I have to agree with JKG that the format change is not about politics and useless to carrying on a conversation.

I also told Neta that I didn't think it would stop the abuse/harassment/identity confusion but, it seems stopping a discussion might be the new format designers' way of stopping the distention although it does seem to effect those who have been around longer than those just joining.

I think it would have been better to add a feature that each person could use to block out particularly harassive members, at their own discretion, so abusive posts and messages from abusive people would simply not be visible. Not everyone is going to agree and that is fine but, when things get abusive, if the people responsible for monitoring those who are genuinely abusive cannot keep up with the amount of complaints, blocking those accounts from showing up or having access to your own account, imho, would have been helpful each to members and Yedda(TM) staff, who could then explore the 'blocked' accounts and review the posts/messages deemed abusive by others at their leisure rather than making topics soooo difficult to navigate, I, personally, will never sign up for AOL as an ISP - EVER!

And, as someone who has found it difficult to make myself understandable around here, under it all, I have appreciated the non-abusive diversity of opinions but, if the government intends to take the internet back from citizens, they know how(which, again, imho, would be completely illogical because it supports so many people this nation owes money to!!!! - So, I also see the side that claims there is 'something' political but, I don't think whoever formatted this new thing, really thought it through - On the positive side - the last three days of my life have been more off-line than ever and the transition to using a telephone (remember those things??) would be simpler, while I completely go off-line and go fishing.)

To answer this question, directly, a boycott would be hard for AOL to undo without massive advertising and cause ISP costs to go up - so it's one way or the other: Get used to living off-line or know a boycott will be used as an excuse to charge more for the internet but, as long as there is competition, given the economy, AOL might be the biggest loser to not listen to those who have been around for a year and over.

If there is another website, those who want to stay in touch and don't have means - don't forget your local library and being able to schedule times to discuss, when posts are not lost in the shuffle - if boycotting is the result of not being heard.

Personally, I'll be out fishing and checking in to see if anything improves. If not, the format also makes it easier to completely delete individual posts before canceling accounts.

Tayna - I don't understand your post about Richard's website. If I can even locate this thread again, I hope to read more about it.

If not, it's been nice meeting all of you and I do wish you all the best.

~YP~