Show HN: I built a Yahoo Messenger-inspired web chat app – pure nostalgia

buzzed.chat

65 points by lakshikag 4 days ago

I’ve been feeling a bit nostalgic lately, so I decided to build a little web chat app inspired by Yahoo! Messenger. Right now it’s got group chat rooms. Super simple setup, no email required to register. You can create your own room or hop into one that’s already open.

Room owners can customize things like backgrounds and even cursors of their room. Users can format their messages with basic markdown like bold, italics, and color texts (kind of like the old Yahoo! days).

I even brought back the classic Yahoo! Messenger emoticons because… well, why not?

You can try it out here: https://buzzed.chat (Heads up: it's still pretty barebones, so excuse any bugs you might run into!)

I'm thinking of adding a few more features next, like:

• Audibles

• A buddy list so you can add friends

• Private chats between buddies

Before I keep building, I wanted to check in and see what people think. Anyone else remember using Yahoo! Messenger back in the day? Any features you’d love to see again?

Would genuinely love to hear your thoughts and ideas

ferguu_ 4 days ago

Would be good to have a little dot next to a room if it has an unread message. Or a signpost telling you at which point unread messages begin. Basically just track read / unread messages.

  • lakshikag 4 days ago

    Thanks for the suggestion. I will try to implement this in a future update.

neogodless 4 days ago

Was Yahoo! Messenger the one (or one of the) chat clients that let you find games to play with Buddies (or strangers?), like Pinochle or "drawing"?

  • giancarlostoro 4 days ago

    MSN did this, I dont remember the games, I believe Yahoo had games too though separate of YIM.

smusamashah 3 days ago

Reminds of Pidgin messanger which was the universal chat client (connects with msn, yahoo, google chat etc). It was also shared here a while ago that its still being updated after all those years.

https://www.pidgin.im/

nsriv 4 days ago

I miss Meebo.

  • dustincoates 4 days ago

    I used Meebo for a bit, but Trillian was my main cross-service chat app. Interestingly, they're still going, although apparently now as a Slack competitor.

  • upbeatlinux 4 days ago

    Yes! It really was the best way to stay connected to friends on all the chat platforms from the 90s and early aughts.

bigdang 4 days ago

Not being able to move the window is a huge miss imo.

debschillin 2 days ago

This brings back a lot of memories. Such a nice idea.

thecannoli 4 days ago

Triggered that nostalgia for me too, thanks for that!

Can't wait for the ChatGPT powered Messenger Bots to return.

Shoutout to Smarter Child!

floralhangnail 4 days ago

Pretty good, but what I really want is this skin and MSN messenger skin for Signal desktop.

ugh123 4 days ago

Looks great! Might be helpful to have a few demo accounts

  • lakshikag 4 days ago

    You don't need an email account to create an account, so you can simply wind up an account

_0xdd 4 days ago

Bring back Yahoo Pool next :)

andrewstuart 4 days ago

Layout on mobile is quite broken.

  • lakshikag 4 days ago

    I'm aware of this. Will look into asap

causality0 4 days ago

Now the real question, can I make five hundred accounts and use them with a booter program to crash the chat clients of preteens who get on audio and start screaming? Good times, good times.

anon115 4 days ago

i have to refresh to see new chats,(im on firefox)

  • lakshikag 4 days ago

    Could you please see if it's still the same?

umutdev 2 days ago

why not real MSN

Falimonda 4 days ago

a/s/l?

also, will I be able to play pool?

notpublic 4 days ago

Thanks! I really missed yahoo's :rofl: emoji

crossroadsguy 4 days ago

If I go to cyber cafes can I find profile details of people who have used Buzzed Chat before me on that machine? If not, then you must implement that feature ASAP.