Posted 1 month ago at 8:16 PM. 0 comments
Ficlets was an idea brought up by AOL developer Kevin Lawver. Essentially you and several authors will continue a multi-part story that spans as long as there is interest. The site came under fire when AOL announced last year that they would be shutting it down.
During AOL’s restructuring and downsizing, they decided to let a few properties go. This evidently ended up with the message board fiasco we had a few months ago, but that’s beside the point. Kevin Lawver has relaunched his new site Ficly.com!
The best part of the site is how you really don’t have to register. The site uses OpenID, you can ironically use your AOL screen name to sign in. Now we’re off to finish up our 20 part telenovela!
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago at 6:45 PM. 56 comments
A Developing Story… updated 6/3/09
Just when you thought it was safe to go back outside, another Sims 3 leak is released. This time another group claims their leak is now the final retail version that is expected to ship on June 2nd. News of this leak was sent on May 25th, after several days of performance and testing issues discovered by members of various forums and blogs we can now project that there are no noticeable changes between the two leaks.
We still can not say whether or not this leak is the final version until June 2nd. There will be a new post after I purchase of the game where we will compare reports made over the past two weeks on issues that have been fixed or not. Unless there is any other major news story released, the next Sims 3 blog post will be the last discussion over the authenticity of the two leaks.
Story Progression Fixed in Retail ?
On June 3rd: There are complaints at the official board about story progression. It appears it does not deactivate if you uncheck the feature. I guess for those who thought the second leak was the final version, you can officially say “I told you so!”
The First Leak’s Demise
Will EA step up their game plan with this new leak?
As reported by SimPrograms, a SnootySims member found a link to the first patch to be released officially by EA. According to the story, the first leak’s version number is 1.0.615.00107. The patch to be delivered by EA will upgrade the retail version, 1.0.631.00002 to 1.0.632.00002. This was to put an end of all forum debates on whether or not the first leak was final.
Still as addressed in the previous article, there are doubts over whether EA is telling the truth. The version numbers aren’t so incredibly far from each other either making it sound as if there were only minor bug fixes between each build.
The Second Leak Steps Up
Sunset in Sunset Valley: Screenshots via [SimGalaxy]
According to the info file contained within the second leak, this version is slated to be 1.0.631.00002. This leak also appears to be a DVD copy of the game and does not include SecuRom.
The second group is boasting how their leak is the “real deal”. They’ve made sure to post evidence of this by comparing the version numbers and dates of files in both leaks. They have included a link to EA’s patch update file to explain how the first leak cannot be patched since EA will only update version 1.0.631.x to 1.0.632.x. So it seems there’s a little competition going on here.
Differences between 1.0.615.x and 1.0.631.x ?
This week, several players from various forums and blogs described their experience between the two games. Players reported no gameplay differences between both versions. They found no additional items, hairstyles, or objects. Some gamers experienced minor bug fixes between each leak, but there were conflicting reports and we can not confirm them at this time.
The inability to deactivate Story Progression was a major bug in the first leak. Players reported this bug was still not fixed in the second leak.
The only major difference players noted between each leak were the version numbers and dates of files. The second leak had files 7 days in advance from the previous leak.
EA encourages pirates to purchase the full game
Pirated “615″ Posted by a forum member on Gamespot,
the thread was later deleted.
Thursday May 27th: EA sent a message through the game launcher:
You are playing a non-final, unauthorized copy of The Sims 3.
Purchasing and registering an official copy of The Sims 3 will entitle you to benefits including access to an entirely new game town called Riverview, 1000 SimPoints which can redeemed for game objects in The Sims 3 store, and access to The Sims 3 Exchange.
It was very interesting to see EA’s response to the piracy matter. There is something very significant with this message. Note that the version number says 1.0.615.x. Put your thinking caps on!
Real Retail Version “631″ Posted by SnootySims Forum Member
The version number for the retail version with no patches installed is version 1.0.631.x. The last four digits refer to the region it came from and if it is a digital download. There is something interesting here though. Compare the three screenshots.
Pirated “631″ posted on SnootySims Forum
Unlike the first screenshot of version 1.0.615.00107. The second leak does not show the “non-final, unauthorized” message.
The Sims 3 Store Money Pinch!
EA officially released The Sims 3 store prices and it has left several consumers upset, concerned, or refusing to buy anything due to the cost of items. An estimate to purchase all store items cost over $250, thats way over the retail price of $49.95.
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago at 2:00 AM. 1 comment
In an interview with the Associated Press, EA claims The Sims 3 leak is only a “buggy, pre-final” version. This is pretty good news on behalf of the whole Sims gaming community as the leaked copy featured some glaring bugs that should have been caught during testing.
The Second Leak (May 25th, 2009)
The Sims 3 has been leaked again, this time by another group. This group claims their leak is the final retail version and has been posted on many different websites and torrents.
After several observations found from forums and blogs we can conclude the retail version does not present the same bugs as the second leak. Click here to read more information about the second leak. The article below consists only of the issues and bugs concerning the first leak.
The Major Concerns with The Sims 3
The police station, so far EA hasn’t sued file sharers.
Screenshot via [SimGalaxy]
In the leaked copy, players found numerous bugs and oddities that would potentially disrupt the fanbase. It was very interesting to see SecuRom packaged within the leak. This lead to doubts over the authenticity over EA’s statements. They claimed the physical copy of the game would be shipped without it, however, the digital copy would still include SecuRom.
Fortunately, it was later found within the EULA that the leaked copy was derived from the digital release. Even though SecuRom is used to protect unauthorized copies of the game from running, it was already bypassed by the time the leak was released.
The lack of objects, clothing, and hairstyles became a hot button issue among fans. EA has not revealed if the base game will include more items when it hits retail. EA does plan to sell more objects through The Sims 3 store, and will allow 1000 points free for all players who legally purchase the game.
As the hours went by, the mystery surrounding the leaked copy took on a huge forum debate whether the game was the final build. Players brought up major points to support each side of the argument. One issue that supported both sides were game freezes and crashes. In each case, players reported crashing incidents starting within 3 minutes to 6 hours of gameplay. However, some players did not receive any crashes whatsoever.
A general theory over the cause of the crashes were related to old graphic and audio drivers. It’s recommended that players should update their NVIDIA or ATI graphic card drivers before installing the retail copy of the game.
Bugs, Bugs and more Bugs!
Screenshot via [SimsDomination]
We do expect the Sims 3 will ship with bugs, and many of these bugs will most likely get patched. Alas, players were complaining about various glitches and screwups within the leaked copy.
A bug some players found early on during gameplay was the inability to kill a Sim in a fire. This bug was quite interesting in that one would think EA would allow this ability in the first place as it’s one of the most popular deaths in the whole series. On May 20th, we finally saw the first leaked video that included the fire death animation, so we’re not sure as to why some players couldn’t do it and others could. Rumours and speculations arose as players felt that maybe EA was trying to soften the game’s image by removing the death. However, the leak was programmed to include other methods of killing a Sim. We concluded that this form of death will return in the retail version.
Another bug found by players was the inability to deactivate story progression. This feature controls any drastic changes your neighborhood Sims would do, for example, this feature controlled if your neighbors would move in or out, become pregnant, advance in jobs, and die. This became problematic towards players who wanted a similar play style of The Sims 2. They did not want to worry about other Sim families they created to suddenly die or move out of the neighborhood for good.
There were also some minor issues with the music not playing, fast forward speed button malfunctions, and guitars stuck on a Sim’s body.
Players are still skeptical
Protesting at City Hall
It’s quite hilarious to see the debate move right back to where we all started, as now there is still a lot of discussion on whether or not EA is telling the truth. Discussion among forums and blogs seem to theorize that EA is now speaking out to avoid bad press. It’s still likely that EA will release a patch to fix all major bugs related to the gold copy on release day.
We’re also concerned with EA’s choice of wording with the term, “pre-final”. This implies the leaked copy is probably just a few small builds away from the gold copy. If this were the case then it means the leak pretty much sums up everything that’s going to be in the game. Fans will not be happy!
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago at 1:35 AM. 10 comments
Pirates don’t Pre-order? Or do they?
There are several reports and screenshots circulating around the internet around the unexpected release of The Sims 3. The game has surfaced on some bittorrent sites and has been downloaded by 1300 people at the time of this post. Several screenshots on a popular image board show that this leak was real. This included fulfilling requests made by others to verify they were actually playing it.
With these screenshots some minor tidbits have been revealed.
- Some described how the game runs much smoother than The Sims 2.
- Newspapers can actually be read in popups. Stories remind me of Simcity 2000.
- Junkie XL is back.
- You can actually troll on a forum on the computer.
- Someone may respond to your forum post.
- Something resembling EA’s Skate and Madden can be played as a video game.
- A 60s style Diner.
Unfortunately for EA, we don’t know what stance they will take on future games. I do applaud them for removing SecuRom from the physical copy of the game (SecuROM still exists in the digital copy) after the backlash they received from Spore. However, it’s uncertain whether this leak will have a huge impact on sales of the game. Please don’t post any links here, we’re not that kind of site.
Is the leaked copy the final build?
It’s official! The leaked copy is not the final build!
The leak is not the final retail version because…
- Mouse pointer graphical bugs.
- Debunked: A bug that occurs during the use of Fraps.
- Several glaring bugs in the game.
- Some players were unable to kill a Sim in a fire while others were able to do it. -May 20th
- Fast Forward Speed Malfunctions.
- If Story Progression is disabled, it appears to have no effect.
- Handful of objects released in the game.
- Debunked: The Sims 3 store will release the remaining items.
May 18th:
As the buzz spreads to more and more forums, players have described this leak as some sort of preview version. Rumours have swirled where players have described only seeing a handful of objects available. It seems EA will be selling the rest of the objects in the Sims 3 store. We’re also wondering about several posts regarding the mechanics of death. It seems some players are unable to kill their sims in a fire.
It could be possible that this leak may have been given out for the gaming magazines for their “hands on” experience but we can’t confirm if this is the case.
May 19th:
There’s some arguments regarding if the release is the “retail” version or an earlier preview build. They have pretty much figured it’s not a demo. EA has been taking down “some” leaked footage on Youtube, claiming copyright infringement.
May 20th
Two gaming review sites with legit copies of the game stated they had a preview build (bit-tech.com and eurogamer.de). It’s still uncertain if the leaked copy is the same version the gaming sites reviewed. More arguments whether the game is retail or not.
May 22nd
Leaked copy is not final build!
Coincidentally there was a 5.0 earthquake in Sourthern California, then GOD proceeded to say…
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago at 5:45 PM. 6 comments
Today the next generation of the popular instant messenger platform released with a brand new version called Aim 7. It’s an early beta that will showcase some new features.
It seems the message they are focusing on this time is to keep the program light on resources. The last time this was done was for AIM Lite. Redesign appears to pay some homage to Yahoo and Facebook.
We’ll have an indepth of review of this new beta at another time. Here are some of the new features you can expect with Aim 7 beta.
- New Look
- Larger Buddy Icons
- Built in Buddy Icon Maker
- Larger status entry screen
- New Advertisement locations
[via AOL Beta]
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago at 1:41 PM. 26 comments
Jesus! That’s right, it’s some sort of live action sitcom or maybe dramedy about Jesus. The show premiered last night, or should I say this morning at 5 am. I stayed up to watch this thinking it was an anime, and I’m pretty disappointed.
Continue Reading…
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago at 7:54 PM. 1 comment
A quick post to let you know that all previous message boards that were closed are back online. AOL has not implemented the expected upgrades at this time. The message boards behave the same exact way as they did.
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago at 6:31 PM. 2 comments
You need one of the following modules/applications
- About Me:
- Code Snippet
- Gigya’s My Stuff
Doesn’t code snippet already allow flash?
Well it does, but you may have noticed your Playlist.com code may not fully work within the code snippet. Sure the graphics pop up but the flash code itself is missing. Here’s an example of Code Snippet using the proper embed code.
As you can see in the picture above, the music player doesn’t show up even though the embed code is correct. The Code Snippet module allows flash but under a very specific code. What makes this code difficult, is that you will have to cut and paste the flash code into bebo’s special format. We’ll take you step by step on what you need to do to get Playlist.com and other flash examples working correctly.
Please pay attention to the steps carefully. Playlist.com code insertion is listed on the second page.
How does Bebo handle Flash?
Bebo uses flash through it’s own SNML protocol. SNML is pretty similar to HTML, but there are some slight differences. You may have noticed that both the About Me and Code Snippet modules say SNML. This is where you would paste Bebo’s SNML code.
Step 1: Find your src=
The first thing you must locate is your src= code. This src code begins immediately after the after the equal sign. Highlight the code your flash application gave you. You must highlight from the first quotation mark up to the next quotation mark. After you highlight this code, right click and press copy. The example below shows a Vimeo video code.
<embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2072369&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=14c963&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225">
</embed>
The code that follows src= is highlighted in blue. This is the code you will paste into Bebo’s flash code in Step 2. Use the scrollbars to see where the blue code begins and ends. Note there are only two quotation marks.
You should not have more than 2 quotation marks at this point. Later on we can add more quotation marks.
Step 2: Bebo’s Flash Code
<sn:swf swfsrc="insert swf or flash src code here">
Take the blue code you copied in Step 1 and replace it over the purple text in Step 2.
Step 3: Paste your flash SRC code inside Bebo’s SWFSRC code
<sn:swf swfsrc="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2072369&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=14c963&fullscreen=1">
If you insert the code correctly you will have it show up like this. There should only be 2 quotation marks in your entire code up to this point.
Advanced abilities
Bebo’s flash code can also scale by width and height. You can do this by adding this to your code.
width="xxx" height="xxx"
Replace xxx with the number of pixels you want it to be. Your code could end up looking like this.
<sn:swf swfsrc="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2072369&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=14c963&fullscreen=1" width="199" height="160">
That about end it. If you need more help the next page will explain the exact same method with Playlist.com
Posted 3 months ago at 12:23 AM. 3 comments
So one question that’s on everyone’s mind is why is AOL directing people to Yahoo Message boards. There is no official answer to this question but if we read between the lines we can figure out why.
The message board everyone seems to be ending up in is Yahoo’s ACC Message board.
What does ACC stand for?
ACC is the Atlantic Coast Conference, it pertains to a list of 12 colleges who play in the NCAA College Bastketball. The university of North Carolina will be participating in the NCAA Final Four on April 4th, 2009. People Connection has a heading called “Top Headlines” and the NCAA Final Four is very much so a top headline. Now this should explain why AOL is linking to this particular message board.
Well why is AOL directing users to Yahoo Message Boards?
Facebook, Myspace, on AOL.com?
Well first I need to explain AOL’s home page. You may have noticed in the previous year, AOL.com has begun linking to Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Ebay, and Facebook. AOL is trying to show the world how ‘cultured” they are by linking to such sites. It’s really just another way to show how they are no longer a “walled garden”.
Does this mean AOL is letting Yahoo take over the message boards?
No, let’s take a look at the People Connection page. Under the Top Headlines, it links to several other message boards. All of these message boards are not owned or operated by AOL, BUT, AOL is linking to them. Whenever someone posts a new topic on these specific message boards, AOL displays the newest topic as soon as it’s posted. Here’s where things get technical.
RSS Feeds
Do you know what RSS feeds are? Well to simplify it as much as I can, RSS feeds show the latest news, blogs, or message board posts as soon as they are publicly available. The “Top Headlines” on the People Connection page is just a simple list of RSS feeds displaying the latest post on message boards. Each time a person posts, AOL shows that topic. AOL members have pretty much hijacked a message board with topics unrelated to basketball.
So in conclusion, AOL isn’t really telling users to join Yahoo, they are just displaying posts from different message boards using RSS feeds. Since AOL users hijacked the Yahoo ACC message board, it appears as if AOL wants members to use Yahoo as their main message board. This of course is not the case.
Posted 3 months ago at 6:47 PM. 3 comments
In a previous post on the People Connection blog, AOL announced changes would be coming to the AOL Message boards. These changes included a new look for popular message boards, while the other boards would retire. On March 31st, the entire message board system was down. On April 1st, the old format boards re-appeared for a few moments then quickly vanished.
It seems AOL will be moving some message boards over to their blog network as seen with Fanhouse forums. Other message boards will be under AOL’s many themed portals such as the AOL Autos and AOL Travel and AOL Developer Forum.
The complete list of available boards can be found on the People Connection page but a majority of the boards are missing. The highly popular Rants and Raves, This and That, Computer and Electronics, and Religion boards, are interestingly missing. AOL has not released a statement whether those boards would return or if they have been retired.
Since many of the AOL Message Boards are down, users have huddled over to other websites. There’s currently an AOL thread on Yahoo message boards, while other members have started their own message boards on Yuku.com
If you got lost in the shuffle there is an active list of message boards run by AOL members maintained by Spiderswebhelp’s Website. Also another blog, Anti-AOL is covering this news story.
AOL Message Board Gathering Areas
17 Ways to Beat Boredom
Free Parking
AOL Travel on Yuku
Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago at 11:48 PM. 45 comments
The migration of AOL Profiles to Bebo didn’t go as smoothly as planned. For the most part there seems to be great lack of knowledge among AOL members over the inner workings of Bebo. AOL will have to address these issues in some shape or form. These issues were posted by members on various forums and websites.
Each issue is color coded based on whether a workaround exists or not. Workarounds are linked to the individual who found the solution. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to figure out all the problems you have with Bebo, However, if you find a solution to a problem please post in the comments section. I will keep this list up to date as I get notified of new details.
Updated: 5/12/09
Unable to change gender from Male to Female
Description: Users have reported they are unable to change their gender from Male to Female. When a user changes to their appropriate gender, Bebo will reset as if the changes were not made.
AOL’s Response: No response from AOL could be found.
Workaround: No known workaround.
Bebo added extra numbers to my screen name or someone with my screen name is using my profile.
Description: Some screen names may find they have extra numbers added to their Bebo profile. Bebo will add extra numbers to your screen name if someone already registered your name before the Bebo transition. For example, if your screen name is “Sally”, and someone registered that name on Bebo before you, your Bebo profile will add numbers “Sally12″ so that both of you won’t have the same profile.
Bebo messages sent to the wrong AOL user who shares the same screen name.
Description: There are some scattered reports of AOL users who have the same screen name with another Bebo member. The AOL users who report appear to be confused that someone on Bebo registered their screen name before them and thus their screen name now has numbers added to it.
The complaints arise from AOL users who receive messages that were addressed to the original Bebo username. Unfortunately, we don’t have much information about this particular bug as very very few people reported it. It’s possible that there may be a glitch where two Bebo users are sharing the same inbox, but their profiles are entirely different. If you have a problem similar to this please comment below.
Bebo did not migrate information and photos from AOL Profiles
Description: Some users reported how their profiles were completely wiped out when they transitioned over to Bebo.
Workaround: Lucien Iteratus posted a workaround where you can access your old AIM Profiles for a limited time. Essentially you should copy information from that profile over to the Bebo profile. This backdoor has been shut down by AOL. In April 09, AOL has moved all AIM photos into Bebo.
- Copy and Paste the address below.
- Replace xx with your screen name
- http://memberdirectory.aol.ca/aolus/profile?sn=xx
AOL’s Response: AOL has not addressed lost information. AIM Photos have successfully transferred over during April, 09.
Unable to edit basic profile information.
Description: Some users are unable to edit their profile information. When one tries to change this information the profile reverts back as if no changes were made.
Workaround: AOL Message board member Moondancer posted a workaround. Click “Edit Profile” at your Bebo.com profile. In the “Name” text box, make the first letter uppercase. If you change the first letter to lowercase, Bebo will not allow you to save any changes.
AOL’s Response: No response from AOL could be found.
Buddy Group “Profile Friends” shows up in your buddy List and cannot be deleted. The message “An error has occurred please try again later” appears if you try to delete the group on AOL.
Description: Some users reported a buddy group called “Profile Friends” on their AIM Buddy List. Members are unable to delete the group. The screen names of your Bebo.com friends will get added to this group. Removing your friends from Bebo will delete them from your buddy list.
Workaround: AOL Message board member Soozy posted a workaround. After April 6th, AOL has fixed this bug.
- Sign into Bebo.com with your AIM screen name.
- Click “Friends” at the top black bar in the website.
- All your friends will be listed with a Red X at the top right corner of their picture.
- Click the Red X to delete each of your friends from Bebo.com
- After you remove ALL your friends from Bebo.com, sign off of AOL or AIM.
- Sign back onto an official AOL / AIM program and the “Bebo Friends” group will be gone.
- The “Bebo Friends” group will reappear if you add a new friend to Bebo.com
- If you cancel your Bebo account, it will take 24+ hours before the buddy group is removed from your buddy list.
AOL’s Response: “At this point we do not support deleting Bebo Groups” -dev forum
Recommendation: AOL should allow the option of turning on or off your Bebo Friends group. Currently there is no way to manually delete the group without deleting all your friends.
AOL Profile module, “Code Snippet”, is missing on some profiles.
Description: In this case the AOL exclusive module, “code snippet”, is missing for AOL/AIM profiles. Bebo forbids adding AOL exclusive modules to your page even though your profile originated from AOL/AIM.
Workaround: No workaround exists yet. You can try an alternative application. If you entered text within Code Snippet before February, 2009, it will show up in your Bebo modules list.
AOL’s Response: No response from AOL could be found.
Friends from previous profile are missing with Bebo update
Description: Some friends who were added before the Bebo migration do not show up now.
Workaround: Visit your friend’s profile and manually add them back.
AOL’s Response: AOL is aware of this issue and included it in a blog posting. AOL automatically updated the missing friends during a 3/20/09 update.
Unable to edit About Me and code snippet modules
Description: Some users are unable to edit the “About Me” and “Code Snippet” module.
Workaround: Both “About Me” and “Code Snippet” modules do not support Internet Explorer 6. You will need to upgrade your browser to one of the choices presented on this browser upgrade page.
AOL’s Response: Bebo states some features are not supported by older versions of Internet Explorer.
Recommendation: Since other modules are compatible with IE6, these two modules should be reprogrammed.
[AOL/AIM Bebo Migration Guide]
Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago at 8:06 PM. 2 comments
For a long time I’ve been asked how exactly do you remove graphical smileys and emoticons in AIM6. In Aim 5.9 the option was there but in Aim 6.0 it was removed.
A recent update to Aim 6.9 has reinstated this feature.
How to Disable Smileys in Aim 6
- Download and Install Aim 6.9 Beta 3
- Open Aim
- Click Edit at the top of the window.
- Click Settings
- Click Expressions
- Checkmark “Display Emoticons as text instead of images..”
- Click Save.
Checkmark “Display emoticons as text…”
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago at 3:33 PM. 0 comments
So you’ve switched over to Bebo, but you find the Code Snippet box isn’t there, what do you do? Cry! Profiles with Code Snippet before the Bebo takeover will have it listed in their modules section. Profiles who did not use code snippet will have it missing from their module list. Don’t fret, there is an alternative!
Gigya’s “My stuff” Application
1. Go to: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=5881631369
2. Click on Try this App
3. Press “Add Application”
Its pretty much just like Code Snippet. You add HTML code and it will display it for you.
Did you know you can add flash and mp3s to code snippet? Check out this handy guide!
[AOL/AIM Bebo Migration Guide]
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago at 3:21 PM. 48 comments
The steps for removing your AIM/AOL account on Bebo is very easy. Just remember you can not reverse this process unless you want to contact Bebo staff on your own. You will not be able to go back to the old AIM Profiles.
1. Click Settings at the top of the page.
2. Click on “cancel my account”
3. Click “Yes, Cancel my Bebo Membership”
Here are some notes about canceling.
- You won’t be able to view most of your AIM or AOL friend’s profiles if they forgot to set the account to public.
- Be sure to inform your friends to set their profiles as public.
- You won’t be able to re-register the same AOL email address as a new account.
- To reactivate your profile you need to contact Bebo Support.
- It will take 24+ hours before you are fully removed from Bebo’s system. This includes the Profile Friends group on your buddy list and your status messages.
- Click Here to read instructions on how to remove Bebo Friends from your buddy list.
[AOL/AIM Bebo Migration Guide]
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago at 11:21 AM. 26 comments
So a few weeks ago at the end of February, AIM Profiles became Bebo. The new profile system allows more control over your profile allowing you to add videos, music, and text, in a much easier fashion than AIM Profiles. However, dedicated AIM Profiles users were really ticked off with what seemed like a sudden change over to the Bebo profiles. Some users pointed out how they were not notified about this change and had no idea it was about to occur. Before we continue on, I want to address this issue first.
Did AOL notify users that AIM Profiles would switch to Bebo?
Yes, in fact, there was a yellow bar at the top of every profile giving you a preview for what the new profile system would look like. There was really no way of avoiding that announcement if you used AIM profiles last year. I’ve also covered this in previous entry four months ago that you can read here in case you need proof.
As it happens whenever AOL changes something, most users get disgruntled, they assemble their pitch forks and flames, they walk up to AOL’s headquaters and raise hell! The same thing pretty much happened when AOL changed “AOL Profiles” over to the same sytem AIM profiles used, but that’s another story.
Some have started their own petitions gaining over 3000 signatures about this event. I totally agree, the Bebo profiles are not user friendly for AOL users. Settings are pretty much scattered all over the place and there isn’t one central area for everything you need. Some users describe their experience with it as frustrating, confusing, and a piece of garbage. AOL will have to modify the Bebo setup to appeal to the AOL side. As for those who already exist on Bebo, they are quite used to it and understand how it works.
But I’m here to help. The likeliness of AIM Profiles coming back is slim, so we just have to make due with what we have. The next post will feature a guide to some of the confusing issues with Bebo. We’ll have a little walkthrough where you can ask questions and I’ll get back to you as I find out.
[AOL/AIM Bebo Migration Guide]
