Although all the talk last week might have been about the layoffs over at DC-area-based AOL, the company has also been in the news for a major technical snafu.

Last week, thousands of users of AOL’s Instant Messenger service (Including this DCist editor) found themselves blocked out of the service. Apparently the problem arose when regular users were included in a routine purging of unused screen names. Blocked users who attempted to log in received error messages informing them they may have violated AOL’s Terms of Service contract, or may be under 13.

Although eWeek reported this week that the majority of the 10,000+ effected have had service restored, at least one columnist has chastised them for failing to react promptly and publicly to the problem. Want to message independent AOL? Gaim allows you to manage all your IM accounts from one software program, and the open source Jabber is an alternative to the commercial providers, but supports them as well.