>I don't know of anyone personally who still uses it.
I always liked ICQ, but there was always a tad bit of friction remembering huge strings of numbers as practical IDs, and the naming schemes came way later.
11984431 or whatever doesn't roll off the tongue very well.
Some did, but the fact that you emphasise that as something remarkable is a hint here. I specifically remember the numbers as being a significant source of friction when connecting to new people. For contrast, I still easily remember what my username on MSN Messenger was when I started using that in around 2000 -- because it was my email address.
Same here... I haven't even thought about it since the turn of the century!
I only used it a couple times. A colleague asked me to install it so we could work together on a project. If I recall right I started getting messages from people I didn't know so I deleted it shortly after installing it.
Serious question - why do so many people remember our ICQ numbers? I don’t remember what user-facing function it served. Was that actually the identifier we shared with people to connect?
I suppose it also came at a time for a lot of us where things seemed to wedge into our brains more easily.
Huh? Most people associating ICQ with the 90s is so strange to me. In Russia we used ICQ so much it pretty much became synonymous with the concept of instant messaging itself. That was in the late 00s. Skype was also prominent. Then everyone gradually switched to VKontakte, when they introduced instant messaging and group chats, and then Telegram. At no point did we even try to get into AIM, Yahoo, or MSN.
Fun fact about our ICQ use: almost no one used the crappy official client. For most people it was QIP or Miranda.
I was 4114934. And I'll express the same sentiment as others: I don't know why the hell I remember that.
A short ICQ number became a matter of pride in certain communities, as some kind of performative early-adopter grandstanding. I imagine that someone, somewhere, out there, is probably still quoting their five/six-digit ICQ number as a badge of honour
> Ah the good ol' days, when contacts were only saved locally.
Ah, that explains why when I recently logged into ICQ for the first time in 15+ years, I apparently had no contacts. I thought they must have just wiped some old protocol at some point.
I've still got an ICQ number that works, though I've not used it (prior to today) in at least a decade, probably two. Eight-digit starting with 1, so probably 1997-1998?
Good ol ICQ. Back in the day when devs/general population thought identifying yourselves with a 10 digit number is easier than an email address...good ol days...
I always liked ICQ, but there was always a tad bit of friction remembering huge strings of numbers as practical IDs, and the naming schemes came way later.
11984431 or whatever doesn't roll off the tongue very well.
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