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What's New With Pixnay?

We've gone through hundreds of feedback items and have been busy improving your Pixnay experience.

What's the latest for May? You can now...

Browse and Sort Top Players
See the Newest Uploads

Wanna comment on Pixnay pages, not just in battles? Done.

Feel like sharing more about you or dropping a caption to go with your super-hot picture? No longer a problem. Just sign in and make your changes for all to see.

We've even thrown in a new set of ratings. From Pixnay's Finest to Crazy Hot to Way Cute and points between, it's now much easier to ID the who's-who players around the community.

Keep sending feedback and ideas, and we'll keep working night and day to make Pixnay faster, smarter, more personalized, social and fun.

Check out pixnay.com today! Five million votes, 50,000 comments and counting...

Pixnay Brings the Heat

Introducing Pixnay -- the newest (and, quite possibly, the sexiest) member of the Community Applications family -- where you can rate hot guys and girls and share your pictures too!

Ever play "who'd-you-rather" with your friends? Of course you have and so have we. And, oh yea, people have played it with you in mind too.

Pixnay is a way to check out, judge, and voice your opinion on more people than you can cram into your college student center or local mall for a day of people watching; it's a simple game where players face off in randomized (within the age/gender categories that you set) her-or-her/him-or-him battles of hotness.

Real-time stats are shown, keeping players honest. Comments are made, keeping players humble (or inflating egos). It ain't always pretty, but the competition can be beautiful, especially when the players are.

Wanna see how you'll do? Think you have what it takes? Then you can climb into the ring and compete too. Ding, ding!

Check it out at pixnay.com and send any thoughts, comments or other feedback to pixnay.com/feedback.

Boards Migration on Sunday

Hello Boards Users. Wanted to give you a quick heads up that this weekend, we'll be migrating our boards database behind the scenes, which may cause strange behavior between 10PM ET on Sunday, 2/10 and mid-Monday 2/11.

This is what you can expect. Your saved preferences, favorite boards and signatures will be unavailable during the migration. You will also not be able to save any preferences changes during this time. Rest assured that they all will return as soon as the migration period is over on Monday -- at least that's what they tell me.

You will be able to read and post while all this is going on.

We're sorry for the inconvenience!

~Erin

As They Say In Community, It's Never Really Goodbye...

After nine years and three months, today is my last day at AOL. It's been a wild ride, lots of fun, and a tremendous learning experience. Besides working with such great folks, where else could one have the opportunity to run such a large community operation and get to know some of the most interesting, savvy, and committed community members in the world? I will miss you, more than you know.

But... other opportunities, both personal and professional have been calling and the time is right for me to move on.

My AOL e-mail box will not work after today, so if you want to stay in touch, feel free to write to NYMeng@aol.com. You can also keep track of my daily activities by reading Hummingbird Mind.

Before you ask what I'll do with myself, I have some plans. Here's just a short list:

* Sleep
* Exercise
* Read
* Play with my new granddaughter
* Fish with my father
* Walk the beach
* Focus on the youth oriented non profit I started last year with some other parents
* Take many road trips
* Complete a book I've been writing

That's just a start. I plan to take off at least a month before starting some consulting work I've been offered.

I'll also still visit AOL communities, so if you see me online, feel free to ping me.

It's not goodbye, it's so long and see you soon.

-Nancie

P.S. Be good!

This Is My Last Blog Entry.

Joseph Manna, Picture taken in Las Vegas (2006)Hi, folks.

I just wanted to take a moment and inform you that this is my final blog entry on the Social Media Blog since tomorrow is my last day with AOL.

The Social Media Blog will be transitioned into the warm hands of Kelly Wilson. Hang tight for a bit as she irons out the final plans with the blog. If you'd like to stay on top of the Web 2.0 and technology in general, check out Frank Gruber's Somewhat Frank. (In his day job, he's a senior product manager for myAOL.)

That said, it's been my sincere pleasure to help and support all of you via this blog, message boards, e-mail and even Instant Message. If you'd like, you can still find me blogging on my personal blog.

Many thanks and take care. :-)

~Joseph

Upcoming Important AOL Community Changes

Hey folks,

In the next several weeks, you will notice some changes as it pertains to AOL Community. Specifically, the AOLPeopleMGR mailbox will be decommissioned and all message boards will be migrated to a Member-Managed experience.

For a while now, we've informed you to write to AOLPeopleMGR for any concerns relating to AOL Community. As of February 8, we'll consolidate AOLPeopleMGR into the TOSGeneral@aol.com mailbox. Rest assured, you can still let our team know of any egregious Terms of Service violations or general questions relating to the enforcement of the Terms of Service and we'll handle it within 48 hours.

In the next several weeks, we'll no longer moderate "AOL Managed" community areas. We provide tools (like message board filters) that empower the user experience, as well as the ability to report inappropriate content to us for further review via Notify AOL.

~Joseph

Classic (Old) AOL Message Board Format Retires

This is a picture of the classic Message Board format found within the AOL software. Users still accessing the legacy interface for AOL Message Boards will be redirected to the Web message board format which offers newer features starting the morning of February 7.

What can you expect with these changes?
Hyperlinks that point to the classic boards (like ones you might have saved in your favorites) will automatically redirect you to the appropriate Web message board. At the same time, all "backdoors" to the format will no longer function.

Within the Web format, users are presented with more formatting options, including the ability to add pictures. With pictures, signatures can be customized and take advantage of the other aspects of HTML. Web boards also offer the ability to subscribe to boards and be alerted via AOL Alerts to any new messages.

Some important notes that you should be aware of:
If for some reason a link does not automatically direct you to the right place, look at your old link and look at the new one. Here's an example that illustrates what you would navigate to within your Web browser:
aol://5863:000/mB:555062:0123456
http://messageboards.aol.com/aol/en_us/articles.php?boardId=555062

Some users may need to re-add their favorite boards by clicking the "Add to My Boards" link located along the top of a message board.
The Notify AOL button is in the form of a link located directly below a message. It requires that you have pop-ups allowed so you can properly report content that violates the AOL Terms of Service to our team.



You may share your thoughts and concerns on the message board for AOL Message Boards or in the comments below. The Community products team will review the feedback provided.

~Joseph

Fix: Windows Vista and AIM 6.5 'Connection Status' Issue

AIMFor a while now, those of you using the latest Microsoft operating system, Windows Vista, have reported a unique problem with AIM 6.5 and Vista where the network connections icon says you're disconnected, but you're not. Admittedly, it stumped us for a bit as we investigated -- but now we have a fix that should remedy this problem in just a few steps.

We posted the details regarding the fix on the AOL Help Web site, with an easy to remember URL so you can share it with your other buddies who use Windows Vista:


Essentially, you will need to uninstall the AIM software, enable the User Account Control (UAC) security setting, download some Windows Updates, download and install AIM again. All these details (including pictures) are available at this help article. There's also a more colorful version of it available here, too.

We understand this can be frustrating and AIM and Microsoft teams are currently working on providing a long-term solution. In the meantime, be sure that you are using the latest version of AIM and install updates that you might receive in the future.

We'd like to know if this fixed the problem! Please feel welcome to leave feedback in the comments below, or drop on by the message board to discuss it with other avid AIM users.

~Joseph

Latest Photos Not Showing Up on AIM Profiles

Hi Everyone,

Unfortunately, we have a problem with the system that is making the latest photos not show up on the profile like they normally do. We estimate that we'll have it fixed the first week of 2008. Don't worry, your photos are still there!

You can see your photos or anyone else's photos by going to:
http://photos.aim.com/photos/SCREENNAMEHERE

You can also upload photos by going to http://photos.aim.com/photo/upload. We're very sorry for the inconvenience. We wish you a wonderful holiday and happy new year.

1/4 - Update - We fixed this! Thanks for your patience.


Thanks,
AIM Profiles Team

Responses to Your Feedback on AIM Profiles

Hi, folks.

As many of you probably know by now, AIM Profiles is now the official AOL and AIM public profile product. I've received hundreds of comments and Instant Messages from users who want to know where their old profiles went as well as tips for customizing the new ones.

I'd like to point out that one of the huge benefits of the new AIM Profiles product is performance. It's incredibly faster to load and even quicker to save changes.

The team is still ironing out any profile migration issues that have arisen. The most common error messages are "Action Canceled," "Page Cannot Be Displayed" or "Redirecting Improperly" when you attempt to view a profile. Please send the AIM Profiles team an e-mail to MemDirReports@aol.com. They will be able to fix profiles that haven't migrated correctly. Note: This e-mail address is intended for reporting technical issues with AIM Profiles.

I'd like to respond to some of the comments and questions that you've shared with us:

"Give us back the Advanced Editor, I spent a lot of time creating my page."
Right now, we don't have any plans to integrate the older advanced editor into AIM Profiles. We understand this does limit one's creativity a little bit. However, you can still use plenty of other features such as AIM Photos, the status messages, code snippets and the additional sections on your profile.

"Help! My page doesn't look right." or "There is nothing there."
A large number of profiles have already been converted, but there are many more to go. All AIM Pages will be migrated to AIM Profiles as we informed users earlier (see here, here and also on the top of every AIM Profile page).

"How can I customize my profile with my <insert something cool>?"
AIM Profiles allows you to embed Flash-based widgets in the Code Snippet section. That is, you can copy and paste the "embed" code found on a lot of video and music Web sites. You can also find many other widgets on WidgetBox. However, at this time, JavaScript is not allowed so that we can provide a safer and secure experience.

"How can I add my own background or themes to my profile?"
The AIM Profiles Team is looking into offering additional ways you can customize your profile in the future.AIM Profiles currently offers a wide selection of over 190 themes you can style your page with. You can change the theme of your page by clicking on the "Themes" tab, then just choosing the one you want.

"How do I get that IM thing like you have on your profile?"
To do this, create a Wimzi, then copy the Flash code that it provides, and paste it into your Code Snippet section.



The AIM Profiles team very much appreciates your comments. Please continue to ask us questions, provide us constructive feedback or suggestions about AIM Profiles we'll help you the best we can. :-)

~ Joseph

Message Boards: Updated Layout for Greater Usability

Hey folks,

The Message Boards product team informed me that they will be deploying an update to the Boards product tonight. This will bring significant changes to the layout of the page. Many of you will probably enjoy these changes since it also adds more usability to the product overall.

The new layout will boast a wider 980-pixel wide format. (To get an idea of what that looks like, check out AOL People Connection or AOL Money.) Also, they will move the Message Board Search from the bottom of the page, to the right side of the boards.

On smaller note, for channels that don't have a newer header, the team will provide a default, "AOL Message Boards" branded one, so it should look nice no matter what board you're on.

The team anticipates that between midnight (tonight) and 4AM tomorrow, the boards will be updated. Let us know how it goes and what you think of these changes in the comments below.

[Update: 12/5, 10:01AM] At this time it appears that the board servers are not accessible. We've notified the board team and they are investigating it and should be back up shortly.

[Update: 12/5, 11:18AM] Board update complete. Took a little bit for all the servers to be updated, but the team and I confirm that the boards are now functioning and have been updated. :-)


~ Joseph

Pictures Have Been Enabled on All Boards

Hey folks,

We've enabled images to be posted on all AOL Message Boards.

This means you can add a picture to your messages easily. You can upload your image anywhere -- like AIM Photos, AOL Pictures, Flickr, ImageShack, Photobucket and many more.

Remember that all images must adhere to the AOL Terms of Service and Community Guidelines, regardless of where the image is hosted.

To learn how to use this feature -- check out my earlier entry explaining how to post images on boards. If you can't post images yet, please clear your cache and cookies (footprints in AOL software) and try again.

~ Joseph

AIM Groups: Coming Soon

AIM Groups BetaAIM Groups will make an appearance on your computer soon. AIM Groups took the best features within AOL Groups and made them better with the best of AIM.

This release of our Groups product will make it easy to create private and public online groups and will allow you (as a group owner) to manage the Web page for the group, as well as integrating an improved message board where everyone can discuss topics. With
Groups, you can use one e-mail address to send e-mail a large group of people. It's very simple to keep everyone "in the loop" with AIM Groups.

For the users who currently use Groups@AOL or AOL Groups Beta, you don't have to change any settings. All groups, subscribers and group settings will be migrated by the Groups team to the newer AIM Groups. All you have to do is log in and check out the new Groups site. However, contents like pictures and messages will not be migrated.

If you participated in Groups@AOL or AOL Groups Beta with an AOL or AIM screen name, you're good to go. If you participated with an e-mail address, but didn't have a screen name, you'll need to create an AIM screen name (or register your e-mail address) to participate in the new Groups product. (You'll get an "invitation" e-mail with a link that will let you create a new AIM screen name.)

On this new system, the team is very confident the e-mail delivery problems which affected the older products have been resolved. To be on the safe side, make sure your recipients add the group's e-mail address to their Address Book so they won't miss any messages. (AOL Help has plenty of helpful articles related to managing your e-mail settings, if you need some help.)

AIM Groups is the solution if you want to run a mailing list. All you need is either an AOL or an AIM screen name, and you can stay in contact with your recipients. Since recipients can manage their e-mail delivery settings themselves, you don't need to worry about any bounces or cleaning off your bulk mail list.

The Groups team has plans for more exciting features in the near future. The team would like to thank everyone for their patience in this release and would like to hear your feedback on it. Please share any constructive suggestions or ideas in the comments, and we'll let them know.

[Update 12/6] AIM Groups has made it to Beta. Try it out today!

~ Joseph

Message Boards Update: Features and Bug Fixes

Just wanted to tell you the latest news about Message Boards.

These bugs have been fixed:

Rich Text Editor (RTE) Focus Issues -- Several of you noted that the page unexpectedly scrolled to the the bottom, to the RTE when opening a message. The team fixed this problem.
'Undefined' Posts -- The team feels confident that they've fixed the problem of some users submitting a post only to see "Undefined" appear. Of course, we want to know if the problem still occurs for some of you.
Large Text (36pt) in Messages -- The cause of the problem where font sizes were defaulting to 36pt has been isolated and the fix is ready to go.

These features are new or updated:

RSS Feeds -- This feature allows you to subscribe to your favorite topics and read them in a RSS reader.
AOL Alerts -- AOL Alerts notify you when someone has replied to a thread or posted a new message on specific boards. The alert can be delivered via the Alert feature in AOL and AIM software, e-mail and even cell phones.
Mark Board Read -- (Hallelujah!) You know what this means. Users who want the ability to mark a board as read from the subject or topic level view rather than just at the board level. This will be in the form of a link along the upper right corner for easy access.
Revised Ratings Icons -- For boards that include the ratings feature, the icon has changed from a "thumbs up/down" to a star. This is to encourage positive use of the feature by rewarding those who post quality messages to the board.
Page Layout-- To support a wider area for content, the author information has been moved from the left side to the top of the message. This allows for quicker scanning of threads.
Images Support -- For boards that we have toggled to allow the posting of images, users can now add pictures in their messages. The images can be hosted anywhere -- such as AOL Pictures, Flickr, Photobucket or Imageshack among others. The images must comply to the AOL Terms of Service as well as the Community Standards for those boards and will be subject to removal and account action.

All the above items will be included in the next release of the Message Boards, which our folks in Operations said should be this evening or tomorrow. So just a heads up in case you see something different.

The Board team asked me to thank everyone for their patience in this release. If you experience any issues in this release, please let us know in the comments below. :-)

~ Joseph

AIM Users: Mandatory Security Updates

Hey folks,

Very soon many of you will be seeing a mandatory upgrade notice from AIM. If you are on version AIM 6.1 or below or old versions of AIM Triton, you will see this message. This service update will bring you up to version AIM 6.5 which contains important security updates along with several new features.

The message will come from screen name AOL System Msg, and will say:
AOL System Msg: Hey there! Thanks for signing on. AIM service will apply a mandatory security update. Start the update process now.
You do not need to enter your screen name or password. The link will take you directly to http://www.aim.com/upgrade/ and is totally free. In case you want to double check, here is what the site will look like, much more scaled down of course:
Important Upgrade: Simply click the 'Install Now' button to upgrade.
Important Upgrade: Simply click the 'Install Now' button to upgrade.

Users on AIM 6.1 or 6.2 will receive a toaster pop-up (meaning it appears in the right corner, like toast popping out of the toaster) in the corner prompting them to install the update. It looks like this:

Toasted: AIM 6.5 Security Update

Alternatively, you can close the IM and download AIM 6.5 directly from AIM.com. Be advised that if you don't update your version of AIM, you may be blocked from accessing the version of AIM service you are using in the future (and we don't want that).

If you have questions on upgrading or want to share tips with other users, come visit the AIM Help & Support Message Board.

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Just a group blog for AOL and AIM employees who work on social media, online messaging and online community