~ rip.so :: the digital graveyard ~

:: the digital graveyard ::

*** here lie the messengers, the social networks, the browsers and the websites the internet forgot *** when was the last time someone said uh-oh on your ICQ ? ***

The internet moves fast. They were on our desktops one day, the next their servers were dark, their domains squatted, their icons gone from our trays. Some died of mismanagement, some of acquisition, some of irrelevance. Some are technically still alive, but their soul left a long time ago. This page is a memorial to all of them.

We bury our heroes here. Pour a 56k modem out for them.

! THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION !

~ messengers & chat ~

___ / \ | + | | RIP | |1996-| | 2024| |_____| ICQ  📖 1996 - 2024 "uh-oh." its sound was a generation's text notification before texts existed. its 6-digit numbers were the first online identities we ever cared about. now finally turned off after 28 years.

___ / \ | + | | RIP | |1999-| | 2014| |_____| MSN Messenger / Windows Live Messenger  📖 1999 - 2014 "appear offline" was a personality. nudges shook your screen and your heart. your status was a song lyric.

___ / \ | + | | RIP | |1998-| | 2018| |_____| Yahoo! Messenger  📖 1998 - 2018 BUZZ! BUZZ! the loudest possible way to say i miss you.

its emoticons were unmatched.

___ / \ | + | | RIP | |1997-| | 2017| |_____| AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)  📖 1997 - 2017 the running yellow guy. away messages were poetry. door slam - "snoozyboi89 has signed off." gut punch.

___ / \ | + | | RIP | |2005-| | 2019| |_____| BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)  📖 2005 - 2019 PIN exchanges were corporate intimacy. R / D ticks were status anxiety. it died defending its keyboard.

___ / \ | + | | RIP | |2005-| | 2022| |_____| Google Talk / Hangouts (Classic)  📖 2005 - 2022 remember when google had ONE messenger? then six? then zero? rest in the merge.

~ social networks ~

___ / \ | + | | RIP | |2003-| | 2011| |_____| MySpace (the real one)  📖 2003 - 2011 (ish) your top 8 was a public love letter and a public knife fight. profile songs autoplaying at 3am. tom is still your friend.

___ / \ | + | | RIP | |2002-| | 2015| |_____| Friendster  📖 2002 - 2015 the first social network most americans used. then it became a gaming site. then it disappeared.

timeline of a forgotten pioneer.

___ / \ | + | | RIP | |2004-| | 2014| |_____| Orkut  📖 2004 - 2014 google's first social network attempt. weirdly enormous in brazil and india. 300 million users couldn't save it.

___ / \ | + | | RIP | |2011-| | 2019| |_____| Google+  📖 2011 - 2019 they made you join it to comment on youtube. circles were a great idea trapped in a building no one wanted to enter.

___ / \ | + | | RIP | |2010-| | 2018| |_____| Path  📖 2010 - 2018 "a smaller, more personal social network." capped at 150 friends, like dunbar said. nobody wanted intimate; everyone wanted reach.

___ / \ | + | | RIP | |2013-| | 2017| |_____| Vine  📖 2013 - 2017 six seconds. comedic genius cremated by twitter monetization confusion. tiktok inherited everything but the constraint.

___ / \ | + | | RIP | |2013-| | 2017| |_____| Yik Yak  📖 2013 - 2017 (briefly back, then gone again) anonymous campus gossip. died of moderation, scaled by reputation. a brief, chaotic, location-based ghost town.