Status of Journals Alerts

[Update: I just got the e-mail Alert for this very blog entry. So we should hopefully be fixed. You can still read it, though. -- Joe]

Hi folks -- as many of you have written in, e-mail delivery of New Entry and Comment Added Alerts hasn't been working since last night.

Instant alert delivery, which pops up in an IM-like window when you're online, still works; you can turn on the Instant alert delivery option at the Alerts Settings site -- if you get Instant Alerts, you'll see the "AIM" icon next to the Alert name.

I let the Alerts support team know about this last night; I got word from John that the problem is a little different from previous Alerts problems. Usually when we have Alerts nondeliveries, it's due to a flaky Alerts server somewhere that needs to be rebooted.

This time around, though, there's an issue with the "AOLAlerts" screen name in the AOL Mail system. All e-mailed Alerts come from that screen name, so that's why we're not getting e-mail Alerts.

The Alerts team is working with the Mail team to fix the issue. (I think this affects all e-mailed Alerts deliveries, so it's kind of a big deal.) I will keep you posted.

As I said, Instant Alerts delivery should still work.

Bypassing Alerts Completely?
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Another way to keep track of new blog entries in the Journals that you follow is using a feed reader. I've mentioned feed readers a few times; every Journal has a feed, and you can subscribe to feeds in a feed reading program or Web site.

The experience is a little different than the e-mailed Alerts you're used to, but there are a couple of advantages:

* If you follow lots and lots of blogs, you don't get flooded with e-mails

* You can keep track of non-AOL blogs, as well as other Web sites (and even things like auction searches and such)

* It's pretty robust.

There are plenty of free feedreading programs and Web sites out there -- Google Reader, My AOL and the like. Joe Manna just did an entry this week about using feed readers -- check it out.

Naturally, we want the Journals Alerts to work right, but using feed readers to follow blogs is another option available to you.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: aol journals, journals status, journals alerts, feedreaders