Chat log

A chat log is an archive of transcripts from online chat and instant messaging conversations. Many chat or IM applications allow for the client-side archiving of online chat conversations, while a subset of chat or IM clients (i.e., Google Talk and Yahoo! Messenger 11 Beta) allow for the saving of chat archives on a server for future retrieval. Most IRC clients and many IRC bots include chat logging to a local file as a standard feature.

Web sites exist that publish chat logs, usually dedicated to a single channel and including a search engine. This can conflict with users' expectations of privacy. Some IRC networks have published guidelines on making chat logs public. Due to their real time nature, chat logs may be used to identify anonymous users by correlating information posted on different mediums.

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