The ICQ-ing Researcher’s List
Created | Updated Jun 20, 2003
Why does this list exist? What does it do? The founder explains...
After joining h2g2, I totally stopped using ICQ as the forums had become my sole method of online communication. But there are many obvious disadvantages; not being able to chat in private, transference of pictures and files, and several other points . Then I saw a forum with our two magnificent POST-runners trying to exchange ICQ's. I found them in the ICQ database and thus I started using ICQ again.
Slowly, as I became more involved in h2g2, I developed more friends I'd like to 'just chat' to, without our conversation being recorded on stone. I slowly squeezed out a couple more ICQ numbers and was grumbling how difficult it was to find ICQ numbers. Then I suddenly thought - why not list them? This was when the job began...
After a couple of hours of decision making, coding the HTML, and looking around, the ICQ list was ready for action. I invited a few people to join... and so it began. Since then I have asked permission from every user before adding them to the list. There were only a few who rejected being included, but they eventually turned back on their decision when they saw the unexpected size of the list.
While having a conversation about the list, a user commented how long it is and that it is difficult to browse. This was when the idea of sorting the list to show online status came about. I then set out to find a way to do this. I was fairly familiar with javascript, so chose to write it in javascript within a guide entry. Unfortunately, the only way I have found to detect online status is according to the file size of the image ICQ sends back. This is why the script takes so long to load - it has to pre-load sixty-five images! The script has hit a couple of glitches due to the slow ICQ status network, but will be worked on until assured to be absolutely glitch-free.
New features are being thought up for it and all input is appreciated. This list is a tool for all researchers who use ICQ. It might devote a section to Yahoo messenger users, or may be able to list users numerically and alphabetically. This all depends on time and reliability, but all ideas are welcome!
I'd like to thank all sixty-five users who joined the list for making it such a success, and a special thanks to all those who helped me with coding and testing. You are more than welcome to join or just browse through The ICQing Researchers List.
