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ICQ will stop working from June 26

icq.com

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Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26

#131

Post by 5e92cb50239222b »

jandrese wrote: post #87

Even though it was mostly just Russians wanting to practice their English last time I used it a couple of decades ago I will miss this service. 9805028 What I really miss is the era when every chat service was on an open protocol so you could have a single app that supported everybody no matter what service they used.

All chat platforms (that I can remember) that were popular around that time used proprietary protocols, including ICQ. Everyone I knew preferred third-party clients to the official one, and these clients would sometimes break because ICQ kept changing tiny details in the protocol to try to force users to use the official client. It never worked, of course, because updates that fixed compatibility would usually come within a couple of hours.

Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26

#132

Post by davidpolberger »

I know this doesn't add much value to the discussion, but I was really proud of my UIN when I was a teenager. And this may be my last chance to flaunt it, so here it is:

1779900

So back in the day, these were known as Universal Internet Numbers, or UINs. You have to admire the sheer audacity of using that name for the user identifiers of a service you're building. I believe they were renamed to "ICQ#" later.

Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26

#134

Post by wantsanagent »

RIP ICQ. I still have logs of chats from highscool. It was really my first foray into the idea of chat. I remember that I once did a presentation for a linguistics class on the use of emoji and the various shorthands that showed up in chat and people were actually interested because it was so new(1).

(1) Yes IRC far predated ICQ but the linguistic norms there differed significantly from ICQ, it was all in my presentation, you had to be there :)

Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26

#135

Post by joshuaissac »

olliej wrote: post #90

I assumed it was already dead, just on a lark I went to sign in and it appears to require a phone number now, not my old number? so I guess it has not actually been "ICQ" in a while? edit: ah, they're doing the odious "use an sms to allow your account to be compromised login" instead of passwords. Then they say "your account has been compromised" until you add a phone number

You can bypass the phone number login using the link on the top left, and instead login with your ICQ number and password.

Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26

#138

Post by olliej »

joshuaissac wrote: post #135
olliej wrote: post #90

I assumed it was already dead, just on a lark I went to sign in and it appears to require a phone number now, not my old number? so I guess it has not actually been "ICQ" in a while? edit: ah, they're doing the odious "use an sms to allow your account to be compromised login" instead of passwords. Then they say "your account has been compromised" until you add a phone number

You can bypass the phone number login using the link on the top left, and instead login with your ICQ number and password.

yeah, that was my edit but I realize I didn't actually clarify that just what it was doing. But it then will just claim your account has been compromised until you give them a number :D

Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26

#140

Post by phantom784 »

vidarh wrote: post #128
sarnowski wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is from a time when we were used to remember phone numbers, and where we shared our phone numbers to keep in touch (calls, sms). ICQ directly picked on that and it was just another „phone number“. Unfortunately I only remember the first half of mine after so many years. In the age of smartphones, at least my brain degenerated to not be able to recall more than a handful of important phone numbers.

I still remember the phone number I had from when I was 10-19, but I can't remember my sons or my mums phone numbers, or indeed any numbers I've had or used since I was 19 other than my current number that I got in my 30's. Basically, the moment I got my first cellphone in '95 or so, I stopped learning phone numbers, other than remembering my current number because I give it out regularly. But also, I think, because…

I made a point to memorize my wife's and my parents' cell numbers, just in case I'm ever in a situation where I don't have a phone and need to reach them (like if I got robbed or something).
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