From the archivist
It started with a game that needed a few authentic AIM icons. Then I had 1,000. Then 10,000. At some point, I had a buddy icon problem.
Read how this happenedYou made it this far
You have scrolled past 1,024 buddy icons, so I have some suspicions. My blog is where the other shiny digressions end up.
Subscribe to Shedletsky.comA language of tiny pictures
A picture barely 50 pixels wide, sitting beside an AIM screen name, could announce a mood, a fandom, an inside joke, or who someone wanted to be that day.
Read the short historyRecovered from the early web
Buddy icons survive in old directories, fan sites, downloadable packs, and web archives. The archive preserves the original files, groups known copies, and records where each one was found.
How the archive worksDithered Text refers to buddy icons where lettering appears with visible pixel-dither texture, often as coarse noise in or around words. The phrase remains legible while edges break into tiny steps, which gives retro texture and softens hard color transitions.
![:o] hahhah ah..emily text on blue background with yellow bars appearing in four positions.](/image/b2db09eab0a7014191ce646553ee950d2d39ebe084189b28d22ce6e8e316619a){kind=small}
![Pixelated text reads 'live it. love it. lax it :]' with an orange heart symbol above, repeated twice on a black background.](/image/c5a6a79aab863d4d2a8f4f6c4403bc7ff8f7acd6d4ff3e46fa3a8def6ceaf9df){kind=small}
