iChat name suspended

lurk

lurk

Mitä?
Today when I logged into iChat I got the following error.

Could not connect to AIM

Your screen name has been suspended and cannot be used to log in.

I only use iChat to talk to my wife and one other person at work, I cannot for the life of me think of anything that I did that violated the TOS to get me suspended. Like I said I only talk to two people and keep my profile hiddenn. Is there any way I can find out why this has happened and what I can do to get it undone?

One suggestion I heard was that AOL was clamping down on non-aim clients but surely that does not include iChat. I know that there must have been lawyers involved in making sure that was kosher.

Any ideas or commiserations?

Thanks.
 
I've seen this being reported on other forums. Seems to be a problem with AOL and not anything you did. Some say it works after a few hours to a couple days.
 
Lawyers involved? In order to suspend a free service you possibly even anonymously took advantage of? :)

Sadly, I guess all you can do for now is just get another AIM screen name (just go to aol.com to get one, they're still free) and inform your two contacts. As it's, erh, two contacts, I'd say that isn't sooooo much hassle.

Then I'd try and contact AOL directly. There's bound to be some contact info on aol.com. And if you're lucky, you'll at least be given a list of reasons for suspending AIM accounts.
 
fryke said:
Lawyers involved? In order to suspend a free service you possibly even anonymously took advantage of? :)
Click to expand...

I think he meant between Apple and AOL so that iChat could use AOL's protocol.
 
Yep, when I meant that the lawyers were involved in making sure that iChat would not be banned as an illegal client.

As for the hassle of getting a new screen name that is negligible. ( Although my last name was actually semantically meaningful and not something like 'metoo3578' so I will miss it. ) My real problem is that as it now stands I have been accused of committing some infraction by AOL for which they have seen fit to terminate my account. However, I have no way of finding out what this offense was, to address my accusers or to correct the problem if it was just a clerical error. The whole experience and my attempts to figure out what has been going on has been rather Kafkaesque. If you want to experience The Castle in real life try to find any contact information on aim.com.

There is a slight tinge of slander to this whole thing that I find somewhat troublesome. Imagine if I had several business contacts that knew my screen name and then I had to send all of them updates with the implication that my old one had been suspended. I know that is a somewhat extreme position but reputation can be very important in various circles (and those do not overlap with AIM chatters I am sure) so even though the name itself was free there can be real ramifications to losing one.
 
If you used AOL as you ISP previously, and switched to another ISP, but kept the same screen name for AIM, then that's why it was suspended.


"Screen Names that were previously used on AOL but have been cancelled or suspended, can no longer be used on AIM. This includes both master accounts and sub-accounts. In order to continue using this Screen Name on AIM, please reactivate the account on AOL."
 
Nope the only choice on the list that could have applied to me was the "done done somtin' wrong" choice. That is why I am so puzzled...
 
Fryke thanks for the link. The error they mentioned was the same as mine so i will try on Monday and see what we get.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top