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 worksHeart Outlines identify buddy icons that rely on drawn heart contours as central graphics, sometimes with names or short phrases layered nearby. These outlines can be thin white, pink, or dark shapes used as emblems, borders, or focal anchors around text.
![A black background displays green pixelated text reading 'i love you :]'. A white heart outline appears above the left side of the text.](/image/645da61a4112dd087a693a40ed036261eb3d2f40ae8b9d632c12374e2c6677d6){kind=small}
![A black background displays red pixelated text reading 'i hate catherine :]' with a white heart outline above the left instance of the text.](/image/66206c3a89d5bdfcc542806ea134cc07e05c4aa786359fb272d8a1ac70666e3a){kind=small}
