pirrrrrrrr ,

ICQ was still online!?!?!

I stopped using that shit like 25 years ago.
Thought died in the late 90's

ohlaph ,

Same. Wow

bus_factor ,

Russians kept using it, just like Brazilians kept Orkut alive for years.

altima_neo ,
@altima_neo@lemmy.zip avatar

Two wtf here.

One, icq was still online? I stopped using that one aim got popular and everyone had it.

And two, vk owns icq??

rottingleaf ,

VK bought it when it became completely irrelevant/

psmgx ,

Effective way for the GRU to trade info whilst overseas?

rottingleaf ,

I don't think even GRU is that stupid.

DudeImMacGyver ,

TIL: ICQ was still around

ultratiem ,
@ultratiem@lemmy.ca avatar

Yeah I stopped around the same time. But I didn’t know they were run by VK. That’s interesting.

bus_factor ,

They were acquired recently.

Mirabilis created ICQ. AOL bought Mirabilis in 1998. Russian investor DST (which soon became Mail.ru and later VK) bought ICQ from AOL in 2010, probably because Russians were among the few nationalities still using it. Russians were over 25% of the hits, and it was the biggest instant messenger in Russia at the time. They also own VKontakte, hence why they're directing people there.

Crackhappy ,
@Crackhappy@lemmy.world avatar

Meanwhile IRC and Usenet are still doing fine.

Bishma OP ,
@Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Those are protocols, so the servers/services that run than can come and go. XMPP, which was at least inspired by ICQ, will probably be around forever, similarly.

rottingleaf ,

OSCAR is a protocol too. And there were ICQ servers to run locally back then too. There also was some "ICQ for business" or similar.

I've also learned yesterday that people responsible for Escargot (MSN server) have another project, NINA, for AIM and ICQ.

So maybe these things will be reborn.

They seem to aim for implementing all of the AOL suite functionality. Maybe after they achieve that we'll see Xtraz and contact directory from ICQ working again. If that happens, I'm going to cry for a few hours. EDIT: or weeks.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

How do you people remember your ICQ numbers? I don't remember what I did last week half the time.

sunbeam60 ,

I used mine in my mail signature for a while and I’ve kept all my emails since late 90s.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Fair. My current mail signature has a dead link in it and I can't be bothered to do anything about it.

Orbituary ,
@Orbituary@lemmy.world avatar

What's with your pride in being complacent?

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

What are you talking about?

Orbituary ,
@Orbituary@lemmy.world avatar

"I can't be bothered to update my signature" - you could fix it in half the time it takes to post here. It's just a weird... I'd say flex, but it's the opposite. It's like a sag or deflation.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

I could, but I don't feel like it. Why do you care?

Orbituary ,
@Orbituary@lemmy.world avatar

For the same reasons you do not care.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Well that can't be true. I don't care because I'm lazy and you're making an effort.

Bishma OP ,
@Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

For some reason short strings of digits have always stuck really well in my memory. I still remember my high school locker combos and every phone number I've ever had.

Orbituary ,
@Orbituary@lemmy.world avatar

813-823-6615 was my childhood number until I was 10. My mom sang it to us. Never thought to remember my lock code. 0-31-10.

radicalautonomy ,

I taught my kids our address and my telephone number through songs when they were little. Music makes learning abstract things like that way easier. I teach the quadratic formula wihh a song to my Algebra students every year.

radicalautonomy ,

I am autistic.

Seriously, though, diagnosed autistic and I remember numbers exceptionally well.

  • ICQ number 6725571
  • Pi to 260 decimal places
  • My ex-wife's driver's license number
  • My 11-digit Blockbuster employee numbers from the two stores I used to work at
  • The nine-digit employee numbers of a few employees under me from when I worked at Six Flags in 1994
KonalaKoala ,
@KonalaKoala@lemmy.world avatar

This is mildly upsetting because I remember ICQ is where I first met a seer who I was referred to by someone else. This was back when I was looking for help regarding a number of strange dreams and spirit visitations I was dealing with.

rottingleaf ,

Should have been looking for a therapist (that said, I've done my deal of blabbering about occult stuff back then too)

BassTurd ,

How did that end? I need details about all of it. The dreams, the seer, the treatment, the outcome.

If you don't mind.

A_Random_Idiot ,
@A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world avatar

ICQ was still around? I thought it died ages ago!

rottingleaf ,

It had. This thing only has branding in common. A different protocol, a different set of features (no contact directory), and while they had the old database of everything, they deemed a good idea to not preserve it, so old UINs don't exist.

CAVOK ,

That's a shame, I still remember mine. Weird how you can remember 7 random digits from 30 years ago...

GeekFTW ,
@GeekFTW@lemmy.zip avatar

Hell I still remember my Nintendo Power membership number.

Chozo ,
@Chozo@fedia.io avatar

I had no idea ICQ was even still operational. Good on them for making it as long as they did.

I was never an ICQ user, but it's always sad seeing such long-standing icons of the internet shut down.

billiam0202 ,

it’s always sad seeing such long-standing icons of the internet shut down.

A reminder of how much fun Web 1.0 was, not the walled-gardened, enshittified, corporatized, ad-riddled rage baiter it is now.

bassomitron ,

I always said way back in the early 2000s that once corporations figured out the internet, it and society in general would be very screwed. Their early attempts at trying to make things go viral and create engagement were laughably bad. Then they hired a bunch of psychologists and sociologists, bought up everything, and the rest is history.

rottingleaf ,

That's the same with one armed conflict that bothers me much. In the 90s there it was called "blood vs oil" by one charismatic man (who also correctly predicted how it'd go further, though), and, well, then "blood" won, and "oil" looked miserable - evil, dishonorable and defeated, all at the same time. But in 10 years they figured it out completely, in 20 years applied that power in every area they needed (mostly not military), in 25 had a big military victory, and now the situation really sucks from the looks of it.

BatrickPateman ,

What?

rottingleaf ,

You don't understand something - you either explain what you don't understand or you remain silent. This "what" implies my comment is something weird which it isn't, you're just slow or apparently lack ability for doing philosophy.

If it's the bad English, "what" is also utterly useless.

Num10ck ,

you failed to convey context, and meaning. your response to the what is worse.

rottingleaf ,

nuts

jaybone ,

lol. Posts shitty nonsense and is then an asshole about it.

aesthelete ,

The early version of what's now Microsoft's game suite in Windows was one of the coolest things I've seen on the Internet. It was a virtual gaming village where you could go sit at tables and play chess or checkers or cards with people from around the world. It worked 100% fine on 14.4k dialup.

Microsoft bought whatever that was and completely ruined it, just like they ruin everything else they buy.

Murdoc ,

That just reminded me of something I tried that was similar, I think it was called Visual Chat? It looked like a 2D cartoon, but each person controlled an avatar and could move around and talk to each other, go to other rooms, change expression, gesture, etc.

Microsoft bought whatever that was and completely ruined it, just like they ruin everything else they buy.

It's like the Midas touch: they make it shiny, expensive, and of little use.

bus_factor ,

You probably mean Comic Chat. It was actually just an IRC client, and I think it's still usable (but frustratingly ineffective) today. But there is a website where you can convert IRC logs to it, I think.

Murdoc ,

Yes, that's the one! Boy, it's been a long time.

MapleEngineer ,
@MapleEngineer@lemmy.world avatar

I met my wife on ICQ. I had random chat turned on and she said, "Hello." That was a long time ago

Iheartcheese ,
@Iheartcheese@lemmy.world avatar

I met your wife there too.

MapleEngineer ,
@MapleEngineer@lemmy.world avatar

She told me she talked to a guy who just wanted to talk about WoW and his favourite Linux distro. She gave up when he didn't make a move and decided to look for a real man. Was that you?

____ ,

I met someone I thought I'd marry there in the exact same way around '99.

That feature was powerful, and now we just can't be bothered because scammers and blah blah.

FauxPseudo ,
@FauxPseudo@lemmy.world avatar

My standard reply was "hailing frequencies open."
Needless to say it was the opening line that let multiple women know that I was single. Surprisingly it had a 100% success rate. I was the best nerd.

MapleEngineer ,
@MapleEngineer@lemmy.world avatar

Did that line get you laid a lot?

FauxPseudo ,
@FauxPseudo@lemmy.world avatar

The data is conflicting. I think they had already made up their mind on that topic before messaging me. My reply just reinforced their decision. It's hard to separate causation and correlation in that case.

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