September 26, 2001

5:04 PM

No More AOL CDs!I was going to post this on September 11th. (This was before I realized we weren't simply dealing with a single errant airplane.) Send this guy your AOL coasters. When he gets a million, he's going to dump them on AOL's doorstep.
posted by tpoh.org (21 comments total)

Cool link. When I was in college, I knew a guy who wallpapered his entire dorm room with AOL CDs. I don't have the energy or time to really look, but I imagine there's got to be some really, really creative/enterprising individual who's done some wild stuff with those CDs and someone here is likely to have heard of them.

Anyone?
posted by Sinner at 6:00 PM on September 26, 2001

A million CDs! Although this is an ambitious project, what will it really accomplish? So a few people so fed up with AOL's giving our free CDs (the horror!) that they gather their CDs together and send them back to where they came from. Some AOL employees make DESKS out of 'em. AOL's user growth over the past few years has been staggering. You think they're going to change things because of this?

Besides, this is a perfectly good waste of CDs. Surely there are much more fun things to do with them than send 'em back to AOL. I know at least two people in my high school who go to stores and snag them solely to fill up their trunk (one of them has almost 300), in case they get picked for a random car inspection. And we're getting others to start as well. If you really want to have fun, slip them in other people's lockers (or other personal storage areas). Next time you visit another country, sell them or try to use them as currency. Or just get ten of your friends to follow you into a store and take the entire display.

Stores do, however, catch on quick. A few shops in my area have already stopped supplying AOL discs. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your objective. I guess what I'm saying is that whether they come in your cereal box (they really do) or on display at Sears, AOL is giving you things for free. Take them.
posted by Laugh_track at 6:18 PM on September 26, 2001

Sounds like fun- he says he's planning to take all these CD's to AOL and then say "You've Got Mail!". Perhaps AOL's attorney will be waiting to sue him upon such utterance?
posted by Counselco at 6:28 PM on September 26, 2001

Is he going to literally dump them on AOL's doorstep? Or send them in the mail, or via Fedex or something similar?

I'd imagine that if he just drops them on the front lawn, AOL could prosecute for trespassing. Or even worse, hip him up for illegal dumping. An illegal dumping conviction can carry up to a $250,000 fine, and if you drove there in your car, it can get impounded.

That is, IF they want to be anal about it.
posted by tomorama at 6:33 PM on September 26, 2001

Well, he'd have a hard time dumping the disks on AOL's (HQ) doorstep, since he'd have to get past the security gate (with a guard) and inside the fence. AOL's paranoid enough about security that if you don't have a badge, you don't get in unless someone inside will sign you in. And a truck driving up with an unscheduled delivery? Nah.

Interesting idea, but I think best he'll get to do is dump the CDs in the lot next door.
posted by phichens at 6:47 PM on September 26, 2001

I used to use free AOL CDs on a string to keep birds out of my vegetable and fruit gardens. Most of them lost their shine though and so I am having to accumulate them again. It worked pretty well, especially with a few other things such as toy rubber snakes which were moved every couple of days. ::shrugs::

As for this guy, AOL can probably figure out a way to go after him before he dumps them or does anything else. Just as one example, they might claim that people are taking more discs than they need and supplying him with them and therefore he is costing them money in advertising. I am not so sure they could ever win such a lawsuit, but they could probably scare him into quitting. If they care enough to try.
posted by bargle at 6:54 PM on September 26, 2001

I used to use free AOL CDs

Er, I USE free AOL CDs.....

Carry on.
posted by bargle at 6:55 PM on September 26, 2001

AOL is giving you things for free. Take them.

They're not free. The cost gets passed along in many ways, including the cost of cleanup and the cost of damage to the environment. Nothing is free, my friend.
posted by locombia at 7:24 PM on September 26, 2001

I cut them up into squares and make disco balls out of them. It was a great arts & crafts project I did with 12 year old girls at the summer camp I used to work at. Very cool. Plus, once you have a huge bag of tiny mirrors, you start disco-ing everything.

I glued them all over my laptop. It's kind of a riot.
posted by palegirl at 7:58 PM on September 26, 2001

I'm upset that they stopped giving them away in DVD-style cases. They were perfect for my VCD's!
posted by stew560 at 8:05 PM on September 26, 2001

What do you cut them up with? Tin snips?

My husband and I use them as decoration on our Xmas tree - we have hundreds, and we get a big tree every year. Strung up on fishing line, when the tree lights are lit, it is gorgeous. I would love to cut them into snowflake patterns, but I got lazy. We have them going wayyyyy back - the jazzy leopard prints, the Xmas labels, the blue white and silver logo - all make lovely ornaments.
posted by kristin at 8:19 PM on September 26, 2001

railing against aol...

how very 1995 of this fella.
posted by double+good at 8:52 PM on September 26, 2001

you can cut them up with normal sissors, no problem. after cutting a lot of them your hands get sore, but I found it to be a good project to work on during boring council meetings...
posted by palegirl at 9:23 PM on September 26, 2001

AOL CDs probably would make good shrapnel... you know, with the war effort and all.
posted by blackholebrain at 10:08 PM on September 26, 2001

railing against aol...

how very 1995 of this fella.


Its not like anything has changed since then. Call me old fashioned but I get much angrier at real junk mail than spam. AOL is delivering these CDs in huge packages to seemingly to every mailing list they can get their hands on. This raises the price of AOL service and creates bigger landfills.

I can't see why they can't go back to leaving their CDs at places like Blockbuster and have people pick them up voluntarily. The software only comes preinstalled with almost every new PC you can buy, so I really don't see the need for even that.

With all the AOL vitriol about, I'm surprised no one has written a virus or a worm that specifically targets AOL software or its servers.

I glued them all over my laptop. It's kind of a riot.

Pictures?
posted by skallas at 2:06 AM on September 27, 2001

skallas, I think if you look around I think you'll find plenty of AOL specific programs..

I liked when they had the software on disks. Hey, I was even poorer than I was now and disks were expensive..
posted by Mossy at 2:32 AM on September 27, 2001

i take cotton yarn and crochet hotpads using the CD as the core....

but i've got about 50 now, so i don't need any more. i can use only so many hot plates.
posted by meep at 3:57 AM on September 27, 2001

Personally, I am developing a Star Wars missile defense system using a web of AOL CDs epoxied together, creating an impenetrable shield which will cover this great land of ours, from sea to really shiny sea.

They can also be used in crazy kung fu action, because in movies they seem to be able to pierce people's tracheas with almost no effort involved on the part of the hurler. I seem to remember one of the Hellraiser movies...I think it was 3, where one of the Cenobite dudes was into offing people with discs...Maybe Black Mask too.

Hey that's a good idea. If you're a supervillain, you could use the AOL CDs to create a mind-boggling house of mirrors effect, into which you could lure your nemesis and freak him out, like in that Bruce Lee movie.

I like to use them as coasters, and take every opportunity to say to friends and coworkers alike because, as you are probably well aware, I am the only one ever to think of that.

Oh and massive kudos to the people who like to hang CDs from their rear view mirror, effectively blinding anyone unfortunate to be driving behind them.

Thank you for your time
posted by Kafkaesque at 9:00 AM on September 27, 2001

hmm, ignore previous incomprehensible grammar action.
posted by Kafkaesque at 9:01 AM on September 27, 2001

This will work. I did it in eighth grade, but with little cups of tomatoes we kept getting for lunch to fufill some nutritional quota. It will definitely get media coverage.
posted by username at 9:48 AM on September 27, 2001

They're not free. The cost gets passed along in many ways, including the cost of cleanup and the cost of damage to the environment. Nothing is free, my friend.

Does anyone know if it would be any less cost efficient for AOL to use CD-RWs instead? That way we could recycle them by writing over the AOL junk...
posted by lnicole at 9:37 PM on September 27, 2001