The AOL Community Info Blog

Common Question(s):  Rate Limiting. What is it? How do I avoid it? How do I fix it?

What is it?
Rate limiting is a technological application that helps prevent the kind of behavior that spammers exhibit. 

The behavior includes (but is not limited to): -- IMing quickly or to too many people in a short amount of time

-- Entering and exiting chat rooms too quickly

-- Sending Buddy Chat invites too quickly

-- Sending a lot of e-mail at once

Once people know what rate limiting is the most common question is: "How many is too many messages?"

The answer(s) are simple -- it depends and it changes.

If we set the limit at 100, the actual spammers would send 99 messages. If we set it at 23, they would send 22. You can see why we don't publicize the actual number and why it changes.

A lot of people (myself included) have been hit by rate limiting at some point. It doesn't mean that AOL thinks *I* am a spammer. It simply means that whatever I was doing at the time was very similar to "spamming behavior." I was blocked from that feature for a short period of time, so I did other things online. When I came back to finish what I was doing before, I was able to do it, but I slowed down to avoid being blocked again.

How do I avoid it?

Here are a few ideas that have worked for people in the past. Share what has worked for you with others. 

-- When Instant Messaging, slow down. Put your thoughts in one message before sending it. Instead of

putting your

thoughts in 

several postings  

within one IM session. 

 -- Search for the chat room you want to join, but only enter the chat room that you really want to participate in. 

-- If you have a large mailing list that you e-mail regularly, think about creating a private Group in which you can post and the message can be sent by the Groups system to those who want to receive your message. You could also do the same thing with a private journal, allowing your e-mail group to sign up for an alert to be notified when you post a message.

How do I fix it?

Because rate limiting is imposed for a certain period of time, the only thing you can do is wait for it to be lifted. There are several factors that dictate how long rate limiting will be imposed and how long you will be blocked from a specific feature. These include how quickly the behavior happened, how many messages were sent, etc. There isn't anyone you can write to or call to have a rate limit lifted for you.
 
If you have specific questions about your own situation, the best group to ask is Member Services at 1-800-827-6364. Be sure to tell them exactly what happened leading up to your rate limit, and they may be able to help you prevent it from happening again.
 
AOL members can find out more about rate limiting at AOL Keyword: Rate Limit.
 
Post any questions you have about this in the comments section or in the message boards, and we can try to answer them.   Don't forget, this is a public venue. Don't post any private information you wouldn't want others to see.  

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