Moments in Time: 17 things you'll only remember if you were an MSN Messenger addict


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You can keep your WhatsApps and your Snapchats, your Facebook Messenger conversations and Twitter messages. We still want MSN Messenger back. Having launched back in 1999 MSN Messenger, the only means of contact for 90s and 00s teens, survived for 15 years before finally being killed off on this day, October 31, back in 2014.
MSN Messenger was the IM client to end all IM clients. It was bigger than AOL, the precursor to Skype and even more addictive than texts. It's generation-defining, like vinyl for the '70s child or Pokémon GO for, well, anyone around today. If you were born in the late '80s or early '90s you'll no doubt fondly remember MSN Messenger, and all these wonderful things that came with it.
1. SETTING SONG LYRICS AS YOUR STATUS
It was no coincidence that MSN Messenger's powers peaked around the same time as the emo fad swung into action. The cause? The ability to set song lyrics as your status that topped every conversation and was proudly displayed to the world. Cue an unhealthy outpouring of teenage angst that often reflected your current emotional state. Like most things we did on Messenger, these lyrical statuses could also be used to send secret pining messages to your would-be bae.
2. ENDLESSLY WRITING BRB & GTG
MSN Messenger and text speak went together like Kenan and Kel. 'BRB', or 'Be right back' as it meant in long form was perhaps the abbreviation thrown down the most and one we want to see brought back into daily life. In reality, "BRB" meant one of three things – you needed a pee, you were about to be lectured by your mum for spending too much time on the computer, or you were done with that conversation and looking for an easy way out.
"Be right back" wasn't the only text shortcut that became a muscle memory reflex in the Messenger days. GTG (got to go) was its more final abbreviation shortcut cousin. Unlike BRB, GTG meant one of three very different things – you needed a poo, you were about to get a total bollocking for still being on the internet, or your dinner was ready. Which reminds us…. GTG.
3. POSSESSING THE ABILITY TO "APPEAR OFFLINE"
Sod James Bond, I'm the real secret agent here, I'm actually online, but no-one knows it – mwahaha. The ability to switch your status to Appear Offline was a Messenger joy that let you avoid awkward conversations with those you wanted to avoid while still seeing who else was online – and dropping a select few mates covert messages explaining your supposedly errant ways. Sure, Messenger also let you set your status to In a Call or Out to Lunch, but you were 13, you were just too embarrassed to chat to that one you had that awkward kiss with.
4. LOGGING IN & OUT SO YOUR CRUSH GOT A NOTIFICATION
This Appear Offline feature had another use too. You could game it to prompt your crush into talking with you. By quickly switching your status from Online to Appear Offline and back again would send a pop-up notification to all of your online contacts, including your crush. Now the waiting game as you sat, horny heart in mouth, as you hoped for them to message you. C'mon, admit it, you tried this… daily, right?
5. DROPPING CONSTANT "OOPS SORRY, WRONG CONVO" APOLOGIES
Messenger wasn't just about keeping a single conversation going, oh no. You often had a dozen conversation tabs on the go at once. This spelled problems though, namely writing the wrong things to the wrong people. Sometimes these were genuine accidents. ("Man, Lisa is such a bitch. Oh, sorry, Lisa, no, not you, a different Lisa, honest.") At others, it was a desperate way of getting your crush to notice you. ("Totally made out with Jenny the other day. Oh, sorry Michelle, wrong convo.") The genius mind games of a horny teenager.
6. ASKING FOR MSN NAMES, NOT NUMBERS
When you were a teen, asking a crush for their phone number was the ultimate in nausea-inducing, sweat-causing, humiliation-guaranteeing apprehension. Asking for their MSN name, however, was perfectly acceptable and in no way implied how much you were secretly crushing on them. It was less invasive despite letting you talk to them more and get to know things – like their favourite songs – simply by snooping on their ever changing statuses.
7. RUSHING HOME FROM SCHOOL TO TALK TO THE PEOPLE YOU SPENT ALL DAY WITH
You spent six hours a day with your mates at school, but would always quickly rush home after the final bell to talk to them online. Why? Well because you'd never managed to make plans for that evening's kickabout or general dossing about beyond the daily "meet you online at 4?" promise. This was the dawn of simple, speedy communication that your parents couldn't eavesdrop on.
8. NUDGING NIGHTMARES
Long before the Facebook 'Poke', there was the MSN Messenger 'Nudge', and boy was it annoying. Hitting the nudge button wouldn't just ping your mate an alert or gentle tone, instead it shook the whole sodding conversation window in dizzying fashion. When your mate refused to answer your message – even if they'd just nipped to the loo or were grabbing a drink – that was it, 27 Nudges were heading their way every ten seconds. It really was the most annoying feature going, but we'd love it back for those tardy WhatsApp repliers betrayed by the two blue ticks.
9. THE TRUE BIRTH OF EMOJI
Emoji might now be the world's fastest growing language and a modern staple of every chat service, but back in the late '90s and early '00s they were a Messenger-introduced revelation. Doing the rounds under their far more formal name of emoticons, they quickly formed the bulk of your conversations and statuses, often transforming entire lines of chat into unintelligible hieroglyphics the Ancient Egyptians would have been proud of. If emoji weren't enough, you could throw down full page animated "winks" that took over the conversation with dancing pigs and gurning faces – that's the height of technology, people.
10. CREATING YOUR OWN EMOJI SHORTCUTS
Further aiding this new found word-shunning emoji addiction, Messenger let you create your own shortcuts that would automatically drop the little images in. So "111" could become a smiley face and "lol" a laughing smiley. Fun, yes, but you could use it to wind up your mates too, waiting for them to nip off to the loo before gleefully setting the kissy lips emoji to automatically send every time they tried to throw a cool, nonchalant "Hey" to that one they fancied.
11. THE FEAR OF WHO WAS REALLY READING YOUR MESSAGES
In the days before happy slaps and internet trolls, the biggest fear was chatting candidly to someone you liked on MSN Messenger only to realise that they had four of their mates sat around snickering at your teenage angst filled proclamations of affection. You wouldn't know straight away, but as soon as you found at, that was it, the pit in the stomach, the hot sweats, the "Muuuuuuuum, I'm too ill to go to school" efforts.
12. CHECKING WITH A MATE TO SEE IF SOMEONE WAS ONLINE
Oh, the shame. Believing someone was offline only to find out they'd just been chatting to your bezzie meant just one thing – you'd been blocked. While checking with a mate to see if a suspected blocker was actually online was embarrassing enough sign of self-indulgent paranoia, it had nothing on being added to a group chat with someone you'd just blocked.
13. BEING ABLE TO SEE WHEN YOUR CRUSH WAS TYPING SOMETHING TO YOU
O.M.EFFING.G!! Nothing could quite match the excitement of opening up a chat window to message your secret (not so secret, everyone knew) crush, only to see those three magical words that gave you hope that they actually liked you too – "Contact is typing…" Eek. Being able to see when someone was typing a message filled you with an excitement unparalleled to this day. Sure, WhatsApp and Facebook do the same now, but it's not the same dammit. This was the originator.
14. THE HORROR WHEN THAT "TYPING" MESSAGE NEVER ARRIVED
Being able to see when someone was typing something to you wan't all sunshine and lollipops though. It had a seriously downside. What if the message never arrived? 30 seconds of excitedly watching that 'Contact is typing…' message and then… nothing. It stops. No messages arrives. You can't well chase them, they'll know you were waiting on their every uttering, but what the hell were they going to say? We still don't know and are haunted to this day by the mystery.
15. INSTALLING MSN MESSENGER ON A SCHOOL COMPUTER
It was the ultimate sign of schoolyard rebellion, and one that would earn you maximum props amongst your peers. Installing MSN Messenger on a school computer during a tedious IT class made you a Year 8 hero. Once installed, realising all of your Messenger mates were in the same class kind of defeated the point, but your name is still being talked about around the school to this day. Mostly by teachers discussing the biggest pricks they ever taught mind.
16. PLAYING MINESWEEPER FLAGS LIKE YOU WERE A CALL OF DUTY SNIPER
Pah, Pokémon Go, that's not a real game. Back in the MSN Messenger days we had proper games like Minesweeper Flags. The most intense PC-based battle you could have at the time, it involved a side window popping up with a two-player version of Minesweeper, reds vs blues. OK, that's it, it doesn't sound great now and hasn't aged particularly well, but the tension was like an epic Halo battle on pep pills.
17. HAVING TO END YOUR CONVERSATION SO YOU MUM COULD USE THE PHONE
Not only did MSN Messenger precede the likes of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger by a good decade, its heyday was firmly in the pre-broadband era. That meant that your conversations would frequently get cut short by your mum's wails to "get off the computer, I need to phone your auntie Jill". Ah, dial-up. How we in no way miss your ear-piercing connection tones and painfully slow download speeds.



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