Jesus, Tom. Could you possibly be more stereotypical? I totally agree with your theory - annoying members to tend to be on AOL, but putting a ban on AOL is just plain unfair, i noticed some of NG's most talented artists use the service, and it's still a leading ISP to Internet newcomers. AOL has just become a victim.. The services are NOT bad at all.. In fact, they're better than a lot ISPs who's service i have experienced. I've reached, at the most, a 10kbps constant speed on my 56k dial-up modem. The spam filter service is excellent, as it really works, and i do believe that you can put address' on the access list.
As for all this "omg aol sux" hatred, grow up. I know a fact that half of you who say that have NEVER used AOL and are just following a pathetic and immature trend so you can get a cool image with all the other "kewl ha><><0rz" who bitch about stupid crap.
Sorry, Tom, but you're going to have to find a better excuse than "bad service", because to me that's bullshit.