Escargot News

What happens next

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 17:50:30 -0400

Unfortunately, for legal reasons, we had to shut a lot of things down, especially our sister project's web site, the wiki, and most social media pages; these weren't an option and we couldn't fight it, so they're gone.

I imagine what many of you are asking is: what happens next?

Well, we're also wondering that. The truth is that despite all of the offerings from our sister project, MSN was always at the very least twice as active at any point. So, just by the numbers game alone, most of you shouldn't have noticed a major disruption, though some of you have of course.

As far as the future goes, we are going to be more open, and no I'm not just saying that, we're going to be rewriting some thing and publishing them, and also publishing updates to some older stuff we've improved or fixed that hasn't seen the light of day yet. We'll more than likely cover those in news posts.

The MSN documentation on the wiki, including anything we didn't have up yet, will be put up some place else fairly soon, and we'll let you know in a news update.

As far as people who donated for the sister project: all of your donations and benefits transfer to Escargot, as all donations were always to benefit both projects. People who paid for early access or similar, that will be likely translated to Live Spaces, Web Escargot, and Escargot 2.0 prototyping access. It's hard to say right now, but you won't be forgotten, it will take us time to get sorted.

At the end of the day, we always tried to make it to where any donation for access felt like it was worth the money using the following formula:

A movie ticket is roughly $10, so if someone donates $10 they should have at least 2 hours of fun on the service.

It's not a great nor scientific formula, but it's at least an attempt. Additionally the whole point of donations was to help fund the services and development, and it did, and of course we are very thankful to those who donated and actually continue to in order to support Escargot.

There's still a lot to do, a lot to figure out, and we don't have answers for everything right now. What we can say is you can look out for news here and also on the forums to see what we're doing next. We're also going to create a mailing list for those who would just rather be emailed rather than having to check the website.

Why we shut down the Discord

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 22:28:56 -0400

I got home from work today and noticed something unusual unfolding on the Discord server, and it was indirectly my fault, and so I did what I could to take care of and keep it from getting worse...

It turned out to be because of a staff member, who I had promoted the day prior, was evidently known for threatening to send people a certain type of illegal material as some sort of means to coerce others into doing things for him. I didn't know about this activity at all, but apparently some users did, but nobody told me anything.

It took me a moment to work out what was going on, because it was also being mixed in with claims the same staff member had also uploaded/shared copyrighted material that falls under DMCA.

Once I figured out what the main accusation was, I banned him immediately.

I shouldn't have promoted him to Discord staff without looking more into him, however he had been a donor for a while, and it was never once brought to my attention any of the things which came out, if they had, I certainly wouldn't have promoted him, let alone let him stay in the server.

After he was banned, I thought maybe the issue was solved, but it turned out that the Discord server itself had been reported for this illegal material, even though said material was never shared on the server in the first place. Even though it had nothing to do with staff beyond apparent threats made by this one new staff member, it was reported as though it was right in the Discord.

When it comes to this illegal material, Discord will actually ban every single person in the server, and there were nearly 14,000 people at risk of having their accounts suspended.

So, I deleted the server.

I didn't want this idiot, short lived staff member that I should have never promoted, be the cause of so many people losing their accounts due to others claiming we had something on the server we did not. Prior to that, I had been considering deleting the server due to the endless drama and other problems going on, and I made it clear prior to that I was sick of being a part of it, but knowing that so many people could lose their accounts, it just had to end before it all got worse.

So going forward, a few long term mods from the Discord will continue to be on the service and also the website helping out. The service will not be shutting down, and will continue going. In the future you should come here for updates and so forth, but they will also be announced on Patreon, Boosty, etc.

Speaking of donations, I have removed the PayPal (the most common donation means) from the page and we will no longer be doing any fundraisers or anything else. We've got enough pre-paid with hosting that it will last a little while, but if people want to contribute going forward, they can, but we won't be actively encouraging or promoting it anymore.

Long term we'll start releasing code and more documentation so that nothing is lost, there are some things we need to fix up and refactor in order to make them open source and useful for people, but we'll get to that.

I'm really sorry it came to this and let's hope we can continue to make some cool stuff together without things getting out of hand, and certainly going forward any sort of moderation/staff process on the service itself will be far more detailed to find any issues like what happened today.

- Tony

AOL and ICQ fixes, plus chat returns to AIM 8 and Mobile

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 15:20:05 -0400

Hey hey, we have some small updates, but we need your help testing to make sure everything is working fine!

Updates:

WebAPI: Chat has returned to AIM 8, AIM Mobile and other WIM clients after complete rewrite, please report issues with it
AIM/ICQ: Additional changes to buddies and permissions have been added, please report any (new) issues

Fixes:

AIM: Issue where some clients could not send messages to chat rooms should be fixed.
AIM: Bitmap buddy icon transfers (pre-5.0) should now work for all bitmap types.
AOL: AIM to AOL chat invites now working again
AOL: Issues with some clients breaking when signing on as "New User", "Existing User" fixed
AOL: Clicking "Chat Now" or "Find a Chat" from the People menu now should work properly.
ICQ: Messages containing Cyrillic unicode should no longer be corrupted

AIM for Mobile downloads

NEW! The NINA website now has downloads for Android and iOS versions of AIM! If you want to use AIM on your mobile device, check it out! https://nina.chat/download/aim/! As you can see from the screenshot, you can use chats on the mobile apps, and on AIM 8, and yes, the latest iOS App still runs on modern iOS devices. :-)

If you can, please consider supporting us and helping us develop NINA and Escargot. We're still running our fundraiser ($603 of $2,500), every dollar counts and rewards start at $2: learn more. Help us keep the fun alive! Thank you for sticking around and more to come soon!

ICQ now in open alpha, Skype news, and other stuff

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 20:52:02 -0400

Hey buddies!

It's been a little while since our last major update, but it's because we're working on big things. In this announcement we're going to cover ICQ, Skype, AIM, and some other things.

We've been growing, a lot, we've added some more servers, and we're now testing our new multi-server protocol that will allow us to expand more easily going forward. We're in the first stage of that rollout, and during the rollout strange buddy visibility issues may occur; keep an out for future updates on this.

ICQ is now an open alpha, that is free to use with a UIN only. Open alpha means there are still some issues which will be dealt with as we roll out more fixes and updates so please stay patient. Learn more on our ICQ Connection Guide. Please remember, free to use doesn't mean it's free to run, so please support the service.

Updates:

ICQ: Now in open alpha, as covered above.
AIM: TommyD is working on a client you can try out, NINA Fire Edition, more info on that is pinned in the #nina-fire-edition channel on the Discord.
WebAPI: As a part of our promise to maintain and update AOL's protocols, we have added our own easy to use Chat WebAPI for your custom client or bot, read more on our wiki.
Skype: Development is underway, primarily for Skype 6/7, more details below.
Escargot: A preliminary patcher for Messenger for Mac 8 is available for Supporters, still bugs to fix but you can sign on and receive messages so far.
Discord: We now have a server tag, help promote us by applying it to your username!
TOC/WebAPI: Both TOC and WebAPI have been updated to use our internal unified communication library, this will make adding features on all our services easier and faster. TOC has been stable and tested, WebAPI is still fresh, so report any bugs!

Fixes:

ICQ: Plain text messaging should be working better, if issues still occur please let us know exact client version
AIM: Changing privacy settings sometimes not-properly updating should now be fixed, though visibility may randomly have issues (as mentioned above)
WebAPI: Presence's online time is now sent properly
WebAPI: XML event fetching should work again

That doesn't seem like a whole lot, as much effort has been going into expanding the services, implementing the new multi-server protocol, improving performance, fixing minor bugs not worth mentioning, etc. Next week's update will contain a whole lot more.

We also wanted to make it clear that when it comes to reverse engineering Skype and its protocol (an extremely complicated process) we will also going to be documenting what we come up with so others can use it to create their own servers and even clients as well. Of course we'll continue to document other protocols as well, in fact we've got a lot more OSCAR documentation that we will be putting up on the wiki very soon, things that have never been documented publicly before.

We're currently at $310 of our $2,500 fundraising goal. Membership and activity has massively increased, but donations have gone way down. So, please support the services so we can keep expanding, and so we can keep the past alive and growing. We aren't backed by some big company, we don't sell your information, and we don't have ads, so we rely on donations. Donations come with benefits, early access, and more, see our donation page. If you don't want to donate or can't, please promote us, but at the end of the day keep in mind it's only getting more expensive and I can't really overstate how much we need your support.

Happy 4th of July and also Canada Day since we missed that one, sorry Canadians!

Some big updates and fixes, including new patcher, audio chat, and more!

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 17:09:35 -0400

Hello buddies,

This is the first in a series of major updates which are a part of our finally drive toward the launch of Escargot 2.0 very darn soon, and additional version support for AOL, among many other things we've got coming up (see the list below for details).

We're getting more and more popular, but less and less donations. We know people hate that we ask, but running this isn't free and support for the service is very important. We're still trying to raise $564 for hosting, domain renewals, etc and any contribution helps both NINA & Escargot and comes with rewards, roles, and more: learn more.

Updates:

AIM: Improved patcher, please (re-)patch your client: NINAPatcher.exe. Yes, even if you already patched it!
AIM: Classic "Talk" (audio chat) should now work properly (pre-AIM 6)
AIM: We now use the old AIM ad service in older clients to update logos and menus hopefully creating a richer experience rather than sending actual ads.
AIM 8: Unicode Emojis that render as images are now available and should show up properly.
AIM 8, and mobile apps: File attachments are now supported, you can send images and files to your buddies.
WebAPI: Member directory search is now implemented
AIM/ICQ: Large buddy icon support added for applicable clients
AIM/ICQ: SSL/TLS support is enabled, you can use slogin.oscar.nina.chat port 5190 on clients that support it. On AIM 6+, it'll be automatically applied for kdc.uas.nina.chat port 443.

Fixes:

TOC: Receiving chat invites is now fixed
AIM: Issues setting/retaining directory info should now be fixed
AIM: File transfers over ARS would sometimes fail to connect, they should now work
AIM: Palm OS AIM issue preventing sign on should be fixed (Reported by FairPlay)
WebAPI: Alias/Friendly name should now be set properly
WebAPI: OpenAuth auth tokens should now persist
WebAPI, AIM 8: Increased default max IM size

Developers, Developers, Developers:

OSCAR/WebAPI: Each instant message and chat message now has a UUID (TLV 0x24), later this will be used for offline messages, storage, and other features such as replies!
General: Warning level is best calculated percent = ((evil + 0x05) / 0x0A), rounded up

Coming Soon:

Escargot 2.0 progress is going steady, investigating different patching methods for newer versions of Windows Live Messenger, and investigating Skype's protocol
AOL: AOL 6 support is coming very soon, along with some extra goodies.
ICQ: We have got a hold of some old ICQ Xtraz that we're going to be adding soon, you will finally be able to edit your profile on ICQ 7, and more.
ICQ: We are also working on contact list, authorizations, et al

Support Us:

Doing all this work and running this service is not cheap, so please consider supporting us. Support comes with benefits and we have many available options on how to donate, learn more on our Donate page.

Updates and fixes, including new patcher and file transfers

Sun, 05 Jan 2025 16:02:29 -0500

Hello buddies,

We've got a fairly large update, and we suggest you read through this whole announcement to get an overview of what's been done.

Be sure to (re-)patch your AIM client, as the new and improved patcher fixes many URLs like AIM Today, news ticker, etc: http://static.nina.chat/distro/NINAPatcher.exe (You may get a false positive from Windows Defender, we're looking into why, but it's a clean exe)

Updates:

AIM: File transfers, direct connections, etc (aka rendezvous) now work and require port forwarding on your router/firewall, unless you have PowerTools (see Rewards on the Donate page).
ICQ: Improvements to older ICQ direct connect features, subject to firewall/router port forwarding, PowerTools proxying coming soon.
ICQ: Moods and statuses in older ICQ clients should now show
TOC: Directory search implemented
TOC: Rendezvous support, including proposal, accepting and cancel
General: We have the new account system up, you can check it out by logging into the NINA or Escargot websites. It's only the initial version, more features such as multi-account management, supporter status, etc coming soon!

Fixes:

AIM/ICQ: Issue of some buddies never appearing online is now fixed
AIM/ICQ: Sessions should persist for WebAPI connections
MSN: If you are running Windows 11 version 24H2, and can't log in ("contact list not available"), run this patch: https://static.nina.chat/distro/EscargotWin24H2.zip
ICQ: Improved support for clients which do not support HTML messages, please report any issues (with client version)

Operations:

The NINA logo is now officially known as Runningma'am, let's give the young lady the recognition she deserves!

Support Us:

Doing all this work and running this service is not cheap, so please consider supporting us. Support comes with benefits and we have many available options on how to donate, learn more on our Donate page.

AIM access now free and publicly available

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 19:00:06 -0500

Hello buddies, we've got big news!

It's chilly and cloudy here at the NINA & Escargot HQ in Kansas, which is a great day to stay in and bask in the wonders of AIM, now free and publicly available.

We support all versions of AIM, and all features are functional, however client-to-client features such as talk (voice chat), video, file transfers, direct connections (image sharing), etc won't be finalized until the next update. Additionally, some features in much later versions of AIM such as 7.5, 8.0 such as Lifestream and image sharing have not yet launched as we're still ironing out the details and they'll be coming soon, but overall these clients are functional.

We'll be releasing a server update soon with bug and feature fixes which have come up since the public launch.

This update has been a long time coming, thousands of hours of development, research, and testing and now AIM is ready for primetime. We made it publicly available in a soft launch late last week, however now it's time to get the word out and get more people chatting.

If you've got an Escargot account or just want to get on AIM right now, all you need to do is follow the instructions here.

I'm glad we could finally bring this to the community, which for me personally is the best Internet community I have ever been a part of. It's wonderful to see so many people enjoying our projects, contributing help to others, and just having laid back conversations with each other about whatever comes to mind. I also want to say that these have been the best developers I've ever had the pleasure of working with.

While AIM may be public, ICQ however is still in gamma as some features are still incomplete, there's still some development that needs to be done however it is available for anyone who donates (or has donated) at least $2 USD. Once ICQ is ready for primetime, then it too will be public, and we don't have an ETA on that since ICQ's protocol and scope of functionality is massive compared to AIM, but we are making progress.

We're also making progress on Escargot 2.0 and getting classic AOL support from the alpha phase to the beta phase. For those who paid $2 for early access to AIM you have been given access to PowerTools, which is basically our version of Discord Nitro, for now it only allows you to speak in the ⁠last-call chat directly from Discord, however in the near future it will open up additional features and access within AIM, ICQ, etc. Of course all gamma tier and higher donors also have PowerTools so if you've donated before, you're already in the butter zone, baby.

Now that AIM is freely available, running it is not free, so we still need your support. You can support us via: a one time or recurring donation, both of which come with rewards and Discord roles, learn more here.

If you can't donate, don't tell us, instead you can still help by telling others about us via tweets, toots, videos, or whatever else you can think of.

AIM 6.0-7.5 now available and other updates

Fri, 11 Oct 2024 20:05:17 -0400

Hello buddies,

Well it's an unusually hot day here in Kansas -- a perfect day for updates. The gap between the last update and now is primarily because of our focus on finalizing AIM/ICQ and preparing for Escargot 2.0. There will also be an update next week for things which didn't make it into this release.

AIM and ICQ early access is now $2, however that does not come with any special supporter channel access, priority support, behind the scenes info, or early access to anything else which comes up in gamma, so the cool kids club still is $5.

We really need your help, we're still looking to expand in preparation for Escargot 2.0 and this month we've got several domain renewals, and aside from our wonderfully dedicated Patrons and Boosters there have been only a couple of smaller donations. So if you want to help and are able to, see the bottom of this announcement for links.

Now, on to the actual updates:

Updates:

AIM: Versions 6.0-7.5 are now supported. See connect instructions at: https://nina.chat/connect/aim/
AIM: Direct IMs are now available, but still subject to firewall/router port forwarding
General: Many backend updates to prepare for Escargot 2.0 and finalizing AIM/ICQ

Fixes:

AIM: Chat bug which appeared when a room had a high join/leave ratio should be fixed
AIM: Older versions of Gaim crashing when joining chat rooms is now fixed
ICQ: ICQ 4 and 5 crash on start up has been fixed.
ICQ: Issue where gender display is flipped in results should now be fixed (reported by Alexander O.)
ICQ: Miscellaneous fixes to unified directory

Issues:

AIM/ICQ: As noted above, some issues still persist and will be addressed hopefully in the next update.
AIM/ICQ: Offline messages and ICQ-specific messages for authorization did not make it into this update, but will be in the next.

If you don't see your issue here or just want to be sure we know about it (we may not since some bugs go unreported because people believe we don't know or don't care) please let us know. If we already know of the issue, we still appreciate the reporting.

Developers, Developers, Developers:

WebAPI: We've changed auth token handling, if you are having issues reconnecting, you will need to relogin and get a new auth token.

Soon:

MSN: We've made even more progress on Escargot 2.0 since the last announcement, you'll hear more soon (said last time, but still true! x2)
AOL: More content from former channels will be restored

AIM 7

Socials:

Twitter/X: https://x.com/escargotim
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NINAandEscargot
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ninaim/

Support Us:

Donating to keep projects you love alive is important, and we do need your help to keep things running and development going. We don't sell your data or bombard you with ads, so money is always very low, but if you can help and want special benefits.

You can make a one time donation via:

Paypal: https://paypal.me/ninaim
Boosty: https://boosty.to/ninaim
Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ninaim

If you wish to support us more long term though you can subscribe via an option below (comes with even more rewards), and it will help keep us going into the future.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninaim
Boosty: https://boosty.to/ninaim

This week in updates: 6 Sept 2024

Fri, 06 Sep 2024 10:40:32 -0400

Hello buddies,

A few more AOL/AIM/ICQ service updates and fixes for you!

Not as many updates this time, that's because we're focusing on a few things:

Getting out Escargot 2.0 soon with full inter-op with AIM/ICQ/AOL users and WLM 2011/2012
Making the services more fault-tolerant so they don't go down, even for updates
Reworking our ICQ implementation a bit more to clean up some other issues

Needless to say, these will require upgrades and more server space so please consider donating (details below and on the donation page) so we can move along with this stuff much faster. As it stands right now, for example, we are $96 behind in hosting and we need your help to expand. We aren't at risk of things going down, other than by the limitations of our current environment, so fear not.

Now, on to the actual updates:

Updates:

ICQ: Intra-ICQ client messages (aka ICQ Server Relay) to and from ICQ users will now be sent
AIM: Buddy icons now appear for all versions of AIM that support it, starting at 1.0.414
Web: NINA and Escargot websites now show the same news feed and news will be posted there, not just Discord/Patreon/Boosty
General: Many other internal fixes and getting the OSCAR server more geared toward multi-server load balancing

Fixes:

AIM/ICQ: Issue where blocking/unblocking was not working correctly should now be fixed
AIM/ICQ: Some clients implemented status messages slightly improperly, this should now be handled

Issues:

ICQ: As noted above, some issues still persist and will be addressed, we've made sure to keep track of all reported issues.
AIM/ICQ: Offline messages and ICQ-specific messages for authorization are still in the works, should be ready for the next update.

Developers, Developers, Developers:

AIM/ICQ: PD__SET_GROUP_PERMIT_MASK (0x09/0x04) now allows you to limit the kind of remote clients which can send IMs by not including their flags. See wiki for more information.

Save the date: webEscargot coming December 18th

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 01:32:32 -0500

Save the date. webEscargot is out December 18th for everyone.

(Out for beta testers now: check the donate page to get into beta-testing and using webEscargot right now.)