“This is an article about a way of life. “The AOL Way” doesn’t simply stand as a pattern for a major corporation; it’s the pattern of the Internet as a whole. The Internet has created more readers than ever before in the history of the world. And yet, perversely, the actual writer is more undervalued than ever before.”
AOL Hell: An AOL Content Slave Speaks Out
Oliver Miller tells a horror story about his time writing for a TV-centric AOL property. Make no mistake: Arianna Huffington and “The AOL Way” are infecting AOL’s blogs straight down to their core, which is why Engadget’s team of heavy-hitters like Joshua Topolsky bailed earlier this year.
I left TUAW and Download Squad for Ars Technica in 2007, long before any of this current corruption began spreading. I wish nothing but the best for my friends who are still at AOL, namely at TUAW. They’re great folks. But if Miller’s story is true—it is just another in a growing series that seem to corroborate each other—I also fear for my friends. The bosses upstairs sound like monsters.
