He
works for AOL UK (doing Community stuff), though you might not know his
name. However, chances are you know his face, because he was captured
on film in what became an iconic photo from the London transit bombings in July (you can see the Time magazine cover behind him):
a former firefighter, was on his way to work when he got caught up in
the events of 7/7, helping people injured in the attacks. (Here's an AOL UK Community page -- AOL in-client link only -- and my own blog entry from back in July.)
You can read his eyewitness account in his blog, which he continues to update today.
Paul is in town to be honored at an anti-hate benefit concert and gala
at the Kennedy Center tonight; he graciously came by the office for a
meet-and-greet, so I was also able to get a photo with him:
Thanks -- Joe
30 comments:
What a hero. His photo was all around at the time.
What a day too. The strangest blogging day:
http://journals.aol.co.uk/tommytickla/Thinkbigthoughts/entries/488
Wish they'd do more with the UK community stuff though - when you compare it with the US version. But then I guess they'd have to rename it UKOL which just doesn't have the same ring to it......
h
Dear Joe,
Thanks for featuring a hero ! We need more of them!
Thanks Paul for the good job!
Nice photo!
((((Joe)))))
natalie
Just yesterday I was looking at my old issues of Time to and this was the one I decided to peruse again. I am so glad you featured Paul in such a positive way!
Donna
Thanks for the update on the London bombing story.
Glad Paul is still updating his Journal. Congratualtions on the award, well deserved!
Well, I'm logged on to my screen name "bookncoffee" but for the life of me CANNOT update my journal as there is no "button" to do so. And I also see we are running ads at the top now. I don't like that b/c it defaces the journal and takes away from how we want it to look. I'll log off and log back on again. I came to your journal hoping to see what was going on. You know we always let you know when we don't like something...but I will say that I enjoy AOL and enjoy journaling and know that you all try to fix things we have trouble with or don't like.
Thanks for that.
Sonya
h
I am going to repeat what the others said, I am unable to update my journal and what's with the add banners? I thought only AIM users had to see that???? Please let us know when we will be able to use our Journals again, thanks so much!
Gwen
aka Jadejonez04
Joe, I cannot ADD / EDIT my own journal??? But I certainly can read the new add on top of it that AOL kindly put there. Whats wrong with this picture??? I need this fixed - I Pay for this service , I dont need an advertisement on my own blog.
Ellen
http://journals.aol.com/eml625/Onedayatatime
Dear Joe,
I pay AOL-HELL $54.95, a month for my broad band service and this morning I wake up to ads on my journal headers. ???? Joe, I want these off of my journals. As much as I pay for my service I should not, nor should my readers be subjected to spam advertising. If they are not removed, I will be moving my journals elsewhere and going with another server for broadband that is exactly $20.00 cheaper than AOL-Hell a month.
Gabreael
http://journals.aol.com/gabreaelinfo/GabreaelsBodyMindSpiritJournal/
http://journals.aol.com/eparanormal/EasternParanormal/
Journals now look like trash this morning. If I wanted a seizure-inducing ad at the top of my blog....... well............ I Don't. This is ridiculous and I would like to know who thought it was a good idea to ruin the look of OUR journals with YOUR advertising. I am completely disgusted Joe and cannot believe that someone even dreamed that this was acceptable.
I also cannot ad or save an entry to my journal....... is it because of this tinkering overnight????????
I want these ads off my journal.
judi
I will add one more voice to what is going to be a large list of complaining customers. Please tell AOL that the advertising on our journals... that which we have already paid for, is disgusting and unacceptable. Its like a slap in the face. If AOL doesn't learn quickly from this mistake, I will be looking elsewhere to journal. I am a long long long time AOL member (since 1993!), and this is the most offensive thing AOL has done.
Virginia
Joe,
The advertising on our paid Journals is INTOLERABLE.
The advertising goes, or your customers go.
Armand
http://journals.aol.com/armandt/sense
h
What's going on with AOL Journals today? All my editing control buttons are gone from my journal...I can't add an entry or anything.
I am with the others here...after looking at my journal I noticed the large banner ad, and I too do not like the ads on top of my journal at all. We PAY for AOL service, why are we bombarded with all these huge, flashing ads? Heck, even my email inbox won't load until the big animated advertising banner at the bottom loads. I have to wait to read my email until the ad loads...that's not right. I understand that money is made from the ads, but they need to be much less obtrusive and preferrably not animated. I could even put up with the email inbox ads, but these large ads on such a personal thing as our journals??? Not too cool, I say.
Add me to the list of complainers this morning. Very rarely do I ever want to speak up about matters such as this, but the ad on my journal is a serious intrusion on my personal space.
I pay for my AOL and I've blogged here for going on three years; one of the reasons was because I didn't have flashing, animated ads (that I don't endorse nor approve of) hogging up space.
Will you take our complaints to the powers-that-be or can you maybe direct us there?
AOL should listen to their customers...just like they claimed they did on their commercials for the service. ~Peachy
Is he 6'7", or are you kneeling?
You better address the natives about this ad thing, Joe. They're getting restless. I don't understand why AOL is so gung ho on saying they block pop-ups. Big deal if you block pop-ups, we're getting bombarded by ads anyway. I have sent countless feedback on those ads ever since they included them on the email screen. And now they're on our journals. Obviously, AOL does NOT listen to their members like they say they do. I'm about fed up.
Ari
This ad thing is the only time I can say I am both horrified and outraged. Please tell us this is yet another of the "we're really sorry" glitches. We deserve an explanation now, not tomorrow or later this afternoon. Because if these ads, for products and services I neither use nor endorse and have the right NOT to have MY words associated with them if I am to continuing paying my subscription fee, are going to remain, I need to dust off my Blogger site and get it ready for occupancy again.
Thank you.
~~ jennifer
I am with Jennifer and everybody else................. and just think how many people have not even seen their defaced journals this am.
http://judithheartsong.blogspot.com/
Notice the lack of ad banners. I sure hope that you are working on this Joe.
judi
What the hell have you guys done?!?! I work over the weekend, come back and find that I can't add any entries and there is a banner advertisement on the top of MY journal. This is really horrible. I cannot believe that you have put advertising on top of something I have created, and yet, I get no revenue for what is advertisied. This is an outrage! I think I will have to continue on MySpace. At least I know that they have advertising because it's not a service I PAY for!
h
Joe,
An AOL Community Programmer emailed me yesterday asking me about my journal......I must say that the ads and my inability to add new entries to my journal at the moment are coloring what I might respond to that programmer with!
Vivian
Please tell me this is some kind of sick joke or some drunk who got control of something. Banner ads? No buttons?? I pay close to $30 for this!?!
I've sent my 'feedback' to AOL Feedback and now I'm asking you-
Why are there banner ads on our journals that we pay a lot of money for?
Is it a mistake that's being worked on at this moment?
We are not going to tolerate this intrusion !!!!
Joe,
It looks like you are "Meeting Bloggers Who Make a Difference" - and who will NOT tolerate this advertising affront on our Journals.
I'm joining the call for an AOL JOURNAL BOYCOTT until the advertising is gone.
Ironic, isn't it, the title of your post?
Armand
http://armandt.blogspot.com
(Free, No unwanted advertising, and IP blocker for unwanted commenters!)
formerly - http://journals.aol.com/armandt/sense
(Paid, Unwanted advertising, irresponsive to customer demand, and no IP blocker for unwanted commenters!)
What`s the story with the banners?
Are we to get AOL Service free?
http://journals.aol.com/deabvt/DeablerVT/
V
The Cafe is closed until further notice.
CONGRATS to Joe! Now my 'two cents' worth about the adds....no fair! I can understand if a web site is free, like myspace,but I didn't expect to have an add attached to my journal, here at AOL.
I noticed it right away, and I thought, is this a joke? I've had a few other complaints about AOL, like trying to find an AMERICAN at 'LIVE HELP', I had no idea the HELP is located in INDIA! Why is that? I really enjoy having a journal here at AOL, and being part of a community who cares, but this is NUTS. We can't let them get away with this, should we
boycott? Will it really make a difference Joe? Some how I feel it will not. I laugh when I see the AOL commercial on TV, and I'm going to bet half of the J-land ppl don't even realize
LIVE HELP is located in India. Ask-I did-they will tell you where they are...so-can our voices be heard so far away? ~Diane~ PS: Yeah, yeah, I no, the web, it 'doesn't
measure miles' but you catch my drift.http://journals.aol.com/dizarra/StorysFromtheCityTalesFromtheSea/
Post a Comment