Just got this message from a day trading service I subscribe to and thought it was both interesting and relevant:
This is a message to all users:
It has come to our attention that some users (specifically users of AOL) have been having problems over the last two days receiving mail. As we have pointed out time and time again AOL has mail delivery problems (even though if you call AOL they will say with a straight face "We know of no problems"). We have sent three (I believe) e-mails about this problem over the last 6 months and have
included an advisory statement on our welcome message to all new members explaining the delays and problems associated with using AOL mail.
Still, we get people using AOL and complaining about slow mail. When we advise members that the problems are with AOL, they point the finger at us and don't believe that the problems can be with AOL. What can we do?
It is amazing to me that our own customers don't believe what we tell them about e-mail, yet will follow our stock market advice! :-)
Let's look at the facts here:
First, AOL is the most overloaded network on the Internet with nearly 10,000,000 members. With that size, is it impossible for them to lose your mail when something isn't working correctly on their end? Of course not, your message from us is but a blip on the screen to AOL. It matters not if the message is from your Grandmother, from Day Traders On-line or from the President of the United States. It's just one message in a mass of mail.
Second, I've been in the computer and telecommunications field for over 15 years, but yet when I explain to members who are having e-mail problems that the mail has left our system hours and hours ago, no body believes me! What? I'm hiding your mail here and not telling you? :-o If it's not here, it's gotta be there.
Finally, I have personally tested mail delivery between AOL and our system a number of times. Sometimes it works fine, other times mail doesn't show up for hours, yet AOL always denies a problem exists. When I send mail from point A to point B and it takes 3-12 hours to show up - that's a problem.
So I ask you, when 30 users contact our office today complaining about lost mail and they are ALL using AOL accounts, and no one else is having any problem getting the reports - what does that say to you? Where is the problem likely to be?
I understand it's a tough decision to change from AOL once you are used to using it for mail. But how important is information about the stock market when money is on the line? Still I understand human nature (i.e. it's a big pain to from AOL). I can understand both points of view here and that leads us to only one solution. If members will not heed our advice when it comes to mail and their selection of providers, then we must try to over come AOL's short comings ourselves. [And by the way, any provider can have mail problems. That is not the point here. The point is some providers (e.g. AOL) have more consistent problems than others.]
Note that reports are always sent out by 4:00 am to 5:00 am PST [at the absolutely latest]. That's a full hour and 30 minutes before the markets open.
So the only solution we can think of is to setup a site on our web page that will allow you to request the morning report should it not arrive on time. We will try this and see how it goes. We may even be able to setup something showing what areas have requested resends so visitors can get a feel for what areas are having problems (just a thought).
This will not cure all problems, but at least you will have a backup. It's likely a re-send will show up most of the time (assuming you are not dealing with a major network outage some place). So starting next week you can request a resend directly from the web page - we'll see how that works for a while.
We will provide the URL next week and in future reports so members will have it handy. If you miss a report then you can come to the site and request a duplicate copy. Hopefully this will solve the problem. We'll advise members further when this system has been placed on-line. We expect it to be ready on
Tuesday of next week if not soon.
Also, please note this message is not directed at anyone specific, just the continued frustration we run into when we spend thousands of dollars to make our system work correctly, only to have AOL or other problems outside our control mess up speedy delivery of member's mail.
Okay, that's it for now. Thanks a lot and we hope this change will help the few members having problems.
Sincerely,
Ray Johns
Day Traders On-line
DAY TRADERS ON-LINE
P.O. Box 150
Pacific Grove, CA 93950
(408) 649-4545
(Fax) 649-1099
daytraders.com
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