[July 24, 2026, 9:08 PM GMT, 1784927335] This morning, I had this idea: "I wonder if you can still make AOL emails, that would be kinda funny to make and use an AOL email in 2026 as a young guy" Well turns out you can make an AOL email, but if I could go back in time I wish I could selectively lobotomize the part of my brain that had that idea.... My plan was to just to make an AOL email in 5 min really quick, put it in the top part of this website (that no one even really looks at by the way), and not tell anyone, and hope that at some point in the next year, someone got a chuckle out of it. Well it turns out that Occam's razor is true in this scenario. People don't make new AOL accounts anymore for a reason. And the only reason someone would still use an AOL account, is if they made it 20 years ago. First Off: The amount of security checks and information they need for their horrible product, is baffling. It genuinely felt like they were about to ask for my SSN and mother's maiden name. 2nd Off: They just wouldn't let me make it on my computer which is insane. Like some internal system they have found my browser suspicious because I was using firefox. It felt like there was more things to dance around, then when you set apply for a new credit card genuinely. so i try my phone... When you're signing up on your phone, instead of being able to sign up in the app (like every other app that exists), it takes you to a mini browser on the app. Well that's not an issue, until you realize you need to set up application 2fac with your phone, and if you swipe out the AOL sign up flow for 1 second (to get your 2fac code), it automatically brings you back to the very beginning of the whole ordeal, and you lose all your process. At this point a 5 minute joke turned into a 2 hour metaphor for pushing past roadblocks. "how do you do anything is how you do everything" and all that bullshit. So now, I had 30 seconds (because of how app 2facs work) to remember six numbers, type in the name, email, and password, set up a recovery phone number, set up a recovery email, and then put my app 2fac code in (THAT YOU HAVE TO TYPE BECAUSE AOL WONT LET YOU PASTE IT INTO THAT FIELD) All of that in 30 seconds , just to make an email. My biggest question is what happened AOL. Why could a 13 year old kid who plays Fortnite 14 hours a day GENUINELY set up a better app & website UI/UX than you. Why do I have to jump through so security hoops, for something no one even wants anymore. I genuinely might be the only person to successfully make a new AOL account in the month of July. And I had to utilize my 15 years of "tech knowledge" just to do it. AOL YOU STILL MAKE 500 MILLION DOLLARS+ A YEAR YOU GUYS WERE THE FIRST COMPANY, THAT MADE INSTANT MESSAGING WIDESPREAD YOU GUYS WERE THE FIRST COMPANY, THAT MADE EMAIL WIDESRPEAD. AOL, YOU LITERALLY HAD THE PERFECT POSITION TO BECOME WHAT GOOGLE IS TODAY. You guys litterally had the golden goose in your hand, and somehow just completely fucking blew it. I For real AOL, you guys were positioned so perfectly, it seems like it would have been hard to devolve into what a joke of a company you guys are today. Something went so wrong along the way, its genuinely incomprehensible. Unfathomable. Alright, now I am going to be completely transparent and purposefully lose all aura I've gained from this project: SO obviously this post is somewhat inflammatory as a joke, but this genuinely upset me. Part of the idea around making a stupid "blog" and using an AOL for me, was just me wanting to be different. BUT, another large part (as dumb as it sounds) was some type of "spiritual rejection" of how algorithmic social networking & goggles/m3t4s ad tracking system has completely ruined the internet. The World Wide Web's purpose, was to be an open source, free tool . That's literally all it was made for. Obviously, the assumed way to use this tool was connection in some manner. It's kind of like how a hammer is a tool . The obvious assumed use of a hammer is to drive a nail. BUT, at the end of the day, t's just a stick with a piece of metal on it. It's just a tool . So the vast majority of people, use hammers to make houses, BUT (and im sure you can see where this is going) there have been a couple bad eggs that have used the tool to do the worst thing that you can possibly do to another person. so, I'll get to my point. I think the current state of the open source WWW protocol tool leans more towards the latter in the hammer analogy. so, to do "my part" I wanted to reject it in some cool way. Well, and I'm being serious, the process to set up an AOL account in 2026, made me so upset, that I don't feel bad for them at all. Not only that, it also made me question my entire philosophy. If AOL, the company that's supposed to represent the "golden era" of the Internet, doesn't give a fuck about making any attempt at bringing it back, then why should anyone. Maybe, everyone got exactly what they deserved with this this whole algorithmic social networking experiment we are all forced to be a part of. Im sure you have heard someone jokingly say something along the lines of this at some point in your life: "Do you think God stays in heaven because he too lives in fear of what he's created here on Earth?" Well, the only difference here, is that "GOD" (AOL) doesn't live in fear, "GOD" (AOL) seems to just not care at all. And you know what, somehow that's worse. Turns out the people who made the "golden era of the Internet", literally never cared about it in the first place. So let me be clear, I know that if anyone ever reads this, they are gonna think I am schizophrenic lmfao. I understand that this entire hour I spent writing this, it will come of incredibly pseudo-intellectual, was pointless, and will change nothing. I understand that the catalyst, for this entire string of words, was something so dumb, so minuscule, and so meaningless. But what I will say, is you know deep down that something has gone astray from the World Wide Webs original purpose. For me, this whole experience, just showed that the only company that I thought tried to steer the Internet in a more positive direction, never even cared in the first place. The true lesson to be learned here is: never meet your heroes So, in conclusion Fuck you AOL. you got exactly what you deserved and your golden reputation is fraudulent. Fuck you reader. if you don't like an algorithm deciding your personality, then fucking do something about it. Fuck you writer. the only link to this blog is on your fucking instagram so you are inherently a hypocrite. Forgive US father, for WE do not know what WE are doing ... It is finished. ps- If for some ungodly reason, you read this and want to reach out, my email is jackhow1983@aol.com :-) you've. got. mail. :/