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 worksNo Visible Changes buddy icons repeat the same visual state so placement, pose, and graphic composition do not meaningfully shift from frame to frame. A practical read is unchanged structure with identical text, symbols, and background proportions throughout.
![Pixelated text 'my icon hates you :]' on pink background with purple stars, two identical static frames shown side-by-side.](/image/0ba563ff0c25e00d7e9414ede3a11f003a8fe28ca1152f6f50c7dd18ab20063a){kind=small}
![Green background displays white pixelated text 'i love eriko<3 :]' with a black pixelated heart symbol above the text on the left side.](/image/21fc99c582ce69694ad5c91e8bd5cb92abbd574d4ea73ae34bc1ab87f1cdb17b){kind=small}
