A hearty welcome--or HWELLLLL-kum, as AOL puts it--to our new readers from America Online.
AOL is trying to hard to relate to its readers by mispelling welcome. 
mnli hypothesis: AOL is trying to hard to relate to its readers by mispelling welcome.  premise: A hearty welcome--or HWELLLLL-kum, as AOL puts it--to our new readers from America Online.