Who remembers those disks that come in the mail and magazine inserts? AOL once introduced so many newbies to the internet that the email domain aol.com was like a badge of dishonor. It’s hard to believe the company has been around for 24 years. New York Times Bits take us through the exciting last 11 years.

The cast of characters changed many times. And so have the specific battles: persuading newbies to buy dial-up Internet subscriptions, selling add-on services, coping with broadband rivals and finally shifting to free, ad-supported services in an age of search. But there also have been common themes: the attempt to exploit the prominence of the AOL brand, the quest for the sort of content that will lure customers, the challenges of rapid growth and then drastic contraction.