Unsurprisingly, having so many sex-charged ones gave the service something of a seedy reputation. In a 1995 headline, the Philadelphia Inquirer called the service "A Tawdry Back Alley, Just Off the Information Superhighway." Perhaps just as unsurprising, that reputation hardly slowed AOL's growth and probably enhanced it, especially when the content of some chats was revealed in congressional committee, managing to scandalize members.

Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, loc. 713