AIM and reclaiming accounts

[ndogg]

I have been trying to get a hold of the AIM screenname for my accutual name (Nick Scribner) for years, but have not been able to because it appears to already been taken. So I decide to add the screenname to my buddylist to see if the person even exists, and never once has the person signed on. So then I decided to e-mail nickscribner@aol.com to see if maybe it was just an AOL account. But all I get back is a Mail Delivery Subsystem from MAILER-DAEMON@aol.com saying "Returned mail: User unknown." So now my guess is that someone just created the AIM sn YEARS ago and maybe used it for a little bit and then stopped.

So you would think with AOL's technology they would at least be like the rest of similar services and reclaim it's accounts over time. Well, it appears that that is not so. And like I said it has been years that I have been trying to get ahold of this account.

What I want to know is that if anyone here knows for sure if AIM does or does not reclaim it's accounts. Or if there is any other way I can get a hold of this sn.

[bigcfk]

make the sn: N Scribner. maybe Nick Scribner is too long.

[Tropical]

AIM/AOL allows 16 characters. Nick Scribner is only 13 including the space.

[f0rbez]

I think the way it works, as it says in the TOS, is that screen names created after a certain date will expire if not used in a certain amount of time. Its relatively new so screen names that were created years ago won't be affected by the new TOS, I think.

[Jon8RFC]

http://aimlabs.net/AIMCheck.zip

Try that out to see if it's registered or suspended.

[PhrostByte]

I tried aimcheck but I get an error when I load it.

Failed to load control 'Msck' from . Your version of may be outdated. Make sure you are using the version of the control that was provided with the application.

[PhrostByte]

Nevermind, I figured out you need to register mswinsock.ocx