Dear AOL: You Lost

The king is dead. AOL has officially entered obscurity.

I don’t know when things “move on” or “pass by”, but I can tell you what made me put AOL in the coffin. And, believe it or not, it was not Vincent Ferrari's phone call. It was this simple question:

How do I cancel my American Online account?

Which led to the discovery of this:

The AOL Retention Manual. Now I’m sure that companies have these all over the world. And I’m by no means shocked or appalled that customer-keeping practices are in place.

But if you were wondering just why it was a nightmare to cancel your service, well now you have it spelled out.

Part of me would just love to get an AOL account and try to cancel it, travelling along the manual with the guy on the other line.

“Oh, oh, I know this one! You’re going to ask me what my favorite video games are!”

Unbelievable. Rest in Hell, AOL. Your users have for long enough.

In a moment's space he's gone
And my ship has run aground