, sunnyside46, deshelestraci, irisheyes1929, merry1621, quartrlyfecrysis, oddb0dkins, fowfies, ladymagnolia1963, heavenlybama, helmswondermom, ma24179, jeanno43, maryajacobs5, jibaro6543,sybilsybil45, mariealicejoan, libragem007, redpoppy007, tendernoggle, ora4uk, wwfbison, blazensun, winivere2002, chasferris, gaboatman, thegirlnexdoor77, innxdoor, sylviam4000, easteeleco, southernmush, onemoretina, jhorky, layla44808, preciousone25, slimhawk,lsfp1960, stupidsheetguy, bojgill4375, justplainbill, jckfrstross, shrbrisc, magran42, barbpinion, nelishianatl, sdoscher458, cacklinrosie101, abaleman666, yakima127, kaydeejay5449, rdautumnsage, justaname4me2, bhbner2him, peytonswater, memes121, seraphoflove9001, astoriasand, oldetownephotos, lv2trnscrb, csandhollow, valphish, luvrte66, labdancer51, nightmaremom, jackiepie,aniracj, gehi6, madcobug, adlessor, thebaabee, bgilmore725, monponsett, catslittertray,bookncoffee, pharmolo, specialadyfink, kirkbyj05, edwardssoapy, geocachelinda66, jeanno43, rap4143,jeadie05, scotthlori, kellwitch, chevyz71gurl74, alphawoman1, astaryth,jeannescorsone, fisherkristina, quartrlyfecrysis, gaboatman, abaleman666, kirkbyj05

 

* * *

I wanted to send it to the editors/authors of all the 'editor blogs' located on the AOL Journals homepage (http://journals.aol.com) but the vast majority open to standard web sites, so I was unable to obtain their screenames. Moreover many of the blogs state that they've moved on to .com addresses.

Why AOL editors would choose to blog in a format completely unlike what they offer us is open for debate.

In the end the email went to:

 -----Original Message-----
From: ">slapinions@aol.com
To: JournalsEditor@aol.com Williammorris@aol.com" _nanciymeng@aol.com; leonaoflaherty@aol.com
Sent: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 4:46 pm
Subject: AOL Journals

But as it turns out nancyimeng has changed her email address so I forwarded it on to here new one: nancie.meng@corp.aol.com.

I'm also going to pop on Magic Smoke and copy the email into a comment there.

I'll let you all know what, if anything, I hear.

UPDATE: Mere hours after sending the email, I received this:

Thanks for the email on this!
Would printing to a PDF file be useful?

 ______________________________________________________________________________
William Morris
We've got Community! Try our new People Connection... http://peopleconnection.aol.com

 

Could a solution be on the horizon??

Tags: blogplugs

To All AOL Journalers

My names Dan, aka Slapinions, and I'd like your help in pushing AOL to create a means of permanently saving and printing the contents of our journals.

It only makes sense. For most of us our journals are records of our lives, our thoughts, our successes and failures. Although it was by accident and not design, my journal has taken the place of our old scrapbooks. I've used mine to record the birth of two of my children. My son's entire life to date is online, and so is my oldest's first day of school, my second daughter's Christmas program, and more.  

 I've wrote about the death of a family friend and my Grandmother, eulogized my heroes, denounced wrongs, goofed around, and rambled about current events.

In theory, someday I'd like my grandchildren and their children to read a bit of the blog to know just what Great-Grandpa was really like.

It's important to me dang it, and I've grown to love this tiny little bit of cyberspace.

So what happens if AOL glitches out and loses the blog? What happens if they decide to abandon Journals altogether? What if my charming personality offends the wrong person and the journal or screename goes zap?

So here is what I propose: come up with a means of permanently saving each entry in a printable format. Nothing fancy, just keep the basic 'look' of each journal and ensure that all text and non-animated graphics remain intact.

Give us a means of saving the journal as a whole in this format, and/or allow us 'printable' individual entries.

That's it.

Sure it's a free service, but they slap that ad on top of our sites don't they? Every page view your journal receives earns AOL another $ in advertising revenue. The least they could do is waste a few programming hours on giving us what we want.

If you agree, leave a comment. As far as I'm concerned your comment is a 'signature' on this makeshift petition to AOL.

Thanks and good luck,

Dan

Tags: blogplugs, AOL, print journals, save journals

Comments from non AOL users

A few years back I was fed up with the difficulty non-AOL users had in commenting on my journal, so I added a link on each entry to an off-site guestbook that doubled as a comments page.

I've long since given up on it, in part because the circle of frequent commentors has become smaller and smaller.

Tonight I stumbled on this comment by AOL in the Magic Smoke Journal - I guess you don't have to sign up for AOL or AIM to comment nowadays:

Just to set the record straight, you are no longer restricted to AIM or AOL screen names. You can use your email address as your screen name. So, for instance if your email address is krissy@yahoo.com, you can use that as your AIM screen name.

You can see that option on the sign-in page where it says "Screen Name or E-mail" and also when you go to get an Account.

Another user authentication system that is garnering attention is OpenID. With this you can use your blog url as your ID and sign in to any of the sites that support OpenID.  AOL supports OpenID, but the experience is less than optimal right now. Hence we have not implemented it on Journals. But it is something that we will addressing down the road.

Times change, things improve . . anyhow, I found it interesting.

WTF???!!!

Ok, now I'm pis**ed.

I jump onto Slapinions tonight to do a post, and the hit counter reads '7'

Seven.

Last year I was up to more than 30,000 and the hit counter went to zero.

Then it goes back up to ~5,000.

And down to zero.

Today it was up to 1340-ish and again . . .

Ugh.

Look, a hit counter is nothing but a visual expression of an ego trip. I realize that. But it means something to me, and more to the point the continued problem means AOL is doing jack to fix the problem.

I know you can reset your own hit counter, but I shouldn't have to do it.

I'm not going to make any rash comments about leaving AOL, even though I have slapinions.com ready to go whenever I want . . but I like AOL, and I like this journal, and I can even tolerate the gawd-awful term "J-Land".

But WTF.

Ugh.

Update: Well, hot dog! I just added a site meter counter in the 'about me' section per one of the comments on this post.

Pam

I was horrified to hear that Pam aka  His1Desire passed away after a relatively brief battle with lung cancer.

When I first started on AOL Journals Pam was the one and only person who answered my emails when I pleaded for help navigating around my blog. Because of her, this site improved dramatically. I'm forever grateful to her, and regret that my discomfort with her illness limited the amount of time I spent on her site near the end.

She is missed.

Well, I never

I was going to log on and write a post about Parker's 1st birthday party, but I arrived to find that the AOL counter has again reset itself.

From 30,500 visitors I'm back down to 105.

The hel* with that.

I don't feel much like spending much time on this lousy service right about now. I'm sure I'll get over my hissy fit, but c'mon . . .

Thanks Joe

Much obliged to Journals Editor Joe for his quick and correct solution to the problem of the day - namely, the fact that my hit counter reset to zero.

30,000? Hard to Believe

It is hard to believe, but very soon - possibly even today - this site will reach 30,000 visitors.

(full disclosure: more like 29,600 as I've viewed the site at least 400 times. Whoopdeedoo - I'm not going to celebrate 30,400, for Pete's sake)

Should you be the happy visitor to tip the scales, send me a screen capture and I'll promote your blog and praise your name to the high heavens :)

I'll update later today, with some luck.

On Banner Ads and Other Schtuff

I've kept mum on the whole banner-ad controversy because I didn't want to offend anyone involved. Like the saying goes - as far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with everyone. Still, since everyone else has sounded off . . .

For those of you not on AOL, here's the problem:  the powers-that-be have decided to add banner ads across the top of AOL Journals. This has caused a major upheal in J-Land, as journal after journal has defected to other services or screamed bloody murder over the deed.

My opinion? Really, I could care less.

If you hate the ads and feel it violates your personal 'space', I sympathize.

But I don't notice the ads any more than I notice those littering a hundred pages more interesting and well-known than mine across the web. I certainly don't assume the writer condones or promotes the advertisers. And while I think AOL could have come up with something prettier, it conveniently blends into the color scheme of my journal.

Let me hedge my bets by saying this: I am a bit of a writing whore, which is, I believe, the whole point of writing. What did Mark Twain say? Something about how only a fool writes for free. . .

Or maybe that was my wife . . .

Put it this way: If the Democratic National Committee - for me, a mere step below the Chicago Bears/Minnestota Vikings on the 'hate 'em' meter for this Wisconsinite - wants to throw me a thin dime in exchange for an ad on my page, I'll be happy to send them my paypal address.

To sum it up, I don't really feel offended/hurt/violated/annoyed/betrayed/happy/sad about this issue. I'll keep reading those folks who've migrated off to other lands, not because they're banner-free, but because they're worth reading.

Which is, I would assume, the main reason advertisers thought it was worth their $ to slap an ad on their page in the first place.

******

BTW - here's a shout out to Vortexgirl, who put together a nice little ditty that mentioned me back on the 14th. I'd like to add more url's to my favorites here, but it appears I've plum run out of room . . . maybe AOL can use some of that ad money to buy some more space for my favorite places :)

 

 

The First Ever AOL Journals Guest Editor! June 17th

When AOL asked me to be their first-ever AOL Journals Guest Editor I was flattered.  

Flattered, and a little upset.

After all, the gig included posting a pic of me on the AOL Journals homepage.

With so many gorgeous pictures of me out there, how could I be expected to narrow it down to just one?  

Joe, the (paid) Journals editor, asked that I do two things: come up with a list of eight sites I'd recommend, on or off AOL, and do it with a theme in mind. Or not.  

I tried to go with a daddy-blog theme in honor of Father's Day, but aside from my site, there seem to be very few blogs written from a father's perspective. I know - I even asked other bloggers for recommendations, and they came up blank.  

(if you know of any, tell me about 'em. We'll form a club. A small one.)  

So instead I went anti-theme, picking out a wide variety of blogs on different subjects. I skipped my AOL faves - AlphaWoman, One Girl's Head Noise, Random, (sometimes) photoblog, etc - as I think they've all been featured as Editor's Picks before.  

First, there's Tom's Astronomy Blog, a fine site that routinely puts out great picsand articles on what's going on in - er, outside our world. Don't worry, you won't need a science degree to enjoy the blog as he keeps it simple and entertaining. And purty.  

For another view of space - this time from the point of view of an ET with an abnormal interest in Bigfoot, check out Not Paranoid.  

PostSecret is something a little different. People are encouraged to anonymously submit postcards bearing their most private, funniest - and sometimes darkest - secrets.

ColdHearted Truth is a political blog that leans right but encourages some spirited debates in its comments and community blog section. He has his flaws (he's a Minnesota Vikings fan, which to a Wisconsinite like me is just plain disgusting) but his solid blog more than makes up for it. He even has a section of his site devoted to, of all things, American Idol.

 No One's Child is a book written chapter by chapter on a blog. Based on the author's own abusive childhood, this site quickly became a favorite of my wife.

The author of The Mad Perseid was born in the Soviet Union, settled in Canada, and moves his opinions to the web on a regular basis.  

I'd say the web site created by the author of my favorite comic, Arlo and Janis, qualifies as a blog. Each day's commentary links to the current strip and some of his archived work. Neat little fact: my favorite author, Robert B. Parker, not only mentions the strip in his books, but has been featured in it in return.  

(btw, if you like Parker, check out Bullets and Beer, a great site devoted to the Spenser novels.)  

Lastly, I did find one blog that is written from a father's point of view: The Squatch.  

Go take a look, and don't forget to tell 'em Slapinions sent you.

[BTW - Shameless self promotion: please check out my own online home here at Slapinions, a mix of Erma Bombeckish family posts, comedy,photos, politics, and more.  

You'll find a nifty little intro to my site in the All About Me section. I think you'll enjoy your visit, and I hope to see you again soon.]  

Happy Father's Day  

 

Dan aka Slapinions  

Comment on this Post (non AOL)          View Comments

Yay!!

Just now my pics popped back onto my storage space and are once again showing up on the site. Thanks to everyone who offered their voice on my behalf and (for once) thanks to AOL!

Yet another reason to move away from AOL

Begining last night, pictures have been deleted from my AOL storage space, apparently by some unknown glitch on their end. Three yesterday, seven so far today.

I've contacted AOL and they seem genuinely concerned but have provided me no means of fixing or arresting this problem. Their service reps have filed two reports  to their technical department on my behalf but admit I won't be contacted when/if the problem is diagnosed or fixed.

If nothing else, having a bunch of blank boxes on my site makes it a wee bit less impressive to first time visitors.

How crappy.

Okay, I goofed

I think I screwed myself. A few days ago I tinkered with my journal and  made it 'private' for all of maybe an hour. 
 
Thatmishap ended any automatic feeds that were linked to the journal through AOL itself. 
 
If I'm wrong, or if you never had one, then ignore this post.

But if you once received email updates from Slapinions, you'll have to sign up all over again.

Sorry

 

Update from AOL

In my earlier post about AOL Journals I mentioned an AOL-Staffer's website that skirted one of AOL's ugliest features. I wrote this member asking how to do it myself.

Here's her answer:

Good afternoon, Dan. Thanks for your email. This was a unique Journal we did specifically for the NetGirl blog. AOL is working on the product so that members like yourself can add more "personality" to your Journal. More information should be available at KW Journals in the upcoming months. If you have any more questions or comments feel free to email me.   Sincerely,   -----  

Okay, so I was wrong. But I'm sending her a link to my post to get my input heard by the powers-that-be.