4 ms·

It really was. ICQ, MSN, and even Skype had this feature of finding people by their profiles (country, age, interests, etc.). What’s more important, people were

It really was. ICQ, MSN, and even Skype had this feature of finding people by their profiles (country, age, interests, etc.). What’s more important, people were open to talking to complete strangers back then, and it felt like magic to talk to someone from the other end of the world. And it was nice to be contacted randomly by new people. Some modern social networks have similar features, but I can’t imagine doing this in this age. And in the last 5 years I’ve never been contacted randomly by anyone either.

depressedpanda 8y ago
I literally got laid after being contacted out of the blue by a semi-random stranger on ICQ back in the day. We had met once when we were twelve or so. She was actually looking for a friend of mine, but we decided to meet up. Being college kids, stuff happened. Nowadays I would just have dismissed and blocked her as yet another spambot.
wott 8y ago
Well, in those days IRL, everyone's name, address and phone number were publicly available in the phone book, you would answer all phone calls without knowing who was calling, and it wasn't a problem is it was someone you didn't know; same for visits. Nowadays, each of those is seen and felt as a terrible violation of your privacy, your intimacy, your property even... and people often rather play possum than take the 'risk' of picking up the phone or opening the door when the phone or the door bell rings. When you call someone who hasn't got your number already, you are initially met with hostility (in the lucky case the person even picks up the phone) and have to justify "how the hell did you get my number?"
icebraining 8y ago
Aren't you talking to complete strangers right now? I can't say I remember meeting you :)
- nbaksalyar 8y ago
  Well, isn't HN an oasis of the good old Web? ;) You're right though, but these connections are rarely long-lasting.

depressedpanda 8y ago

I literally got laid after being contacted out of the blue by a semi-random stranger on ICQ back in the day. We had met once when we were twelve or so. She was actually looking for a friend of mine, but we decided to meet up. Being college kids, stuff happened. Nowadays I would just have dismissed and blocked her as yet another spambot.

wott 8y ago

Well, in those days IRL, everyone's name, address and phone number were publicly available in the phone book, you would answer all phone calls without knowing who was calling, and it wasn't a problem is it was someone you didn't know; same for visits. Nowadays, each of those is seen and felt as a terrible violation of your privacy, your intimacy, your property even... and people often rather play possum than take the 'risk' of picking up the phone or opening the door when the phone or the door bell rings. When you call someone who hasn't got your number already, you are initially met with hostility (in the lucky case the person even picks up the phone) and have to justify "how the hell did you get my number?"

icebraining 8y ago

Aren't you talking to complete strangers right now? I can't say I remember meeting you :)

nbaksalyar 8y ago
Well, isn't HN an oasis of the good old Web? ;) You're right though, but these connections are rarely long-lasting.