What is the point of keeping IM logs?

[kranky]

I'm trying to understand why people want to keep logs of their IMs. The ones I have seen posted here, which I guess were supposed to be worthy of posting, don't seem particularly funny or interesting.

And when someone else gets hold of them, unhappiness ensues.

So why keep them at all?

 

[daveymark]

i use them when daytrading, my brother and I use IM for communication when we see a trade lining up, then we can go back and analyse how the trade occured. It's pretty convenient also if I get an IM but I'm not at the computer, sometimes I won't check my IMs, but I can check the log to see if anyone left me a message.

 

[rh71]

I've gotten good use from them when I link a page to someone and later need to retrieve the same link. Also, times and dates help too. I only use it to my advantage - why would it hurt others if they're the ones who meant to say it ?

Trillian does a good job with a modifiable buffer so the history (however far back you want it) appears when you start a new chat.

 

[Shelly21]

it's useful, i'd use it to catch cheaters.

 

[LordJezo]

Originally posted by: Shelly21
it's useful, i'd use it to catch cheaters.

Exactly. Which is why all males should turn off logging as soon as they can and never use IM on a PC with logging.

 

[Viper GTS]

Most people are probably:

1) Unaware that their conversations are logged OR
2) Too technically inept to turn it off if they do know

I personally don't care, I frequently need data from logs so I leave it turned on. I don't have anything to hide, although I wouldn't particularly want someone reading through my conversations - It would be about like someone listening in on my phone calls.

Viper GTS

 

[Aharami]

aim has im logs?! i didnt know this. how do i activate it?

edit: just so i dont come off as a tech retard, i know IM clients like DEADAIM has IM logs. but i didnt know AIM itself has the ability to log ims

 

[StageLeft]

I don't keep them.

 

[JoPh]

i use them to look for number emails etc that i missed.

aslo i use them to prove people wrong when they say they didnt say something

 

[godspeedx]

Me neither.

 

[Bassyhead]

i dont have anything to hide. sometimes i forget something someone said and look it up in a log.

 

[ojai00]

Originally posted by: LordJezo

Originally posted by: Shelly21
it's useful, i'd use it to catch cheaters.

Exactly. Which is why all males should turn off logging as soon as they can and never use IM on a PC with logging.

Or maybe the males should just not cheat.

 

[Shelly21]

Originally posted by: JoPh
i use them to look for number emails etc that i missed.

aslo i use them to prove people wrong when they say they didnt say something

It's like having your own personal stenographer.

 

[nageov3t]

I keep logs. Not every conversation, but if I have a particularly good convo, I'll save it... a few years down the road, I'll be able to open them up and relive the memories

 

[Balt]

Once every year or so I look back at my IM logs, and they are usually good for a few laughs. It's also amusing to see how my personality back then was different from my personality now. Sometimes it's very apparent.

If someone wanted to read them, I honestly don't think I'd care (but I don't have an SO at the moment either).

 

[Scarpozzi]

I have DeadAIM and it was a feature that was automatically enabled. I do like it cause if someone sends me an Email address or phone number or something else I'd normally have to scribble down on paper, I can simply bring up the logs and scribble it down later.

 

[ElFenix]

show people that they actually said what i claim they said

 

[Legendary]

It remembers conversations that I don't have the mental capacity to remember at the time of said conversations.
Basically, it's useful for reading drunken conversations the next day.

 

[GoldenGuppy]

IM logs have gotten me in trouble with some friends... no not cheating or anything brutal... but yeah, I'm not the biggest fan of it because I just simply forget to watch my typing sometimes!!

><GG)

 

[Abhi]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
show people that they actually said what i claim they said