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Technology @lemmy.world fne8w2ah @lemmy.world 6d ago

Pioneering internet messenger ICQ shuts after 28 years - CNA

www.channelnewsasia.com Pioneering internet messenger ICQ shuts after 28 years

Do you still remember your ICQ number?

77 comments

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.
- 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.
  
  As someone who has most of her socialization on IRC now... Eww, mIRC is proprietary and for Windows. Maybe it's just me having learned about IRC only a couple years ago and thus not having a sentimental attachment, but why use it if you have open-source ones like Hexchat, Irssi or Weechat?
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
- 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.
  
  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
. -|- | .-'~~~`-. .' `. |211-945-323| | | | | \\| |// ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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.
28 is a perfect number of years to shut down after.

I'll see myself out.
4066872, signing off. Thank you and goodbye.
I just signed up yesterday too.
- I feel you. I signed up for a Border's rewards card the day before the company went under
Was 216845. I’m old.
The last uh has been oh'd
Uh-oh!
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 :)
It was still going?!
I still remember my number. It was 7 digits.
6751 6686 here... I'm glad it's finally getting a burial since it died like 20 years ago.
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.
486972 signing off. Godspeed.
783056 good bye ICQ
23436242, signing out
304141822

Farewell o7
3100493 😅
19699113... RIP
444438969 was a great handle. RIP.
Uh oh well
RIP 23344084
sadly annexed by VK goodbye, icq lasted longer than the first ever.
24546982
- 691948
- 9787393
RIP ICQ
237216938 logging off.
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.
29533018 :'-)
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.
Here Lies ICQ, a better alternative to AOL Instant Messanger

1996 to 2024
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.
I had a buddy in the UK I chatted with on this thing in the early days. We thought we were so cool using it. We were not.
23217791 is gone now
99372211 out
174695655 says goodbye 👋
85453462 . Burned into my memory forever.
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.

77 comments