Introduction
What you have here is an SDM special. Not that this matters, but ….we never did anything. Actually, this has
happened a number of times. What’s the point? This special is us doing something. No one here’s bragging, but what
we’re doing is much more than those icons you see on web pages everywhere. Some people tell you that the freedom
of expression exists so we have to keep it. What good does that do you? Most people out there have yet to grasp the
concept of freedom of speech and expression. Not only do we understand it, but we fully appreciate it. What this
special issue is all about is that freedom and how it exists. We’re not here… We’re here… And that, is…more…you
have…come into contact with.
This issue is two parts. Part one is the clean version. In other words, we you will not find controversy, profanity, or
radical thought in the part one. This is as pleasant as you’ll ever see SDM. Taste the irony. Part two is the uncut
version. To get to that one, check out this site.I guarantee that you will…read the same thing twice.
AOL
by: Antihero
Hi. I'm Antihero, and I use AOL. yeah, it does feel like an [we will not depict something in a bad light] meeting. But I started using AOL because a lot of my friends around the place I live in used it, and I wanted to stay in touch with all of them. So I said "Sure. AOL. Can't be that bad." To start with, I first used AOL in January. that was back before they "increased capacity in line with ther requests of their valued users." Lots of busy signals. Twenty or thirty minutes of just trying to get through to an access number was about usual. So I'd sit, listening to the radio, waiting, trying the access number over, and over, and over, and over, and over... You get the picture. Then, when I finally got on, it'd be like, "cool. I'm signed on. Wow." Never doing anything on AOL, of course. The entire scope and content of America Online could interest for more than twenty minutes. Surfing the net is still possible, even with AOL. Okay. So I'm on the web, doing whatever. Using AOL's browser. It's possible to use netscape on AOL. So I'm cruising along happily. Then, they started using these devices to clear up line space. First, is the idle timer. Not too hard to work around, as long as you have traffic coming in or going out. but then they got these timers. Every forty six minutes, AOL flashes a timer at you. Often, it'll interrupt a download. either way, if you don't respond in ten minutes, you're booted. Have you ever heard of a store that tries to make paying customers leave as quickly as possible? Neither have I. But apparently, AOL, while "valuing its customers above all," has heard of it. So, if it weren't for the fact that all of my acquaintances are still here on AOL, and if I wasn't known world wide as Antihero, I'd drop it in a second. anyway, here's my little rant for AOL. Thank you.