Ghost of Midnight

AOL webmail can’t send email to some addresses

AOL made some changes in the second half of 2008 to the way its customers’ outgoing email is sent when using AOL’s webmail option.  One result of these otherwise invisible changes is that messages sent by an AOL-using Front Porch Forum subscriber to any FrontPorchForum.com address do not arrive successfully.  So, regrettably, FPF will not receive neighborhood forum postings or requests for help made by email in this manner.  We’ve notified AOL many times and have received no response.  Here are solutions for AOL-using FPF members…

Post to your FPF neighborhood forum…

1. Via our website. Go to http://frontporchforum.com and click Log In.  Once logged in successfully, click on “Using the Web” under “Post Your Message.”  Enter your message and headline and check your neighborhood forum.  Hit the “Post Message” button.
2. Via email using an email client. AOL’s broken software appears to be tied to its webmail, so if you use an email client (e.g., Mozilla Thunderbird or Apple Mail) you should be able to post fine.
3. Using a different email provider If you have a non-AOL email address, add it to your FPF account (go to http://frontporchforum.com, click Log In, then Account).  Then post using that email address.  Free Gmail is one option.

Contact FPF…

1. Using our website… http://frontporchforum.com/about Again, you won’t be able to contact FPF using AOL’s webmail.

We’re sorry about this inconvenience.  It appears to be yet one more problem with AOL.  If you run into this problem, please complain to AOL and ask them to fix it.  Yahoo Mail has serious problems too.  We respectfully recommend not using either service if you have other viable options available to you.  Thanks for your participation.