I can't speak about AOL because I never used it, but I imagine the parent is talking about how apps like Outlook killed email conversation threads. [Edit: apparently that's not what parent was talking about, but I'm happy to take the opportunity to rant about a pet gripe anyway]. Far from simplifying email, they took a fairly straight forward system and complicated it to the point that nobody understood how to use it any more.
Specifically, they made conversations almost impossible to have by making top posting of replies the default, coercing the user into a behavior model that was contrary to the best practices that had been established by users of email to that point. The predictable result of this is that people stopped bottom posting and conversation threads were made practically impossible.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is why forums took over from mailing lists. I also wouldn't be surprised if this is why Gmail became so popular, because it fixed a problem that should never have existed: it made conversations comprehensible again.
So while I wouldn't blame newbies for breaking email, there is definitely a strong correlation, and it's because of the inadequate tools they were provided with in those early days.
I've never been sold on the bottom-reply. Sure, if you're new to the thread it becomes easier to follow from the last, but if you're following from the first message it's a pain to scroll down to the bottom of every message to get what's new.
I would say I haven't seen an argument to convince me bottom-replys are better, but I honestly have never really discussed this with someone who cared.
Part of the etiquette of email, before gmail arrived and did everything for you, was that you elided irrelevant parts of email quotes. You don't leave the entire thread in situ; you only quote the parts of the message you are specifically respond to, or that are material to understanding the exchange.
The massive pile of shit problem is new to Outlook and Gmail.
Leaving the entire thread in was happening long before gmail.
So, bottom-first people are essentially don't-quote-irrelevant-crap people? In which case it would make sense to place the quote you're responding to above your response.
Specifically, they made conversations almost impossible to have by making top posting of replies the default, coercing the user into a behavior model that was contrary to the best practices that had been established by users of email to that point. The predictable result of this is that people stopped bottom posting and conversation threads were made practically impossible.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is why forums took over from mailing lists. I also wouldn't be surprised if this is why Gmail became so popular, because it fixed a problem that should never have existed: it made conversations comprehensible again.
So while I wouldn't blame newbies for breaking email, there is definitely a strong correlation, and it's because of the inadequate tools they were provided with in those early days.