Dinogeorge autoresponder blocked by AOL

Several months ago, I bought space on a commercial autoresponder that, on
request, would issue an automatic reply with a weekly status report on all my
publications and ordering information. This service has proved very
convenient to me and my readers. I have expanded my mailing list
significantly and have reached, with HIGH-QUALITY dinosaur publications, many
people who otherwise would not know that I exist.

Three days ago (August 29), with NO ADVANCE NOTIFICATION whatsoever, America
Online--my server--took it upon itself to BLOCK ALL OF ITS MEMBERS from
receiving e-mail from the answerme.com domain. This prevents me from
receiving digests from my own autoresponder--a service that I have paid
for--and thus from receiving messages sent to me at the autoresponder via
reply requests. The block prevents ALL America Online customers from
receiving status reports about my publications from my autoresponder, and
indeed from receiving ANY e-mail from ANY address in the answerme.com domain.

That is, AOL has conspired to KEEP ITS MEMBERS FROM OBTAINING information
they have FREELY CHOSEN to receive. This is NOT unsolicited junk e-mail; in
my case, these are timely reports about my publications that people have
ordered and reordered. These reports are e-mailed ONLY by request.

I regard this unconscionable interference in my business affairs as
HARASSMENT. Indeed, it certainly merits cancellation of my AOL account and
even, were the amount of money involved in any way significant, lawsuits.

If you are in the AOL.com domain, the autoresponder will NOT work for you.
Until America Online unblocks, YOU CANNOT RECEIVE my status reports from my
autoresponder--status reports that YOU freely request. What would you think
if, for example, the US Postal Service suddenly declined to deliver stuff you
ordered, on the grounds that it is "junk mail" and you obviously don't want
it? How about if you had in addition prepaid for it? Wouldn't you HIT THE
ROOF? If this situation irritates you as much as it incenses me, then
COMPLAIN AT ONCE to America Online. You can send complaint e-mails to these
AOL addresses:

postmaster@aol.com
stevecase@aol.com
bknowles@aol.NET
jay@aol.com

If you are at a loss for words, simply forward a copy of this post to them.

I have already sent them my own complaints, but so far (this being the Labor
Day weekend) I have received only one response, a laughably idiotic reply
from postmaster@aol.com. I hope to receive coherent responses when those
people get back to work Tuesday morning.

My autoresponder is Dinogeorge@answerme.com. I take great pride in my
dinosaur publications, and I firmly believe that everyone seriously
interested in learning about dinosaurs should own them all. By heavyhandedly
blocking a solicited autoresponder service to "cut down on junk
e-mail"--according to THEIR definition of "junk," NOT YOURS--America Online's
actions interfere with YOUR FREEDOM to choose the publications YOU want to
read.

I PAY for America Online SERVICE, not for >unwanted< America Online
CENSORSHIP.

Until this situation is remedied:

If you ARE NOT an AOL member, you can continue to receive status reports by
e-mailing any message to the autoresponder address above. I, however, will
NOT RECEIVE your message and will NOT be able to act on it (by, for example,
e-mailing you a list of all known dinosaur genera, or adding your mailing
address to my list, etc.). If you want to communicate with ME rather than
simply receive a status report, you should not send e-mail to the
autoresponder but instead e-mail me directly at dinogeorge@aol.com. I will
personally send you a copy of the status report (if that's what you want) and
respond to your communication.

If you ARE an AOL member, you CANNOT receive status reports from my
autoresponder no matter how much you may want them, so simply e-mail your
requests and messages directly to me. I will send the status reports to you
myself.

If AOL fails to unblock messages from answerme.com within a reasonable amount
of time, I will cancel my AOL account. I am reluctant to do so, because I am
subscribed to numerous scientific lists and I am well known to thousands of
individuals under my e-mail address dinogeorge@aol.com. To change my e-mail
address, and to unsubscribe and resubscribe to numerous lists under a new
name, represents a lot of work that I would prefer to avoid. But if AOL
continues to labor under the assumption that their members have somehow lost
the power to use their DELETE buttons, I will find a more enlightened server
or pay to acquire my own domain.