First AOL Journal Hoax?

EARLIEST DISCOVERED AOL JOURNAL HOAX
Wednesday, November 12, 2003

What can I say?  So many AOL Journalers were suckered into believing that one of our fellow Journalers had died tragically.
"Raven" had a journal titled "Finding Mr. Right" .. as her journal progressed along, she apparently found the man of her dreams .. they drove out to Colorado where they both "died" in an auto accident on her birthday.
The journal referred to above has, of course long since been deleted.
Thankfully .. or shall i say strangely, one of her friends had Raven's password and access to her journal and she proceeded to inform us all of the sad news of Raven's tragic death.
The AOL Journaling community mourned.
Until it was pointed out in Mr Scalzi's journal that the images of Raven used in her journal were actually images from a model's website that had new shots posted AFTER Raven's untimely death.
This girl Raven's pictures are listed on this web page, or at least the ones used for the blog are listed here. Scroll down and you'll see them. The girls name is Angelie Almendare. The new picture Leslie posted today is also on the page. I think this is a hoax.
Comment from ranttec - 11/13/03  9:40 PM
MODELS HOMEPAGE WELCOMES ANGELIE -FREE Web Page Bikinis,Asian,Amateur

http://www.modelshomepage.com/angelie.html

Other journalists reported not being able to find ANY news of a tragic auto accident in Colorado on the date of the alleged accident.
Here are snapshots of the incident as scattered throughout AOL Journal Land and how what turned out to be a cruel, pathetic hoax effected the community ...
Wednesday, November 12, 20034:50:00 PM EST

A Sad Note

Friday, November 14, 2003
7:19:00 AM CST

A v. mean hoax?! Ug!

Saturday, November 15, 2003
7:39:00 AM EST

We have been had!

Saturday, November 15, 2003
9:20:00 AM EST

A Hoax or Not?

Saturday, November 15, 200311:02:00 AM EST

Once Bitten, Twice Shy?

Earliest Found Uses of Journal Functions

Check out the links below for an historical tour of the earliest journal uses of then considered "NEWLY DISCOVERED" journal functions !!!

i've decided to add an editorial comment, for journalers who believe that we've always had the ability to add images in the text area of journal entries .. it just ain't so !!
the actual credit for using an animated gif IN the text area of AOL Journals is squirrelygirlie4 on September 5, 2003

i remember running around J-Land (long before it was called J-land lol) and finding her entry where she had an animated smiley in her journal entry .. believe it or not, that was something that had NEVER been done before

both Vivian and i emailed her, wanting to know how to recreate her discovery in my own journal .. i emailed Vivian (one of my cohorts in Journal Beta) asking if SHE had any idea how to get animated text into a journal entry
it turns out that squirrelygirlie4 had copied the animated smiley from her email .. the gif actually "belongs" to AOL and is stored on their servers somewhere in cyberland .. a few days later .. after numerous experiments trying to duplicate the animated gif in a journal entry, it was discovered that using HTML code, it WAS possible to link to an animated gif in the text area of journals
the rest as they say, is history !!!

EARLIEST IMAGE IN THE TEXT AREA OF A JOURNAL ENTRY:

Friday, September 5, 2003
4:49:00 PM CDT
Found at:  Life, Love and other stuff....

Ahh Friday!

here is my own journal entries where i tried to experiment with adding my own animated gifs:

Monday, September 15, 20031:11:00 AM EDT

calling one helpful html expert please

7:39:00 AM EDT
animated smiley faces

not being content with simply being able to add animated gifs, i needed to find out WHY, so i elicited the assistance of Mr AOL Answer Man Scalzi to see if HE had any idea why .. here is his own journal entry outlining the NEW discovery !! :Pictures in Your Journal -- A New Way
from there, different journalers discovered how to remove the extra html coding that was added and how to remove the annoying blue border that was appearing around the images


EARLIEST AUDIO ENTRY USING AOL BY PHONE:
Monday, August 4, 2003
12:20:00 PM EDT

Found at:  What a Life

Audio entry


Sunday, September 7, 20033:39:00 PM CDT
Found at:  Nwanyioma's Journal

Audio entry

EARLIEST USE OF VIDEO IN A JOURNAL ENTRY:
Friday, November 14, 2003
5:14:00 PM CST

Found at:   A LIFE IN SLOW MOTION
Found by:  onestrangecat

Slo in Motion??

EARLIEST USE OF GRAPHICS IN ALL ABOUT ME SECTION:


Sunday, September 28, 2003
1:12:00 PM CDT
Found at:  A LIFE IN SLOW MOTION

A neat trick for inserted images!


FIRST SOUND FILES LINKED IN A JOURNAL ENTRY:


Wednesday, September 3, 2003
11:20:00 AM EDT

Found at:  This Is Michael NYC
Found by:  onestrangecat

Listen to this.
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
9:48:00 PM CDT

Found at:  A LIFE IN SLOW MOTION

A MUSIC ENTRY

Journal Message Board : AOL Journal Group

AOL JOURNALS MESSAGE BOARD CREATED
Friday, August 29, 2003

12:02 PM Pacific Standard Time
Found at:  AOL Journals are here



I’m guessing AOL Journals weren’t an immediate hit .. here is the first member post to the AOL Journals Message Board
Friday, August 29, 2003

1:05 PM Pacific Standard Time
Found at:  Click here: Re: AOL Journals are here


It wasn’t until November 3, 2003 that the first apparent journal promotion was actually posted to the Journal message boardMonday, November 3, 2003

1:22 PM Pacific Standard Time
Found at:  Click here: My journal

FIRST KNOWN AOL GROUP DEVOTED TO JOURNALING:

On October 12, 2003, the first known AOL Group devoted to journaling was created:



Check out Born 2 Blog's Flashbuilder Page !!!

Check out Born 2 Blogs Member Directory !!!

Earliest editor's picks

EARLY EDITORS PICKS:These, according to the Journals Editor were the earliest Editors Picks, then referred to the Top 5 Journals of Interest.  Unfortunately, they weren’t able to locate the exact date, it is believed to be approximately
Thursday, August 21, 2003Today's Top 5 Journals of Interest
      1.  From Engineer to Lawyer
      2.  Confessions of a Fly-Fishing Zealot
      3.  Just One Girl's Head Noise
      4.  The Good, The Bad, The Funny (journal now deleted)
      5.   Life is like a picture...

Friday, August 22, 2003
Subject: Seeking other AOL Journals
Time: 4:04:00 AM PDT

Found at:  Technology on the web
Found by:  Onestrangecat

Transmogriflaw: From Engineer to Lawyer   
Confessions of A Fly-Fishing Zealot   
Christine's Chronicles  
The Good, The bad, The Funny  (journal now deleted)   Life is like a picture... Tuesday, September 2, 20034:01:00 PM EDTFound at:  Just One Girls Head Noise

Found by:  Onestrangecat


Friday, September 19, 2003
5:39:00 PM EDTFound at:  The Daily Snooze
Found by:  Onestrangecat

Editor’s Daily Picks ~ changed to Weekly Picks
Wednesday, October 20, 2003

Found by:  Journals Editor

Want to read what Journalists thought of the change from Daily Picks to Weekly Picks?  Click on the links below !!

Wednesday, October 15, 2003Subject: journal editors slacking offTime: 9:16:00 PM EDT
Author:  idiot7daysaweek
click here to read the Journal Entry: Journal Editors Slacking Off
OR if the AOL link above not is not working
click here to read Google's Cache: Journal Editors Slacking Off


and if you read below, my very own comment
Ant .. if you look really closely it now says "Editors Weekly Picks"
they've converted from daily to weekly
pamela
Comment from his1desire 10/15/03
10:24 PM
Tuesday, October 21, 2003Subject: why we have weekly journalsTime: 5:27:00 PM EDT
Author:  idiot7daysaweek click here to read the Journal Entry: Why Do We Have Weekly Journals
OR if the AOL link above not is not working
click here to read Google's Cache: Why Do We Have Weekly Journals


Wednesday, October 22, 2003Subject: top five for two weeks?
Time: 2:46:00 PM EDT
Author:  idiot7daysaweek
click here to read the Journal Entry: Top 5 For Two Weeks?
OR if the AOL link above not is not working
click here to read Google's Cache: Top 5 For Two Weeks?

Tuesday, October 21, 2003Subject: Editor's Picks
Time: 4:12:00 PM EDT
Author:  johnmscalzi
click here to read the Journal Entry: Editor's Picks
OR if the AOL link above not is not working
click here to read Google's Cache: Editors Picks

Meet Mr. "AOL Answer Man" Sculzi

Scalzi Announces ~ he’s going to blog for AOL !!Saturday, August 7, 2003
Found at:  WHATEVER
Encouraging Independent Thought Since 1998.


AOL Introduces us to John Scalzi !!Wednesday, August 20, 2003Found at:   By The Way...

Who Is This John Scalzi Person?


   John Scalzi was born on May 10, 1969, although his own memory of the event is sketchy and he has to go by what others tell him of the event. He grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, and like many people his age from that area, had entire conversations that consisted of nothing more than variably-inflected uses of the word "dude." After graduating from the Webb School of California in 1987, he went to the University of Chicago, conveniently located in Chicago, where for the first time he saw buildings older than he was.
WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT #1
Found at:   By The Way...

Friday, April 16, 2004
3:58:00 PM EDT

Your Weekend Assignment #1: 25 (or 10) Random Facts
As part of the continuing effort to do more fun and interesting things here at By The Way and in AOL-J, I've decided to launch a new feature: Your Weekend Assignment. The idea is to create a sort of fun communal activity for AOL Journalers that we can all work on over the weekend. This is directly inspired by things like Friday Five, in which thousands of Journalers and bloggers take on the same five questions every week -- but will be a little different in that instead of questions every week, we'll mix it up and do some other things as well. Variety, you see. We're all about the variety.

Official AOL Journal Release Dates

AOL Journals is released for beta testing
Tuesday, July 29, 2003



AOL Journals Go Live !!
Thursday, August 21, 2003

Earliest AOL Journals Created?

(EDITORS NOTE: To read the journals in their entirety, please click on the links provided)
Tuesday, July 15, 20039:31:00 AM EDTMost Current Entry: still active as of today !Found by:   Aynetal3




10:24:00 AM EDTMost Current Entry: Wednesday, April 7, 2004

10:52:38 AM EDTMost Current Entry: Monday, December 29, 2003

3:26:00 PM EDTMost CurrentEntry: Thursday, August 21, 2003Found by:  Aynetal3



6:15:00 PM EDT
Most Current Entry: Tuesday, January 27, 2004


7:15:00 PM EDTMost Current Entry: Friday, April 16, 2004


12:13:00 PM EDTMost Current Entry: Thursday, June 3, 2004



12:22:00 PM EDTMost Current Entry: Still active as of today !!

Saturday, July 19, 2003
9:41:00 PM CDTMost Current Entry: still active as of today !!!