AOL Historical Comparisons

Comments repeatedly draw parallels between AOL's past dominance as a walled-garden 'internet' provider and a current service or platform, highlighting AOL's decline as a cautionary tale.

➡️ Stable 0.6x Startups & Business
2,017
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#3773
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
24
2008
38
2009
46
2010
127
2011
194
2012
91
2013
103
2014
92
2015
201
2016
77
2017
107
2018
116
2019
73
2020
103
2021
140
2022
125
2023
141
2024
69
2025
143
2026
7

Keywords

ICQ IMHO TechCrunch OG about.me AIM BOD IP TCP AOL aol convenience email keywords yahoo isp twitter facebook cms internet company

Sample Comments

usuallymatt Mar 21, 2018 View on HN

There was a time when some would have said the same of AOL.

sh1mmer Apr 22, 2010 View on HN

That worked so well for AOL when they were the "internet".

Natsu Nov 20, 2025 View on HN

We had AOL back in the day, but...

SonicSoul Nov 16, 2018 View on HN

People viewed AOL as internet once. Until they didn’t

logicalextremes Apr 21, 2010 View on HN

Yeah, that's what they said about AOL.

swiley Jan 17, 2017 View on HN

They where when AOL was big too.

d883kd8 Jun 19, 2020 View on HN

It's how things went down with aol

fartcannon Jun 15, 2022 View on HN

AOL was ahead of its time, I see.

ahoyhere Dec 17, 2008 View on HN

The one way AOL was better than the rest of the internet.

baron816 Apr 18, 2021 View on HN

AOL had me early. I think you know what happened.