MetaChat - MetaChat Poll:

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17 December 2005

MetaChat Poll: 1. If you use an IM client (of any kind) do you have logging turned on or off?
2. Do you feel that when you're IMing someone, there is the expectation that hte conversation is not logged? Or is your expectation that the conversation may or may not be logged?→[More:](When you email someone, you expect the email to be saved. When you call someone on the phone, you do not expect the conversation to be recorded. Which is IM closer to, in your opinion?

post by: agropyron at: 11:39 | 14 comments

Depends. If I'm talking to one of my RPG friends, I know they have logging on for the game sessions. But I generally don't expect to be logged by someone like my sister.

I myself don't log. Mostly because I don't always remember to clear them out, and that's space I could use for other things.

posted by FunkyHelix 17 December | 11:48

I don't use any IM clients anymore, but when I did, I used Gaim and yes, I logged everything. No reason really, but it came in handy occasionally when I needed to remember something.

I don't expect my conversations to be logged, mainly because of who I'm talking to. They wouldn't know how or care really. Now that I think about it, I'm sure some of my conversations were logged by more savvy people.

Really, I think the "know how or care" reason is why I don't expect logging.

posted by puke & cry 17 December | 11:50

I log all my convos, but oddly enough, I don't think about the fact that I might be logged as well when I'm chatting. Odd, innit?

posted by TrishaLynn 17 December | 12:24

My client logs by default, but I never have occasion to go back and read the logs. I only do it because at times in the past I've wanted either to save a record of memorable conversations or settle a disagreement. By the same token, I expect to be logged, but not to have the logs used or published.

posted by rebirtha 17 December | 12:33

Yeah, mine logs by default. It's not like I'm talking to the governor or planning subversive acts, though, so I've never worried about it. Occasionally it comes in handy when someone gives me a phone number or something and I forget it.

posted by selfnoise 17 December | 12:37

I log everything. I go back if I'm looking for something someone said, a URL, or an address. I generally don't hold grudges, though. But since I'm a moderate eideteker, I remember almost everything anyway.

Also, I generally stand behind everything I say in a chat session, unless I'm goofing. If I say something earnestly yet in error, and the other person can't forgive me or let it go, I don't need to know them.

posted by Eideteker 17 December | 13:36

I have no idea if mine is set up to log or not. And I don't care if the conversation is logged.

posted by deborah 17 December | 13:52

I don't use IM. Too much of that "Robe and Wizard Hat" crap.

posted by orthogonality 17 December | 14:31

I log everything. Afterward, I report everything to the Communist Party.

posted by panoptican 17 December | 15:05

I don't log, don't know how to, but wouldn't anyway, I don't know if my contacts log either.

posted by Chimp 17 December | 15:48

Well, in a technical sense, you should always assume you could be monitored -- if that's your concern here. I would expect that what I say could come back to haunt me, especially if I were talking out of school about business or l'amour.

Otherwise, my life is almost an open book.

posted by stilicho 17 December | 18:31

I don't use IM. Too much of that "Robe and Wizard Hat" crap.

once bitten, twice shy, eh, ortho?

posted by Wedge 17 December | 23:41

I log, and I expect that I am being logged.

AOL permanently logs everything that goes through its servers, btw. Not only that, but they've handed said logs over to the FBI on subpoena.

posted by ikkyu2 18 December | 01:02

No one wants to send me instant messages, so there's nothing to log.

But, if I did have friends, I wouldn't log their prattling.

posted by cmonkey 18 December | 13:18

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