It’s crazy to look back at things that have made the internet the awesome place it has been to be on for so long, and how they are all slowly one by one disappearing.
Yahoo Messenger was where my Online Journey really started. I loved interaction with random people online. Even tho at the time we only had Dial Up, it was a whole new world of exploration to me. I met some random chick on Yahoo messenger who went by the name TammyB23 or something similar to that (she was probably 6-7 years old than me, so close enough in age that we chatted regularly). I learned through talking with her that her name was Tammy Babkins (Im doing this off memory so it may not be 100%) and she lived in New Hampshire. I did not know Tammy outside of Yahoo Messenger, and I never got to know her otherwise. With the death of Yahoo Messenger I never talked to her again.
Heck my dad met my stepmom on Yahoo Messenger years ago.. (Wouldn’t recommend that lol… No offense, but just not a great place to meet people) I started on Yahoo Messenger something like 2002 ish.
Then Second Life, Which I still regularly partake in.. but Back in the day Second Life was split into two grids, The Regular main grid where anyone 18+ played, and the Teen Grid where those 13-17 resided. Being I joined in 2006 ish at the age of 16 I was on the teen grid. I got to know many people, and made many friends there. When I turned 18 I was required to move over to the adult grid. I made a video commemorating my time on the teen grid (It unfortunately looks like it’s been pulled for copyright however).
Through the years one thing has always had one common fallback.. Skype.
Through the years of Second Life, Multi Theft Auto Roleplay, and everything in between we ALWAYS held group calls on Skype to communicate, and just hang out. We would regularly have daily calls that ranged from 8 to up to 16 hours. I spoke with many of my friends from Second Life on Skype (shout out to Marcus, Austin, Rick, and many many more). That trend did not change as I moved away from Second Life, and into other avenues such as MTA:RP. We continued those super long group calls where we all just hung out all day.
In fact, We STILL TODAY hold at least 2, 8-9 hour group calls on Skype per week.
Skype just announced that in May the Skype servers will go offline forever. Its just another example of Microsoft buying something, and then killing it… But thats a topic for another day..
Skype has been a huge part of my life. I was using Skype before Second Life, talking to my best friend Tommy from school back in 2005. (RIP)
It’s crazy to think that what seemed like just a few years ago, when I graduated to the adult grid on Second Life on my 18th birthday, was 17 years ago! (scary)
Skype has been a great, stable platform for us for over 20 years now. It’s sad to see something that holds a huge part of history vanish. I wish we could take over the servers and maintain them ourself just to keep it alive..
I reluctantly will move to Discord.. As the choices for having stable group calls are pretty limited anymore. Definitely wont be able to use “Skype Out”..
I really have nothing more to say.. I hate to see it go. Hopefully the old saying is true: when one door closes another opens. Sometimes things must happen so that bigger and better can move in..
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