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I thought the numbers were one of the things that made it fun. Having a low ICQ number showed you were an early adopter, much like having a short URL or twitter name.

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Yeah, fun for the million or so first users, not so much for the next 2 billion.

I specifically remember hating those numbers (because I always forgot mine) and being spitefully relieved to switch to MSN Messenger when that came out.

just like giving out an old compuserve e-mail address.

Yeah, it made it fun for the early adopters, and less fun for everyone else. That's not much of a strategy, considering how few early adopters there are.

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