Technology: AOL Hometown has been shut down

I signed onto AOL back in 1994 and hosted my 1993 and 1997 road trips on their FTP space. I recently discovered the pages were gone!

Some searching uncovered this message:

Hometown Has Been Shutdown

Posted on Nov 6th 2008 1:30PM by Kelly Wilson

Dear AOL Hometown user,

We're sorry to inform you that as of Oct. 31, 2008, AOL® Hometown was shut down permanently. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Sincerely,

The AOL Hometown Team

More web searching revealed many irrate AOL Hometown users and various reports of attempts to recover the pages.

At the moment, I'm attempting to off-load my photos and html scripts by FTP.

Connect to the server ftp.hometown.aol.com. With your FTP program enter your user name and password. Off-load your files.

I'm finding the process to be extremely slow. I'm not sure if it is the FTP program I'm using or the bandwidth to the ftp servers at AOL are just slow.

Another option I found by web surfing is to use Way Back Machine. I was able to recover my HTML scripts but very few of my photos.

All the best to fellow AOL Hometown users in recovering your pages.

Technology is a tough business. AOL was once the king of the hill. Now, it is probably on its last legs. Don't think AOL execs will be going to Capitol Hill for a bail out!