"Lemmy: Where men are men, and men are women, and women are men, and I think we've got a few women who were born women, and also there's a whole bunch of new genders as well, and no genders at all, and that's all cool with most of us."
It's a mouthful and might not read well on a t-shirt, but we can workshop it.
I knew my first long distance gf on ICQ. I remember also having that service in Miranda IM along Yahoo Chat, MSN, Google Chat (back when it was based on XMPP) and Jabber.
Messages from my current gf are announced with the classic ICQ "Uh-oh!".
I got on ICQ in 97 or 98 to keep up with friends from a MUD and mine was 7 digits. I haven't logged into it in over a decade because when I went back to see if anyone from the old game was around none ever showed up online.
Yes! Trillian was awesome! I used it fairly religiously from the early to mid 00s. Combined my ICQ, Yahoo messenger, MSN messenger, and AIM. I miss that beautiful, convenient piece of software.
I'm pleasantly surprised the number of replies on Lemmy saying they used this service. It's nice to know that there are some old people on here, like me :)
With ICQ I learned the social skills that I couldn't on the real world because I had been bullied to near death. I talked to random people all over the world, learned that I could talk to girls without having to feel like shit.
Used it so much, and with volume up, my upstairs neighbor thought I was watching the teletubbies all the time because of the UH OH!
Met my first girlfriend this way, she was in Mexico, I was in Europe. Moved to Mexico to marry her (bad idea, she was rather manipulativr and a huge cheater as it turned out, got divorced) and lived in Mexico for samn near 20 years.
To say that ICQ had a big positive influence in my life is an understatement, it changed my life beyond anything I've ever had before.
Not sure about the owner, but I was able to sign in and see my profile a few days ago. It was an account from maybe ‘96 or ‘97, and I hadn’t even attempted to sign in in at least 15 years.
Out of nowhere, I logged in like a month ago. Everything was still there (at least, my friends list was). Hadn't logged in since the early 2000s. A few weeks later, I heard it was being shuttered. Weird.
No, it was bought by MRG after AOL fought its users and won, so they all left for Skype.
EDIT: Or maybe first by Rambler and then by MRG. Rambler was the Russian search engine I used in 2005, btw. Was an email provider too. I had an email account or two there, don't even remember which. Also narod dot ru (free web hosting, similar to geocities) hasn't yet been bought by Yandex then, and there were ucoz dot ru sites, and borda dot ru free web forums (something like phpbb). ICQ (and later Skype) would be used for real-time conversations in all of these communities. EDIT2: ... which you'd make forums for.
ICQ was my first foray into meeting girls online, back when that was a really weird thing to do.
Post a/s/l to pay respects.
a/s/l
10/f/935 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC, 20535
Now I'm no American, but something smells FBIish about that address.
There's a quote that came from ICQ's heyday that I had in mind when I wrote that:
"The Internet: where men are men, women are men, and little girls are FBI agents."
We need to revise that for Lemmy.
"Lemmy: Where men are men, and men are women, and women are men, and I think we've got a few women who were born women, and also there's a whole bunch of new genders as well, and no genders at all, and that's all cool with most of us."
It's a mouthful and might not read well on a t-shirt, but we can workshop it.
You forgot the FBI agents.
We’re all FBI agents on this blessed day.
Speak for yourself
I like it, lots
"Wow, how cool is it that she's 13 and already works for the FBI! "
What was this from? I know the reference but can't place it. I could obviously search for it but, hey, I'm trying to be social here.
Man, I don't know honestly. I believe i first saw / read it on IRC in the 90's...
and now I'm turning to dust. haha
Thanks for being social!!!
I knew my first long distance gf on ICQ. I remember also having that service in Miranda IM along Yahoo Chat, MSN, Google Chat (back when it was based on XMPP) and Jabber.
Messages from my current gf are announced with the classic ICQ "Uh-oh!".
19/f/cali
I'm pressing X to doubt.
I got engaged and travelled across the Atlantic to be with someone I met on irc
Everyone switch to IRC, quick!
mIRC/IRC is still going, right? Haven’t used that in probably a decade.
I used mIRC for years, but as the days have marched on, XChat replaced it, and then irssi, and finally weechat on SSH.
For me, mIRC had a clunky but useful script editor included that 14 year old me spent countless hours creating little chatbots with
Mostly for tech communities but yes. Libera.Chat seems to be the go-to network.
RIP 53215700, the oldest account I’m still aware of that I’ve forgotten the password to. Must have made it in 98 or 99.
Edit: it was actually 2001 because I was in a Tribes 2 clan and we used ICQ to chat.
86336930 checking in. Pretty sure I remember the password, but it's not like I can check now.
You will be missed, ICQ. When no other messaging service worked, you always did.
2728604 checking in, man i miss those days
22421382 here. I can't believe I still know that number by heart after 20+ years.
Pretty sure mine was 16399753. But, not logged in for probably 15 or more years, so could be wrong.
No idea whatsoever about the password :P
52 million seems high for that timeframe.
I'm not sure how the numbers were doled out, but in 2000 it was a big deal having a sub-9-digit ICQ number.
Maybe I'm off by a bit then. I could have sworn I had one in like the 500k range but it must have been around '97 or '98.
I got on ICQ in 97 or 98 to keep up with friends from a MUD and mine was 7 digits. I haven't logged into it in over a decade because when I went back to see if anyone from the old game was around none ever showed up online.
Yeah, you’re right. I was playing Tribes 2 around that time and it came out in 2001.
691948 here.
2452680 reporting in
165166320 here
28 is a perfect number of years to shut down after.
I'll see myself out.
Don't disturbed celebrities kill themselves at 28?
27
It's known as the 27 club.
I just signed up yesterday too.
The last uh has been oh'd
Uh-oh!
Was 216845. I’m old.
It was still going?!
I still remember my number. It was 7 digits.
how is everyone remembering their ICQ number?
I forgot mine 5 minutes after adding it to Trillian.
I miss Trillian :(
I have no idea why I remember mine, 520009. Haven't used ICQ in many years; I didn't know it was still up.
It's with the aim and yahoo messenger in the clouds now. Good bye Trillian profile I had back in the late 90s, you were too beautiful for this world.
Yes! Trillian was awesome! I used it fairly religiously from the early to mid 00s. Combined my ICQ, Yahoo messenger, MSN messenger, and AIM. I miss that beautiful, convenient piece of software.
I'm pleasantly surprised the number of replies on Lemmy saying they used this service. It's nice to know that there are some old people on here, like me :)
UH OH!
With ICQ I learned the social skills that I couldn't on the real world because I had been bullied to near death. I talked to random people all over the world, learned that I could talk to girls without having to feel like shit.
Used it so much, and with volume up, my upstairs neighbor thought I was watching the teletubbies all the time because of the UH OH!
Met my first girlfriend this way, she was in Mexico, I was in Europe. Moved to Mexico to marry her (bad idea, she was rather manipulativr and a huge cheater as it turned out, got divorced) and lived in Mexico for samn near 20 years.
To say that ICQ had a big positive influence in my life is an understatement, it changed my life beyond anything I've ever had before.
Thank you.
6751 6686 here... I'm glad it's finally getting a burial since it died like 20 years ago.
486972 signing off. Godspeed.
Uh oh well
444438969 was a great handle. RIP.
304141822
Farewell o7
23436242, signing out
3100493 😅
783056 good bye ICQ
24546982
691948
9787393
RIP ICQ
Weird how i still remember my number... and useless now, 'cept maybe for passwords.
So long 104034239.
Well not anymore
True... although i'd think ICQ numbers in Ripper dictionaries are probably lower priority than simple brute-forcing sequential numbers.
RIP 23344084
sadly annexed by VK goodbye, icq lasted longer than the first ever.
237216938 logging off.
19699113... RIP
29533018 :'-)
UH OH is my text message notification. People think it's cute but then their eyes glaze over when I tell them where it's from.
Didn't know this was still around, wow.
Technically wasn't. Some Russian company bought the rights and cleared old accounts at some point.
Not sure about the owner, but I was able to sign in and see my profile a few days ago. It was an account from maybe ‘96 or ‘97, and I hadn’t even attempted to sign in in at least 15 years.
Out of nowhere, I logged in like a month ago. Everything was still there (at least, my friends list was). Hadn't logged in since the early 2000s. A few weeks later, I heard it was being shuttered. Weird.
When I was a kid we used to call.one of my uncles exs ICQ, because she laughed exactly like the icq lol sound.
She must have thought we loved her, we were always trying to make her laugh just to hear it.
Here Lies ICQ, a better alternative to AOL Instant Messanger
1996 to 2024
23217791 is gone now
99372211 out
393027090 .
85453462 . Burned into my memory forever.
It didn't just die, it straight up was acquired by the Russians (presumably to suppress the public) and then gutted. Uh oh indeed.
We are truly living the Days of Internet Services Past.
No, it was bought by MRG after AOL fought its users and won, so they all left for Skype.
EDIT: Or maybe first by Rambler and then by MRG. Rambler was the Russian search engine I used in 2005, btw. Was an email provider too. I had an email account or two there, don't even remember which. Also narod dot ru (free web hosting, similar to geocities) hasn't yet been bought by Yandex then, and there were ucoz dot ru sites, and borda dot ru free web forums (something like phpbb). ICQ (and later Skype) would be used for real-time conversations in all of these communities. EDIT2: ... which you'd make forums for.
174695655 says goodbye 👋