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 Positions Shift describes icons where heart icons move around the frame while the rest of the scene stays mostly steady. In these animated samples, heart symbols drift or jump across text-heavy layouts, making the emotional cue come from where each heart lands.
![Pink background with black text reading "i love igor [[1108]]" and five white/pink heart symbols below, showing two animation frames where heart positions shift.](/image/346e9565ca2df71f3a3a6b969442c370f8e2aee89059cf063cbbc45558cc8d34){kind=small}
![Pink background with black text 'Isilay :]' and five white/pink pixelated heart icons below, two versions showing animation changes.](/image/6f26ec86e9c3b327886ea1f24debf41f10e7d5c6cd865eb718aabeeb16a9dfa5){kind=small}
