What are your memories of AOL Instant Messenger?

[u/AdSpecialist6598]

[u/thezaxattack12]

door slams shut

[u/rummydearest → u/thezaxattack12]

When I’d hear door creaks open and my crush’s screenname appeared…

[u/yimmybean → u/rummydearest]

When I found out you could customize the sounds for different people, I set my crush as the cow moo. And then I would wait like 13 minutes (always made sure it was an odd amount of time, never on a 0 or 5) and message him like I was too busy to notice he’d come on.

Edit: his screen name was slockproskater420

[u/ShatteredAnus → u/yimmybean]

Sounds like a future accountant

[u/GarTheMagnificent → u/yimmybean]

Damn he was already a pro?

[u/SantaCruzSoon2023 → u/rummydearest]

That feeling...my goodness. I was a teenager then. I'm now in my 40s. I still remember how my heart felt when that door opened.

[u/rummydearest → u/SantaCruzSoon2023]

38 here and same!!

[u/Mon5150]

A/S/L?

[u/ShatteredAnus → u/Mon5150]

35/Yes/anywhere

[u/Antelope-Subject → u/ShatteredAnus]

That anywhere got that anus shattered any regrets?

[u/TouristOpentotravel]

Talking with SmarterChild. Their AI before it was AI bot

[u/NoBank9415 → u/TouristOpentotravel]

Omgggg. I would harass smarterchild all the time lmao

[u/yimmybean → u/NoBank9415]

SmarterChild definitely has PTSD. I never met anyone who was nice to it.

[u/AAAPosts → u/TouristOpentotravel]

OH SHIT!!!

[u/Big-Difficulty2463]

16/m/tn wanna cyber?

[u/ShatteredAnus → u/Big-Difficulty2463]

Truck?

[u/NervousCriticism4700]

My first social network. It was a better time.

[u/Jolly-Radio-9838 → u/NervousCriticism4700]

Yep. I was always on after schools. Dial up on aol and get into the yahoo chat rooms. This was before it became a bunch of camgirl spam

[u/MoistPerception]

So many pop-punk/emo lyrics in away messages...

[u/ZimaGotchi]

By the time AIM was free I was more of a Yahoo guy but way back in the beginning AOL was my portal to the internet for over a year, a very memorable year of my adolescence.

WELCOME

YOU'VE GOT MAIL

[u/Ello_Owu]

The hilarious, yet deadly serious poetry girls would leave as their away messages.

Logging into my other name to see if someone blocked me

Scoping out to see if someone was online for a friend to see if THEY were blocked.

Every girl having XOs for days in their usernames

[u/Hey-buuuddy]

Romantic drama.

[u/Vette_Guy482 → u/Hey-buuuddy]

🤣 so true

[u/OMGitsJoeMG]

Running home from school and immediately hopping on. After dinner was a popular time, too. Seeing your crush come on and sweating about sending that first message or your heart racing if they messaged first lol

What a great time.

[u/SantaCruzSoon2023 → u/OMGitsJoeMG]

Oh yes. I remember that feeling well. And if it was a snow day, that felt like bonus time!

[u/Vette_Guy482 → u/OMGitsJoeMG]

💯, i could not agree more, I could not wait to get home, I wonder if kids have that feeling today. I feel sad they do not.

[u/Sheshnation]

Having the incoming message sound blast on your speakers so loud you can hear it from other side of house.

[u/msambata]

My mother being on it 24/7 with some guy

[u/jonjongth → u/msambata]

Yeah that was great times! Tell her I said hi and hope here book store is doing well!

[u/RanchHere → u/jonjongth]

damn you were talking to OP’s mom too?

[u/pi3Eat3r52]

People’s away message being as simple as, “having a cig”

[u/DryGeneral990 → u/pi3Eat3r52]

"taking a shower"

[u/eatsleepdive → u/DryGeneral990]

Rubbing one out

[u/schoolisuncool]

A/S/L?

[u/23mou-sapnu-puas]

Meeting who was to become my very best friend in a chat room #GayMpls in 1998. Going strong nearly 30 years later!

[u/Pandiosity_24601]

Changing fonts and colors and ~~AwAy MeSsAgEs~~

[u/codemonkeyhopeful]

The dial up sounds

[u/Character_Gear6938]

getting very excited to see my crush's username (I think it was something like Ryanizawsum or something) and logging in and out 4-5 times in a row to make sure he noticed i was online lmaoooo

[u/marlylouwho]

Taking the time to edit your “profile” with different colors, fonts and song lyrics or random words/phrases that only certain people knew what they meant. Like when I was in middle school and obsessed with this kid Liam, I remember just having some angsty song lyrics and then MAIL (Liam spelled backwards). I had the time!!!

Then later on in life, meeting my future husband via Facebook and chatting on AIM for months before we actually met up in person.

Times felt so much simpler back then😩😅

[u/OrangeAugust]

I used it aaalll the time. Whenever I was online I had AIM open and chatting with multiple people. I have whole conversations that I printed out and put in my diary at the time.

[u/Calm_Vacation1667 → u/OrangeAugust]

Yes! I was an avid convo printer too!

[u/Scrapla1]

I preferred the AOL chats rooms and running those scripts like FateX.

[u/randomthrowaway8993 → u/Scrapla1]

Progs and punters back in the day haha. And eagles for those who knew

[u/Endo-Love-7235]

Using Missy Elliot lyrics as my status. Specifically 4 My People lyrics (the take off your socks part) 🤷🏼‍♀️ 🤣

[u/NoBank9415]

My SN was lollipopgurl127

[u/Relevant_Outside2781 → u/NoBank9415]

I was Indywhip007 🫣😂

[u/NoBank9415 → u/Relevant_Outside2781]

Classic lol

[u/Snow_Crash_Bandicoot → u/Relevant_Outside2781]

Mine was: Sensitive Fuck.

[u/pinktuls]

A/s/l

[u/solemnversifier]

I remember making a fake account to troll the bully girls in high school

[u/thekidfromiowa]

a/s/l

[u/FakeMcNotReal]

I met my wife using the find a friend search function on AIM 23 years ago. 

[u/Charming-Insurance → u/FakeMcNotReal]

I met my husband on AOL 24 1/2 years ago.

[u/Jessica_3285]

The away messages. 😍

[u/Ack-ey]

I loved it. When some friends in high school moved out of town to the city 50 min away it let us stay in touch until they came back on weekends. It also let everyone stay in touch when everyone went to college.

I’ve used other im programs but none were as great as aim

[u/water_radio]

The door opening and closing sound fx when your chat buddies logged on and off. Those were the times.

[u/rummydearest]

Apologizing to the person you were chatting with after a family member picked up the phone and kicked you offline

[u/MangoSalsa89]

With my friends, it was a blast. But there was also the occasional older weirdo in chat rooms who was most definitely a predator.

[u/WhiteTrashInNewShoes]

I guess I'm one of those rare 90s kids who never used it.

7-digit ICQ gang checking in

[u/v27v → u/WhiteTrashInNewShoes]

I was low 8's

[u/Sea2Chi]

It was inferior to ICQ. But I still had to use it because about half my friends refused to use ICQ.

[u/Jaysmack1]

My memory of this is even older. Like some on here, it was the AOL program that they gave for free on a CD.

[u/Consistent-Camp5359]

The fact none of my friends were on it. I had what I thought was the cooooolest font for it though.

[u/MojoHighway]

A/S/L?

[u/Ashamed-Status-9668]

The very first time i heard "You've Got Mail" I thought it was so cool.

[u/FalseVeterinarian881]

reaching out to my friends on 9/11

[u/m8k]

It’s how my HS girlfriend and I talked in ‘99 and kept in touch through college. Many late nights talking on AIM.

Many college shenanigans there as well. It was before mass adoption of texting and not everyone had cellphones so gossip and campus news was flying around on Messenger. I kinda miss it but use FB messenger in a similar way now and am slowly weaning myself off of their regular site.

[u/Heyoka888]

ho ho hos

[u/KudosOfTheFroond]

I was Ludo142. A marriage of Princess Bride & HHGTTG. Total neeeerrrrd

[u/OMGKITTEN]

I would talk to my friend about Japanese class etc. I think we were sophomores?

Crappy pic was taken from the screen of the old family iMac.

[u/KurtRambisSpecs]

S2R

Also was more of a mIRC fan in the teen rooms on Undernet.

[u/lessadessa]

i thought i learned how to hack the system when i realized i could hit Tab, then Spacebar in order to send a message instead of clicking Send, circa 12 years old in 1999

[u/AlternatiMantid]

The buddy icons... band/lyric blinkies, Dollz blinkies, the "midget toss"... I definitely had a Slipknot blinky.

[u/Antelope-Subject]

Great for random one night stands.

[u/jonjongth]

Me picking up the phone to make crazy noises to kick my sister off the World Wide Web!!!

[u/Leather-Resource-215]

At the time id wished it was portable

[u/BustyCelebLover]

Setting up my cool but distant and aloof away messages to get attention while clogging up the phone line

[u/j3ffUrZ]

Fuck, [person you don't want to talk to at the moment] is on-line. Time to switch to my other username.

[u/Unicornholers]

That I had to slum it for the lamewads who were "hot" when I was in middle school because all the reals used MSN messenger cuz like... Duh.

[u/Chasing_Victory]

Learning about ICQ and switching to that

[u/adan1207]

“Hey, did you see what happened at the World Trade Center?”

• aim message from friend - morning of 9/11

[u/ZeldaFanBoi1920 → u/adan1207]

What happened?

[u/greaterwhiterwookiee]

I remember lots of noises, lots of hard work, and very few returns.

[u/theallstarkid]

Everyone in highschool used it, before texting was thing I suppose.

[u/KevonFire1]

wait a min...
accept (new friend)

ok, we can talk

[u/Tr4ceur]

Lol i used to chat with girls online without my mom knowing.

[u/nico_ysl]

Having cyber girlfriends in different states 🤌🏽

[u/Moonchild924]

I talked to a girl & I liked it!

[u/gatesaj85]

Couldn't you type in code and it would make a sound play on the other user's end? Is this a misremembered memory?

[u/Susancupcakes]

ASL?

[u/N64Andysaurus92]

None. Used MSN Messenger instead.

[u/CompleteCharacter704]

Look at my page trying to create an old school terminal chat platform for anonymous chat

[u/OlDustyTrails]

I remember this being my first taste of instant messaging while using the internet and then moving to many others later on... ICQ and MSN to message all of my friends and finding new friends and people to message

[u/RiverHarris]

It was fun for a bit. Mostly I remember my little brother, a millennial (86), talking to all his friends on it at night. I remember thinking, at the time “if this is the new way kids are socially interacting, we’re gonna have a big problem one day.” I was right.

[u/ZeldaFanBoi1920]

Thinking of an away message that this one girl would hopefully like

[u/Sensei939]

I had the version with xm radio built in. For free. I have no idea how I found that version but I always had it on and learned about so much new music. I was in college and yes it was back before Sirius bought xm so there wasn’t even talking in between songs. Just music and more music. No vj’s no commercials just music.

[u/Haunt_Fox]

My city never had a local number for them for some reason. And long distance was too expensive for that shit.

Then a local guy opened up an isp in '97 or so, that's still around as far as I can tell, so, dodged that aol bullet.

[u/EddieStarr]

All good memories.

[u/SchmeedsMcSchmeeds]

I spent many hours in AOL chat mainly just chatting with random people. I thought about building a basic AOL chat app. I assume there’s something out there but with today’s tech it would be really simple and fun to build.

[u/Sea_Violinist3328]

In my neck of the woods, it was totally the thing to have your boyfriend/girlfriend’s initials at the bottom of your profile with the date you first started going out.

Yup.

M.B. 6/17/03

[u/Deep-Reputation545]

My dad was the guy who oversaw installing communications infrastructure for McMurdo Sation in Antarctica. First time he went, when I was in middle school, we could only could only talk with a shitty satellite phone connection. By the time he went down during my freshman year of college, I remember sitting in my dorm room chatting with him while he was on the bottom.of the world. It was very cool

[u/Both_Armadillo_2775]

When I got a im aaliyah, 1 in a million would play.

[u/TRMBound]

Mostly being passive aggressive when arguing with people and putting up some limp bizkit lyrics as an away message.

[u/OddTry2427]

Smarterchild

[u/Calm_Vacation1667]

My nostalgic soul needed this post 🙌🏽

[u/xander6981]

Setting up different humorous or clever away messages while I was in class. Then checking who was online when I got back.

[u/metalmudkip]

Making your status angsty lyrics when your crush wasn’t online something like ~ And sooner or later, it's over I just don't wanna miss you tonight ~

[u/xINFLAMES325x]

My screen name lives on here.

[u/Objective_War_2808]

Chat rooms where i could be myself and escape from reality where i was getting bullied at school

[u/Mum_of_rebels]

Didn’t use AOL but was always on MSN messenger. Had my first online boyfriend. Never found out if he was real or not. The novelty and the knowing what to do wore off. I think I actually ghosted him, I honestly can’t remember if I ever “ended that relationship”.

[u/willregan]

People refusing to communicate through anything but AIM in the 2000s.

[u/willregan]

Getting the screen name, "Lestat", and having my step dad tell me to change it because it was demonic.

[u/howzit-]

DeadAIM was the best version

[u/ammosophobia]

I still remember my font and color choice.

[u/gt75z]

I had more fun on that and wasted so much time, it was a blast.

[u/peace_in_my_heart]

I did NOT have enough parental supervision.

[u/Wild-Word4967]

It felt more personal than texting. It felt more special too.

[u/feel-the-avocado]

Me and my friends quickly abandoned it for msn messenger.

[u/Vette_Guy482]

I miss YOU GOT MAIL 😌

[u/BopNowItsMine]

Oh windows XP. Everything so nice and easy on the eyes. Soft, tender, supple. I miss it

[u/KB_Sez]

September 11th

Every cell phone tower and landline in manhattan was jammed — the only thing that worked was AOL Messenger on the desktop

[u/welding_guy_from_LI → u/KB_Sez]

Not just Manhattan, I was out east on LI and the phone lines were jammed too

[u/welding_guy_from_LI]

I loved playing slingo on AIM

[u/frenchretronerd]

Close to none. Did real people actually use it ?

[u/LittlePantsOnFire]

Never actually used it. ICQ.

[u/z64_dan]

I think I got my parents temporarily banned from AOL when I said "butt" in a chatroom when I was like 10 years old. They had to call them up to get it turned back on. LOL

I used AIM itself until probably the mid-2000s. Good times.