AOL started off as something different from an ISP.

Like Prodigy and Compuserve and GEnie and some others, it was an on-line information system. Chat, message boards, news, stock quotes, (limited) shopping, games, software downloads, etc. But all within a single system. Kind of like a nationwide/global BBS, but with a GUI interface. In the 80s, all these systems were independent, in the early 90s they got internet email, and the mid 90s added web browsers and (eventually) real tcp/ip.

Yes. I worked for the world's largest ISPs (NETCOM (#1), which merged with Mindspring (which was considered #2), which merged with EarthLink (the previous #3, then #2 to the post-NETCOM Mindspring). It was funny, in hindsight, that even though AOL had already adopted TCP/IP and integrated an "Internet Gateway" functionality and had more subscribers than even the combined #1, 2, and 3 rollup I just described, at no time did anyone in the industry actually consider AOL to be an ISP, so the "#1" in size distinction went to the companies mentioned. AOL, deserved or not, never really escaped their second class designation, which also tended to taint their users as they ventured on to the larger internet.

All that said, I still communicate with one person who maintains their aol.com email address to this day in spite of it all.

I was young during the era, your probably right. I was just sharing my experience.