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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

#251

Post by jmbwell »

lxgr wrote: post #113
jedberg wrote: post #14

This makes me sad. I mean, I haven't logged in in about 20 years now, and couldn't if I wanted to (don't have the password or access to the email address). But I had a low five digit user number, and built a lot of relationships on ICQ (some of which continue today!). It was my main method of electronic communication in college. I had romantic relationships live and die on ICQ. Another reminder of how things change o…

I have similar sentimental memories of ICQ. One highlight was being able to connect to it from my phone for the first time; first on my first smartphone (Symbian), then from my "non-smart" Sony Ericsson that succeeded it, via some Java Jabber client and a Jabber-to-ICQ bridge! (Unfortunately nobody else that I knew had it on their phones, so I could only reach people in front of their PCs at home.) On the other hand,…

Being reachable only from a PC at home… man. Now that I miss. The whole lifestyle of having a clear distinction between being at the computer and not. Status messages for a time when “away” was a state of being you ever were. Coming back to see whether your crush had messaged you. Simpler times for sure.

Before we even had “wi-fi!”

Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26

#253

Post by ssl-3 »

vidarh wrote: post #160
phantom784 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

It's a sensible thing to do, but I have so many ways to get at online services where I can reach them that it hasn't felt pressing - if I'm in a situation where the only phone I can get hold of isn't a smartphone it sounds more like a 999 or nearest consulate kind of situation... But you're right it'd probably be worth doing anyway.

So you get robbed (or something), and you're physically OK but have no phone and no wallet.

You find a phone to use, however you do that, and dial the local emergency number (0118 999 881 999 119 725...3), and maybe they show up and take a report.

And then they leave.

Now, you're in the same situation you were in before (no phone, no wallet) -- nothing has really changed.

What happens next? What's your next move?

Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26

#254

Post by whycome »

For everyone proudly displaying their old ICQ numbers, just be aware that there are still sites that have some of the info tied to the numbers archived (presumably what was made public/status). So, there may be some easily-access publicly identifiable information that you don't want associated with your current HN username. (I just did a search and I found that my old icq# had a phone number linked to it)

Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26

#255

Post by toast0 »

lxgr wrote: post #113
jedberg wrote: post #14

This makes me sad. I mean, I haven't logged in in about 20 years now, and couldn't if I wanted to (don't have the password or access to the email address). But I had a low five digit user number, and built a lot of relationships on ICQ (some of which continue today!). It was my main method of electronic communication in college. I had romantic relationships live and die on ICQ. Another reminder of how things change o…

I have similar sentimental memories of ICQ. One highlight was being able to connect to it from my phone for the first time; first on my first smartphone (Symbian), then from my "non-smart" Sony Ericsson that succeeded it, via some Java Jabber client and a Jabber-to-ICQ bridge! (Unfortunately nobody else that I knew had it on their phones, so I could only reach people in front of their PCs at home.) On the other hand,…

> didn't support offline messages

ICQ did support offline messages, from the beginning afaik, too. I had a 6-digit uin (485358 or something similar), until it got banned for running a bot (whoops).

To the sibling reply, I think AIM and ICQ did have interop on messages at some point, it was much later than when ICQ moved protocols to OSCAR and TOK though.

Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26

#256

Post by goykasi »

6447137

I was really surprised when a recovery mechanism was launched many years ago. My account wasnt comprised. It still had the same dumb password from way back -- my first highschool girlfriends name and a number.

Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26

#257

Post by Zak »

phendrenad2 wrote: post #123

It's been dead a long time, it just had a brief afterlife in Russia. Chat apps aren't cheap like the old days, now they require a large moderation staff. Maybe AI will change that?

ICQ is/was mainly for one-to-one and small group chats, much like Signal or WhatsApp. I don't think that use case needs a large moderation staff; I consider even having the ability to do most kinds of moderation an anti-feature in that kind of tool since it means the communication is not truly private.

Re: ICQ will stop working from June 26

#259

Post by toastal »

jsheard wrote: post #51
vundercind wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet, it’ll still be around after Discord shuts down.

But would IRC be what a post-Discord exodus actually goes back to? Lacking basic modern amenities like seamless scrollback and push notifications is going to be a hard sell for the generation that grew up with Discord. As a sibling mentioned, Matrix is closer to the mark.

v3 has a lot of features folks don’t talk about. But XMPP MUCs are still kicking too.
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