this post was submitted on 24 May 2024
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ICQ, a once-popular IM, is shutting down on June 26, it says on its website. It once served tens of millions of users daily.

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

That's my Signal alert sound.

[–] jennwiththesea 6 points 1 month ago
[–] Ledivin 45 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Serious question: did anyone here actually know it was still around? I'm one of the more tech-savvy people I know and haven't touched ICQ in well over a decade at this point

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I didn't realize it could shutdown. Thought it was more like irc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Nope, it was much closer to AIM than IRC.

Also, IRC also depends on servers and, well, many of them have shut down 😔

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

Not at all.

It's been well over 20 years since I've heard anyone talk about it, and its probably been 25 since I used it myself.

[–] toofpic 4 points 1 month ago

I was working in Russian IT sector at the time when the government tried to block Telegram. For a few days we had some communication problems because we ised TG for all project chats and communication with most customers. We worked as contractors making an app with/for Mail Ru Group (now the whole company is rebranded as VK, but it's actually a lot of different businesses). This is when I got to know that product manager I was working with was also the product manager for ICQ. And that we had to switch to fucking ICQ for daily conversations because that was their default backup method. Crazy!
I found out that it was facelifted up to the point where you couldn't see the difference between it, TG or WhatsApp.
After about a week, TG was updated and it had a dynamic server connection (not a hardcoded one), so IP blocks stopped working and we returned to tg.
I still remember my number from the 2000s: 173114498. Though I lost access to that account a long time ago

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 month ago

I remember being annoyed back in the 90s that ICQ was better than AIM, but everyone just wanted to use AIM. On ICQ you could message offline people, change your display name, and other stuff I don't remember. It kind of was a big influence in my "wow, people are a bunch of lazy morons" impulse I need to push against even now.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Holy crap I remembered my 7 digit id and password! Everyone on my list was "last seen a long time ago" and there's no chat history.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

3369689 you can add me

[–] kokesh 27 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My first ever messaging platform. Still can vividly hear the notification sound... RIP

[–] redbr64 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

"uh-oh" is what is sounded like to me

[–] kokesh 2 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I met my wife on ICQ in 1998.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm so sorry you'll have to divorce her next month.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

You win some and you lose some as they say

[–] jennwiththesea 17 points 1 month ago

Wow, end of an era. ICQ was how I kept in touch with friends after I left for college. Back then, you had to pay per text on your phone or have a limited number each month, and ICQ was free.

[–] redbr64 13 points 1 month ago

Wow, I thought it shut down loooong ago. I wonder if there's any way to retrieve an archive of your IMs or anything like that? If only I remembered my number...

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I guess we are lucky they aren't selling our old chats.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You think they would admit to that publicly?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Perhaps. But what value would 20 year old chats really have?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I have a 6 digit ICQ number. Actually made some friends IRL via ICQ.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I’m a peasant with 7 digits but met some friends on their too who I’ve met in real life and been to their weddings and bachelor parties

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago
[–] homesweethomeMrL 2 points 1 month ago
[–] kazerniel 2 points 1 month ago

damn, that was the first IM service I used, I still remember its logo from ~2001

[–] FederatedSaint 1 points 1 month ago (4 children)
[–] Fallofturkey 1 points 1 month ago
[–] Hawke 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

That's numberwang! Spin the board!