To: KM who wrote (39591 ) 12/12/1997 12:54:00 PM From: Brent D. Beal Read Replies (1) | Respond to
I've been pissed off about AOL for about 6 months. I feel like Rocky with IOM. What a piece-of-shit company! I guess what really gets me is that is seems clear that AOL is facing a tremendous amount of competition--is the ISP area, they're about ready to get their butts kicked by higher speed providers, cheaper providers, providers that don't cram 50 million ads down you throat every time to log on, etc. etc. etc. AOL will not be able to compete with these new services because of infrasture considerations, so they will cream the saviest and most valuable customers, leaving AOL with all the mom and pop types that are afraid to buy anything on the interest because they think someone will steal their number and go buy a house or something with the credit card. On the advertising side, there are other options that give customers exposure to the net, not just to AOL captive audience. What's ironic is that an advertiser with YHOO, for example, may get a crack at AOL customers, but generally not the other way around. And on and on and on. . . I know everyone has heard all this before and I won't even go into AOL financials, etc. There is just absolutely no reason that an individual with more than 1/2 brain shouldn't be able to see that company isn't worth youy belly-button lint (ok, a few people on this thread might think that's pretty valuable, but that's beside the point). It upsets me that such a fraud can be so easily put over on the investment public--but that how bubbles go, I guess. Believe it or not, I'm happier about the stock now because it getting back up to point where I will short it again and hopefully make some money--over all, even with the money I made on the dip to $64, I'm just barely in the black--I lost a considerable amount on the CompuServe announcement.
