Disturbing Yahoo Chat Incidents | Nostalgia Nerd
Go to https://thld.co/zbiotics_nerd22_0922 and get 15% off your first order of ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol Probiotic by using my code NERD22 at checkout. Thanks to ZBiotics for sponsoring todayās video! ~ Hello Darkness my Old Friend…and by that, I mean Hello Yahoo! Chat my old friend. You see, back in the 90s, Yahoo Chat sprang onto the scene, and it caused quite a commotion. For many, this was their first introduction to the world of chat rooms, and finding yourself suddenly in one was quite an experience. So we’re going to take a dive into Yahoo!, Yahoo Chat, Yahoo Pager and, of course, Yahoo Pager to see just what those glory chat days held, and that sadly, includes much of the horror that it included.
#chatrooms #internet #yahoo
āTimingsā
00:00-02:49 Introduction
02:49-04:11 ZBiotics
04:11-09:46 Yahoo! Chat & Messenger
09:46-15:22 ASL
15:22-19:47 Voice Chat
19:47-23:13 Video Chat
23:13-24:17 Booters
24:17-26:11 The Fall of Yahoo! Chat
26:11-27:17 What Now?
27:17-28:13 Credits
šVideo Linksš
Robbie Strike/Weird Walter: https://www.youtube.com/c/RobbieStrike
Nothingtodo.tv: https://web.archive.org/web/20060106083001/http://www.nothingtodo.tv/
Yahoo Booters in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUfEnY6Ae38
“Best Yahoo Booter”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM6EQ9W3G5Y
Yahoo! 10 Year Anniversary DVD: https://archive.org/details/Yahoo10Year
UK Spying on Yahoo! Chat users: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOxBOzQyYJs
Confessions of an internet addict: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57VkPaEFuRY
Internet Safety PSA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZHq4CQekTY
BBC News Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20582550
Eagle Averro Clip: https://soundcloud.com/user190382360/hackers-on-eagle
Yahoo! Chat Blog: https://web.archive.org/web/20121204065145/http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2012/11/30/updates-to-yahoo-messenger-features
Yahoo! Together Advert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vAjZ2pCAs8
Yahoo! Chat Images: https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/dy0eka/yahoo_chat_circa_1997/ ~ https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/2tx6ao/i_sat_in_yahoo_browser_chat_all_night_asl/ ~ https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/q1fs88/i_see_your_msn_messenger_cringe_and_i_raise_you_a/
Chat Room Tales: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1kxr7r/comment/cbtpr2n/ ~ https://thoughtcatalog.com/holly-riordan/2017/07/25-internet-addicts-talk-about-their-creepiest-online-experience/
An interesting Creepy Pasta (not used): https://thoughtcatalog.com/holly-riordan/2017/07/25-internet-addicts-talk-about-their-creepiest-online-experience/
How the worst parts of the internet helped shape me: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/worst-parts-internet-helped-shape-100000738.html
Booter Images: https://medium.com/swlh/booted-689379a5169e
More links to follow.
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@Nostalgianerd
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
Hey folks. Thanks so much for watching this video. It started out as a documentary about Yahoo Chat, but went a bit deep and dark. Thanks to ZBiotics for sponsoring todayās video! Go to https://thld.co/zbiotics_nerd22_0922 and get 15% off your first order of ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol Probiotic by using my code NERD22 at checkout.
@MichiganManiak
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
Man I remember talking to girls my age 13-15 at the time even talked to them on the phone and they would send me pictures in the mail lol.
@puretroubleman
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
I'm pretty sure that beyond planet earth comment was from me. How weird. God I miss that chat room, it was so bonkers.
@TommyWilliams
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
I remember having thousands of downloads on a few of the Visual basic apps I made as a kid. Yamoo! and Yahoo Phat were some headliners.
And the best part of yahoo is that you could 'hack' the Tools navigation, the banner area and the top Yahoo! Chat image. Javascript was still rather new
@sorphin
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
Used all the various clients to talk to people I knew, but never used ( or even knew/cared) their chat rooms. All the people I met back in the 90s online were in telnet based programs everyone called 'talkers', usually running software based from a program called EWToo. Not going to say it was all civilized, but I suspect a bit more than Yahoo/AIM/ICQ. lol
@Will-y6s
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
I used to code booster programs to sell on the yahoo websites. š Made several hundred bucks helping people annoy one another. I miss the Wild West.
@FallingFlying.
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
Yahoo Messenger Chat Rooms were like a 100 times safer than Facebook. Yahoo elite users knew to only use a 3rd party java based chat client which could withstand booting attempts.
@PUBLICcfcUSA
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
~RAVERS LOUNGE~ MFR's š„°. :D/
@BongPet-m3v
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
Anyone remember mirc chat ?
@lawrencefine5020
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
I miss those user rooms. I made lots of friends, (3 of them former girlfriends). I loved the camming feature so when we talked we could actually see who we were talking to.
And the worst part were the booters although we found ways to retaliate and block those booters.
But man, I yearn for those wild west yahoo messenger days again.
But we all know it would never be the same.
Nostalgia.
@danieljester7752
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
i was in astrology room 1…same 20 people were there plus randomers…we had booter programs then and i had them all …torturing the shit out of anyone i wanted to shut the fuck up and kick out of the room…it would high jack the switches for all the features like request private chat, view my web cam , and turn them on over and over endlessly until it ran out all of your ram and crashed your program …you could hit ctrl alt del and shut it off and log back in but most that didnt know the computer yet would hard boot their computer and have to relog the aol dial up all over and get back on …only to have me boot them again on sight and send them into a frenzy…i had a program called mic hodg that i would drag and drop onto the chat button and monopolize the audio, play whatever music …usually annoying…play screaming porn, the original 20 that were always there loved it because it was our room and we took turns…but outsiders …they were just human video games that we constantly nuked offline and gloated over the mic as we did …..we never caused them any permannat damage or threatened any physical harm…just busted peoples balls until they finally started verification on log in names …that ruined the fake names we loaded into the booters that would flood peoples switches..it was fun while it lasted..but it was SOOOO much fun…some ockmod gets on the mic and starts sputtering in broken english was a perfect target to boot…hey ockmod..are you listenning?…do you you hear me?…yes….BLING BLING BLING over the mic and the little smiley next to his name on the side of the screen popped his headset off and went gray š¤£š¤£š¤£
@BSism-142
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
I PWND CHAD ON PARAGON! š
@BSism-142
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
0:01 [PTSD ENGAGED.] O_O!
@Warg666
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
The Hot Tubs 1, 2, 3 & 6 & PC Room 3 were my hang-outs in Yahoo & Cheeta-Chat, met alot of ppl in there till the boot bots started showing up an the porn bots made chatting worse!~
@DoctorProteus
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
Before I got online a magazine I used to read as a kid introduced me to a/s/l (along with a whole host of emotes) and basically said it was etiquette to always respond if asked such
Looking back I'm wondering if the writer/editor had an ulterior motive
@BlackHistoryForever
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
Yahoo and MSN chats were the best!
@emilymurdoch6713
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
I miss being a teenager, staying up all night watching Toonami while chatting or roleplaying in Japanese Anime: 3
@curtisghall
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
After 9/11 people would go on the Arab and Islam chatrooms and hate on everybody there
@Lou-jl4ov
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
back when the internet was fun
@peacefulhuman8725
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
We are the first and the last of the dial-up reality. Welcome to 2025. Glad to see you all here and have survived the trip! 65/f/usa.
@ChadWallzz
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
From about '98 to '01 I used to be one of those annoying chat booters who used those silly C++ "progz". Was so much fun haha. Do not regret.
@lanniekin
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
wish i was joking but my nan was an absolute dick hungry menace in Yahoo chat
@cuginkcain5430
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
I raised hell in msn communities chatrooms.
@JJ-Streaming
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
I got groomed by fully grown woman when I was on yahoo chat back in 00-03! Those American girls would go nuts over my UK accent when I was 14! They thought I was Harry Potter or some crap
@Leeah182
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
20:56 thatās relatable. msn was the lead of online chat during my time lol. That was 2006-2009 I didnāt really get the yahoo hate, probs bc they deleted all that data when I was 12
@SyStEm0v3r1dE
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
Oh yahoo chat I remember getting into the middle of a years long online feud that ended up making one particular room a cesspool for several years
@KeithPhillips
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
Lmfao! This brings back so many memories
Anal deviant? š somehow I missed out on that one, but I'm totally using this at work from now on
š¤£š¤£š¤£
@dancrunk1063
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
Prawnfingers in Brisbane Locals chat rooms
@dillon1012
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
I thought ASL meant assembly language XD
@-Bowen-
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
i must confess i was one of those booters as a little teen lmao, good times though š
@TheAceofFate
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
My family was super christian growing up, I was not allowed to partake in many things "secular" but I was allowed to use YIM for chatting in the christian rooms. One day I witnessed a troll get "booted" and I was like wtf! I was hooked. I felt like having that kind of power was amazing. While also being praised by others for protecting them. That is what got me into programming and steered the trajectory of my life. Wouldn't change a thing. ^_^
@user-bujhi8cudg5bv
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
The problem with Yahoo is that it was very exploitable and inviting people such as myself to use malicious malware for financial gain in which I accomplished between the years of 1998 – 2012. Thanks
@asdmursu98
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
ah good old classic internet <3
@ericandriechack1726
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
I miss the yahoo punk chat room. I ended up meeting a girlfriend there she lived 40 minutes away. The good old days of the internet what a time š
@jekyllynch6168
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
For a few years, i was heavily invested into yahoo chatroom drama. It was so addictive! Remember those sketchy booters you could download and boot people from the chat?
@TubbyBubbleLove42
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
Yahoo Checkers, Pelican Palace. That was my hangout. Even had an online girlfriend for a while!
@116AuroraDrive
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
# Nastalgia Chat ! Room
@randomnombre2386
April 8, 2026 at 11:46 am
What a time. I do remember being practically addicted to chat rooms. So many characters. The wit of those chatters was next level. Trolling before their was a name for it. It never felt too dark and was all in good fun or so it seemed. Ive never had more fun on the internet than those chat room days.