America Online (AOL) gives new members ten hours of free time to browse their online information system. Ten hours is a generous amount of time to explore the service, but without guidance these ten hours can evaporate quite quickly. This article will pass along tips to help Mac users make the best use out of their ten free hours.
The most productive use of your ten hours will accomplish two goals: 1) Help you become comfortable using all the features on the AOL software, and, 2) Help you gain an overview of the information resources available on AOL.
The Macintosh Forums
While AOL has hundreds of interesting "forums" to visit, probably the most valuable services are the Macintosh forums and file libraries. These are well worth browsing. Whatever your particular interests might be on the Mac, here you'll find kindred spirits exchanging ideas and questions with one another. The file libraries, in particular, are a real treasure. Unlike the file libraries at ftp sites on the Internet, you can browse descriptions of the files on AOL, helping you separate the wheat from the chaff.
One of the most useful files you can download is the "AOL FAQ" freeware file. This immensely informative file gives the answers to hundreds of "Frequently Asked Questions" about using AOL with Macs. To locate this file, use the AOL "Goto" menu, and choose "Keyword." When prompted for a keyword, type in "quickfinder." This will whisk you to the screen where you can search all the Mac file libraries on AOL.
Then search under the term: "AOL FAQ". If several file names are shown, download the one with the most recent date. The file will end up in the folder call "AOL Downloads" on your hard drive. Double-click on this DocMaker file to read the informative info on your screen. Pay particular attention to descriptions of how to use the AOL Flashsessions feature. Using Flashsessions can minimize your connect time, thereby minimizing your monthly AOL bill.
Member Services
Another AOL area worth browsing is Member Services. This is the section of AOL where you can go to get free information about AOL. Your online connect time is switched off when you're in this section of AOL.
This is the place where you can write e-mail questions to AOL tech support staff. They will send you answers to your questions within 24 to 48 hours. You can also find a service called "Tech Support Live" here. It's possible to type a question directly to an AOL support person and have an answer given to you right on the spot.
While the idea of live, free tech support has a certain inherent appeal, I have used this service only once or twice in my three years on AOL. My sense is that you can get more complete answers to your questions by sending regular e-mail to the AOL support staff. Also, your e-mailed questions can be more detailed. (The nature of Tech Support Live is that both questions and answers are short and quick.)
Members Helping Members
In contrast to Tech Support Live is the "Members Helping Members" discussion forum. Here, AOL members can answer each others questions. I find this area to be the best kept secret on AOL.
Think about it: America Online probably employs about 700 persons in their tech support services. The total of AOL subscribership is 3.9 million people. Stands to reason you might likely obtain more detailed and thorough answers if you asked questions of the latter group. (Not that the AOL tech support people aren't knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly. Just that they have a fairly busy workload answering 3 million subscribers' questions.)
Use keyword "MHM" to quickly get to Members Helping Members. The whole idea behind MHM is an excellent one. Everyone wins.
"People Connection" Worth Missing
It's worth spending a moment here discussing some of the less productive ways to spend time on AOL. "People Connection" is AOL's online chat areas. You can easily spend three or four hours frittering away time doing online chats with people you've never met before (and are unlike to ever meet again). Online chatting has its uses, to be sure. But "free-form" chatting serves no useful purpose, in my view.
Some people justify using People Connection by saying the chats helps them meet others online. A better way of connecting up to those with similar interests is to note the user names of people who upload interesting files to the AOL file libraries. Also, note the user names of people who post interesting questions (or answers) in the AOL discussion forums. Then send them a short "Hi there" message. Keep such "first-contact" e-mail messages short, allowing the recipient of the message the option of choosing to establish an online rapport or not.
While it's tempting to spend an hour or two browsing Compton's Online Encyclopedia, in the Reference section of AOL, you're not going become all that much wiser for doing so. The online encyclopedia is a useful resource, to be sure. But not a whole lot more useful than the encyclopedias at your public library.
What other areas of AOL are worth visiting and browsing in your ten free hours? "Clubs and Interests" has dozens of interesting discussion forums on subjects from photography to disabilities to writing. Time spent browsing "Clubs and Interests" can be quite productive. For my money, the individual file libraries in clubs and interests are the most interesting and valuable.
How about all the online publications on AOL? Yes, you can read some of the articles from the New York Times online. You can all check out the online version of The Atlantic Monthly, and a dozen or two other publications. These are all mildly interesting, to be sure. But not worth spending more than ten or twenty minutes checking out.
Highly Classified
One particular area of AOL I enjoy visiting is the computer classifieds area. (Keyword: classifieds). In this section you can browse dozens and dozens of listings of second hand computers (and peripherals), all nicely organized into folders. I find it fun to keep track of the prices of second hand Macs and Apple II's. You can also find some real bargains on software, here.
Note: About one third of the computer classifieds are posted by various businesses, and actual Apple dealers. These folks often accept credit card purchases, even for "refurbished" goods. Inside tip: The best time to check the classifieds is late Sunday evening. Weekends are the busiest days of the week for new classifieds to be posted. Good deals are often snapped up within two to three hours of the classified being posted.
Take the opportunity to practice posting a classified yourself. List any old item you'd like to sell (or buy). To minimize your connect time, compose your classified off-line, in your favorite word processor. Then copy to the clipboard, quit the word processor, boot AOL, go to classifieds, and then paste your text into a new classified.
Off-Beat Activities
Macintosh enthusiasts often enjoy trying off-beat, whimsical ways of doing things. Here are some tips for off-beat activities to try on AOL.
One fun activity is to do open-ended searches in the AOL Member Directory. The Member Directory is a list of all AOL members who voluntarily enter information about their work and interests. The directory also includes personal information, if a person so chooses, and a short personal quote or "saying to live by."
Last week I did a search on "gifted" to track down educators who had a special interest in working with gifted students. The search located several hundred people with the word "gifted" in their Member Profile. Only a quarter of these were educators interested in gifted education.
You can let your imagination run free when you search the Member Directory. On a lark, this evening I searched under the word "puppeteer," and was astonished to see how many database hits I had. You could also search for the names of some of your childhood friends. Who knows? Some of them may be just a single e-mail message away. Wouldn't it be a great surprise for them to hear from you?
You can also search the Member Directory for the name of a particular software program. PhotoShop enthusiasts, for instance, might list "PhotoShop" as one of their hobbies. Friendly tip: The Member Directory doesn't give you all that much room to enter your list of hobbies and interests. But the text field they give you will scroll horizontally. You can also see about 50 characters at once, but your list of hobbies could be as long as 100 to 150 characters, I discovered.
Use the space they provide you to tell about some of your interests. Think of it as a mini personal home page. As a matter of fact, setting up your Member Profile is a highly recommended thing to do. An empty Member Profile is a sure-fire indicator of newbie status. A filled in Member Profile indicates you're a clued-in, with-it, right-on-the-ball kind of person.
Conclusion
There are dozens of areas of AOL I have yet to explore, even having spent over a thousand hours on the system. But all in all I've been quite happy visiting the few "quality" areas I do visit.
I guess the most important tip I might pass along to AOL newcomers is to not get distracted by areas of AOL that don't hold an immediate interest to you. And keep in mind that the real value of all information services are the other people who subscribe to the service. Their skills, knowledge, and talents are what make online communications so promising for all of us.
Phil Shapiro
[The author teaches the "Intro to Mac Telecommunications" tutorials for Washington Apple Pi, the largest Apple user group on the East Coast. He can be reached via Internet e-mail at: pshapiro@his.com]