Ready, AIM... shutdown! 1997-2017

[Zak]

AOL Instant Messenger to shut down this December.

Figured this deserved a topic here.

Definitely a lot of fun and crazy times to be had in this community goofing around on there back in the day. In fact, a lot of the memes here did originate in AIM-land.

While many have probably by now forgot it exists, I still have myself logged in idling from time to time. Is a bit weird though, my last use of it on a regular basis was actually around early 2014.

While everything it was used for may have been replaced in the meta, definitely can't argue that it still holds a lot of fond memories (as well as some cringe-worthy ones) for many.

So, ummmm... ttyl!

[kainashi]

[Mr.E]

Truly the end of an era.

I've been logged in mostly again since I found the web app a couple years ago-ish, but I haven't actually talked to anyone on it in like a decade and very few do I even see remaining active on my list.

[firepokemon]

Awww even though I never use it and I guess nobody actually does. I will miss it bye bye firepokemonUBB bye bye password for whole time firepokemonUBB has existed. Bye bye UBB still better than vBulletin. Bye bye random contact lists and aim names that are dead forever

[Pokemaster Ash]

Well, not sure quite how to react to this. While I still use AIM, haven't talked to anyone on it in forever. The real downer, I suppose, is when I did use it more often, there were one or two people from here who I talked to that I'm probably out of luck trying to ever talk to again since I doubt they frequent the forum much anymore and I haven't the faintest clue if they're still on the web somewhere on something like IRC or Discord.

[Knight of Time]

I'm honestly not surprised AIM is coming to an end. There were some TPMers I primarily used AIM for talking to in the past (like DarkPrincess and The_Missing_Link, the former of which I have as a Facebook friend believe ir or not). Like Pokemaster Ash, I'm anxious to see if there are any other (former) TPMers that use Discord (besides the people who posted in the topic I made about Discord after I joined it earlier this year). I definitely know I have lost my interest in AIM, though.

[Zak]

I used Discord, but as of now only to communicate with my KHUX party.

[shazza]

One more group chat reunion?

[Magmar]

I'll hop on for a group chat reunion!

My first AIM was MagmarPinsir, just chose two at random ha... then along came Magmar bloody seventeen and a half years ago.

[Zak]

Down for a group chat reunion, just need to remind myself to sign on. Can it still do chats btw? AIM's newest (and last) version is barely recognizable from what I remember. Gotta relearn everything...


Also what are the odds someone out there is gonna make an AIM clone anyway.

[ChobiChibi]

... I don't remember my AIM password.

RIP ChobiChibiBecki.

I have some fond memories of talking to people on here. And some not so fond ones. Like someone asked me to marry them via AIM when I turned 16. Naming no names. But that was creepy.

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

Damn shame, I was actually still using it too.

[Lady Vulpix]

Yeah, I miss Ummmm too. And does anyone remember MoOoOoOoOoOoOo?

Someone I know made a Skype chat named Ummmmmm in honor of Ummmm.

Anyway, I used Discord the most these days, but the TPM IRC chat is still up and running.

[Link]

This is really sad to see happening. I mainly use gmail now.

[Mr.E]

It is officially gone now.

[kurai]

RIP

[Katie]

I was cleaning out an incredibly old laptop the other night and it still had AIM on it. I tried to sign on but nothing happened. I tried to explore the AIM file folder to see if it stored my buddy list but I don't think so. RIP to all those SNs I probably couldn't match to TPM names anyway. God, I wasted so much of my teens in those chats!! Thanks for all the hilarious times, petty drama, and trolling.

Some fun memories off the top of my head:

TPMBot
Randoms
Posting Neopets "Something has happend!"s that no one cared about except yourself
KITTY HAT YUO >:O
Creating a screenname similar to another user to trick ummmmers not paying attention
Creating a screenname similar to another user by complete coincidence (Link(s) Ocarina 2002?)
"Change your font, Sam can't read white text on AOL"
Perfecting your font, including 8pt text so that your emoticons defaulted to the little mild ones instead of the big creepy ones (shoutout black bg, bold 8pt blueviolet Tahoma!)
The taboo of having your SN display as pink to someone else in the chat, then leaving/re-entering
Booting bots
DSL elitism over 56k users

Fuuuuuuuuuck I'm sad I missed the shutdown now! Childhood~

[Magmar]

hahaha Katie we definitely used to do that! there was some online webpage where you could sign in to AIM with as many screen names as you want... rocking up as some random and just trolling the chat.

oh man. remember the "warn" function and like... ganging up on people and warning them??? what an asinine time!

[Jay Umbreon]

tbf I assumed AIM had shut down already, but you're right, it went hand in hand with TPM at it's peak. So many good memories of our chat rooms in there, circa early 2000's. Really enjoyable times.

[shazza]

Love me a good Jay Umbreon cameo

[Zak]

Anyone remember the "Random Rooms In My Palace" or the "Rooms of Total Chaos"?

[Lady Vulpix]

tbf I assumed AIM had shut down already, but you're right, it went hand in hand with TPM at it's peak. So many good memories of our chat rooms in there, circa early 2000's. Really enjoyable times.

Indeed.

It was also a great way to organize online meetings to work on TPM-related projects.