|
Remember that low ICQ numbers once fetched quite a penny on Ebay.
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 14:58
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 08:50 |
|
|
WebDog posted:Remember that low ICQ numbers once fetched quite a penny on Ebay. My first number was 175373. it got hacked and wound up on some auction site over in Russia.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 15:40
|
|
|
Hell, mine was eight digits long and I had a shitton of people trying to buy it off me. I can't imagine what the really low numbers were worth. Was that just an ePenis++ thing? I never understood why you'd buy an ICQ number when they were giving them away for free.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 15:46
|
|
|
MSN was really popular in Greece too, at least the messenger stuff. The calls were clunky, and video was even more so, but it was pretty great, you had FONTS (Comic Sans) and COLOURS (obnoxiously loud) and EMOTICONS (invariably having one or two set to just one letter or some common combination, so that all your 7s were red and glittering). I remember the days with the odder names, people having names with non-alphanumeric characters, or other ASCII characters, the various discussions about the 'proper' Greeklish grammar/spelling, getting MSN Plus and having BBCode change my name, complete with gradient and everything...  I still use my hotmail e-mail. Way too convenient for pointless poo poo to change it up.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 16:13
|
|
|
You can have my IRC when you pry my keyboard from my cold dead hands!
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 16:29
|
|
|
GOTTA STAY FAI posted:Hell, mine was eight digits long and I had a shitton of people trying to buy it off me. I can't imagine what the really low numbers were worth. Was that just an ePenis++ thing? I never understood why you'd buy an ICQ number when they were giving them away for free. If your number is significantly lesser in digits than the standard user people are more likely to view you as ICQ staff when you try to fleece them.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 16:34
|
|
|
GOTTA STAY FAI posted:Hell, mine was eight digits long and I had a shitton of people trying to buy it off me. I can't imagine what the really low numbers were worth. Was that just an ePenis++ thing? I never understood why you'd buy an ICQ number when they were giving them away for free. It's really just ePenis++. If you have a very low number then you were an early adopter and could wave your dick around about how long you've been here. This was also around the same time that people were bragging about reg dates here on these very forums. The important thing was to look old so you could blame all the problems on those loving new users and talk about how much better things were in the old days. Or use it to win arguments; "well I've been in these parts and know better than you how they work so your opinion is wrong." It was also some vintage hipster cred and a kind of "well see I knew this would be popular before it became popular, look how smart I am!" Just a lot of stupid bullshit. Low numbers also became increasingly rare as people migrated away, accounts got hacked, people died, or whatever and were sort of a status symbol in a way. Yeah new numbers are free but they have like 15 digits. Numbers with 6 or 7 digits haven't been available for a very long time for free and some people are impressed by them. Some people want to be impressive on internet communities so they'd do whatever they had to to acquire them so they could act smug. I had a 7 digit number and probably would have sold it a while back but forgot the password. Or it got hacked. So it goes.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 16:38
|
|
|
ToxicSlurpee posted:It's really just ePenis++. If you have a very low number then you were an early adopter and could wave your dick around about how long you've been here. This was also around the same time that people were bragging about reg dates here on these very forums. The important thing was to look old so you could blame all the problems on those loving new users and talk about how much better things were in the old days. Or use it to win arguments; "well I've been in these parts and know better than you how they work so your opinion is wrong." It was also some vintage hipster cred and a kind of "well see I knew this would be popular before it became popular, look how smart I am!" It was the same way with Slashdot user ID #s back in the day when Slashdot was relevant.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 17:11
|
|
|
I have a 7-digit number. Where can I sell it?
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 17:22
|
|
|
I'm Finnish so I've never used a failed or obsomalete chat system: just IRC. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 17:29
|
|
|
The number of ASCII roses I've received from amorous Indians is countless.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 17:30
|
|
|
Pham Nuwen posted:It was the same way with Slashdot user ID #s back in the day when Slashdot was relevant. Ah Slashdot was the first "Internet community" that I really got involved with. I remember thinking that this anonymous coward guy sure posts a lot.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 17:32
|
|
|
flosofl posted:Speaking of obsolete technologies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0nuQ5o2DYU Flash is dead!!
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 17:56
|
|
|
KozmoNaut posted:I remember ICQ and how poo poo the official program was. Can you even log on to it anymore, after it was merged with AIM? I used to be 206192. A friend and I used to use it for backchannel chat when I used to run a popular DalNet channel.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 18:02
|
|
|
evobatman posted:I have a 7-digit number. Where can I sell it? eBay maybe? I don't think you can sell them these days but I honestly haven't checked.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 18:05
|
|
|
How about old cash register poo poo? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-P1lewygtE Sorry for poo poo audio. Michaeldim has a new favorite as of 19:23 on Aug 25, 2015 |
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 19:10
|
|
|
Michaeldim posted:How about old cash register poo poo? HA! I thought it was at least going to be like what I was using back in the 1970s.  EDIT: This sort of thing. Also the first piece of equipment that gave me an electric shock.   "Click. Click. Click. KA-KA-KA-CHINGGGGGG!" Dick Trauma has a new favorite as of 19:23 on Aug 25, 2015 |
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 19:21
|
|
|
Athenry posted:Ah Slashdot was the first "Internet community" that I really got involved with. I remember thinking that this anonymous coward guy sure posts a lot.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 19:29
|
|
|
Michaeldim posted:How about old cash register poo poo? What about those dot matrix printers, eh? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_vXA058EDY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCvcGpXwLUo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlEUrEVqDbo Years ago, I scored several reams of dot matrix printing paper from an office cleanout. Used it for sketching and drawing, mostly.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 20:56
|
|
|
Tubesock Holocaust posted:What about those dot matrix printers, eh? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG8RAbWs1yo
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 21:42
|
|
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a7-5WYOKxE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s4ECJssOFM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5o9iQuv8bo
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 22:26
|
|
|
Tubesock Holocaust posted:What about those dot matrix printers, eh? My mother still has to have one of these. She works as a nurse, and the official documentation has to be printed in duplicate on the right documentation. As a result, a dot matrix is the only option. They sound like late 90's techno and have the expected compatibility headaches.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 22:31
|
|
|
Here's a C64 decoding RTTY weather broadcasts to a dot matrix printer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17gXbL09QEE
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 22:35
|
|
|
I just spent the last ten minutes listening to the floppy versions of Ghostbusters and Axel F. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 22:36
|
|
|
Agricola Frigidus posted:My mother still has to have one of these. She works as a nurse, and the official documentation has to be printed in duplicate on the right documentation. As a result, a dot matrix is the only option. They sound like late 90's techno and have the expected compatibility headaches. Yeah, I think Okidata (or whoever they became) still make dot matrix Okiprinters for printing carbon forms. The only other options are impact printers like daisy-wheel (parents had one when I was in HS), the kind that used Selectric-style typeface balls, and line printers. I worked for an insurance company in the 90s that used a line printer for HUGE batch jobs (they were like a museum of ancient tech, they also had a VAX running VMS with cabinet size HDs). It used huge stacks of 132 column pin-fed fan-fold triplicate paper and so crazy loud it had it's own room with a sound dampening shroud over it. The shroud, which you HAVE to have because of the incessant "CHUNK, zzzzz, CHUNK, zzzzz", would just fill with paper dust.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 03:02
|
|
|
Oki's still kicking. I dunno when this one was made, but it's alarmingly modern for a dot matrix. Pretty quick also. (It even has USB! oooooooo) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlGADVpFl0E
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 03:41
|
|
|
Michaeldim posted:Oki's still kicking. God drat, I forgot how fast those heads could move when you used "draft mode".
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 03:44
|
|
|
flosofl posted:God drat, I forgot how fast those heads could move when you used "draft mode". Seriously, I would thing they would still be really useful for businss bullshit or writers.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 05:05
|
|
|
Yeah they're fairly niche now but not obsolete in certain use cases. Oki still makes them brand new, and they're the best option for things like printing carbon forms and industrial environments that destroy lasers and ink jets. Also fairly inexpensive and extremely easy to service.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 14:39
|
|
|
Exit Strategy posted:I've always wanted to put a modern machine into an F1XD, entirely so that I could drive a pair of VR goggles as a display and show up to ren faires as a confused console jockey. El Estrago Bonito posted:Don't be this guy. He has to exist, because people going to LARPs and Ren Faires for the first time think he's hilarious, but no one likes the guy who keeps showing up as marty McFly, or Dr.Who or the cast of Star Trek, or the characters from Sliders. Fooley posted:I think phones/tablets are closer to how he always described people having a computer with them all the time though. I know a few companies are trying to make modular phones, which would allow you to keep the same base unit if you liked it. quote:obsolete IM clients Both are from back in the mid-'90s when a desktop computer cost $1800, with $400 instant rebate if you signed a contract for four years of dialup internet at $30/month. Edit: My mom still pays the monthly subscription to use the AOL client (or did until it went under, if it has). Chillbro Baggins has a new favorite as of 01:24 on Aug 27, 2015 |
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 01:20
|
|
Bad Angus! Bad!
|
Delivery McGee posted:I can't find a clip, but I remember an episode of King of the Hill where they went to the Ren Faire and Dale was in a Starfleet uniform arguing with the person at the ticket booth -- "It says '10% discount with period costume.' The future is a period!" They did something similar on Big Bang Theory too.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 01:27
|
|
|
Delivery McGee posted:Edit: My mom still pays the monthly subscription to use the AOL client (or did until it went under, if it has). They got bought by Verizon a few months ago, at this point it's mostly a content house. I think they are completely out of the ISP business.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 01:47
|
|
|
Plinkey posted:They got bought by Verizon a few months ago, at this point it's mostly a content house. I think they are completely out of the ISP business. Not at all, apparently: http://www.cnet.com/news/more-than-2-million-people-still-pay-for-aol-dialup/ As of this year there are still 2+ million americans on AOL dialup.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 02:45
|
|
|
Computer viking posted:Not at all, apparently: http://www.cnet.com/news/more-than-2-million-people-still-pay-for-aol-dialup/ Paying for. Not necessarily using.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 02:52
|
|
|
I used a dot matrix printer up until I graduated high school in 2001. I remember my teachers being infuriated that my page sizes were different and I had to double space manually (because I was using Write). It still ran Wolf3d so whatever. I did eventually get a Win98 machine, but no new printer.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 07:36
|
|
|
Tunicate posted:Paying for. Not necessarily using. A fair point, though I doubt they'll close the ISP unit as long as it's still making money (with what I assume are fairly small operating costs).
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 10:10
|
|
|
Dot matrix printers are also great for things that print continuously, not by pages. At a job I had 10 years ago or so we had a dot matrix printer hooked up to the IDS and serious intrusion attempts would get its log entry printed out in case an intruder managed to clear the logs.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 10:15
|
|
|
Collateral Damage posted:Dot matrix printers are also great for things that print continuously, not by pages. At a job I had 10 years ago or so we had a dot matrix printer hooked up to the IDS and serious intrusion attempts would get its log entry printed out in case an intruder managed to clear the logs. That exact use of dot-matrix printers is what I picture to this day when the phrase 'check the logs' arises.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 11:12
|
|
|
Computer viking posted:Not at all, apparently: http://www.cnet.com/news/more-than-2-million-people-still-pay-for-aol-dialup/ I'd assume a percentage of those are people who cannot get access to broadband for whatever reason (very likely being a great distance from a major centre), or if they could it would be cost prohibitive.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 12:17
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 08:50 |
|
|
My dad still pays for dial-up service to maintain the email address that comes with it, since it's on all of his business cards. So that's one customer that EarthLink will have until he retires and probably beyond.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 13:11
|
|
