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Comment by robin_reala | Hacker News Reader

I probably won’t install the suggested replacement of VK Messenger, I have to say. No more 71966195.

I was 4114934. And I'll express the same sentiment as others: I don't know why the hell I remember that.

A short ICQ number became a matter of pride in certain communities, as some kind of performative early-adopter grandstanding. I imagine that someone, somewhere, out there, is probably still quoting their five/six-digit ICQ number as a badge of honour

251437659, still remember my number even though I haven't been using ICQ for more than two decades.

Funny how we remember some numbers our entire lives, despite never using them. I can still rattle off my ICQ number, last used nearly 25 years ago, my compuserve ID which I left in 1998, my phone number as a kid, last used about 1994.

I also remember various license plates my family had in the mid 90s, but I struggle to remember my own license plate number now. The only two phone numbers I know are mine and my wife's. I can still remember my high school's phone number though - for some really odd reason as I can't have phoned it much.

When I was 7, my dad wrote a "game" in BASIC on the Commodore 64, and one section required a "secret" (you could see it if you listed the program...) code to gain access. The code was 32744. I have not used that game for more than 40 years, but it'll probably be one of the last things I remember...

> I can still remember my high school's phone number though - for some really odd reason as I can't have phoned it much.

Any chance it was a number your parents made you learn, or on a phone list next to / on the phone?

I think that the reason why I remember it vividly is because I used it for logging in for years.

The most important numbers you can commit to memory are your emergency contact's phone number, your wedding anniversary, and 2ⁿ ∀n ∈ ℤ [1, 24].

7106568

How the hell I keep remembering it?!? I haven't used ICQ for more than 15 years?

Maybe repetition works surprisingly well.

same for 6141850 although it wouldn't work when I tried to log in like 5 years ago.

Imagine a world where all apps had numeric user ids and people memorized them.

Here's the ICQ song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va8dnGF3Xyw

7289581

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