5 ms·

Keeping a long history is almost always a bad idea because something you have written a year ago and have forgotten can be used against you. Keeping messages fo

Keeping a long history is almost always a bad idea because something you have written a year ago and have forgotten can be used against you. Keeping messages for just about a week is much better idea.

skyyler 8y ago
For you. Some people like having records.
- mbesto 8y ago
  Which is why we have other communication channels for that type of thing. Instant messaging should be ephemeral.
  - mcculley 8y ago
    Why should it matter which medium is used? I have some conversations I want to keep forever. Some I treat as ephemeral. This should be a per-conversation setting.
davchana 8y ago
Not always, I have my emails on Gmail since 2010 & WhatsApp chats since beginning and through multiple device changes.
dvdgsng 8y ago
Reading old IRC or ICQ logs from 2001 can be quite fun though, brings back some memories.
- mruts 8y ago
  Mine got me interviewed by the FBI. So there are some downsides :p
  - StyloBill 8y ago
    I'd love to know more about this story! Care to elaborate?
    - mruts 8y ago
      Fortunately my name isn't associated with this HN account. So I suppose I can comment about the situation. Me and a bunch of other people met online and talked about programming, hacking, etc. All of us were teenagers at the time. One of the people, who I considered a good friend, turned out to be this guy: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-identifies-suspect-in-major-leak-of-cia-hacking-tools/2018/05/15/5d5ef3f8-5865-11e8-8836-a4a123c359ab_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-id... They found the logs of our IRC conversations over a period of 5 years and found a bunch of incriminating stuff (just teenagers shooting the shit, trashing people, and talking about hacking and stuff)
      - tgragnato 8y ago
        EDIT: domain removed It's unpleasant to know a bunch of people read your private stuff. TBH, the username is pretty similar
- fernandotakai 8y ago
  my group of friends have a 4 year old telegram group chat. i downloaded all the history, put it into a markov chain library and now we have a bot that can generate random phrases (some, absurdly hilarious) based on our own conversations.
  - newscracker 8y ago
    Sounds interesting. Is your bot available for others to use (source or orherwise)?
newscracker 8y ago
I partially agree with you on the point that we should be cautious with not storing any and all communications "forever", but messages among friends, relatives, etc., and on groups focused on specific topics can be very nice to look back on (or even get inspired by). The same goes for photos shared in the past too.

skyyler 8y ago

For you. Some people like having records.

mbesto 8y ago
Which is why we have other communication channels for that type of thing. Instant messaging should be ephemeral.
- mcculley 8y ago
  Why should it matter which medium is used? I have some conversations I want to keep forever. Some I treat as ephemeral. This should be a per-conversation setting.

davchana 8y ago

Not always, I have my emails on Gmail since 2010 & WhatsApp chats since beginning and through multiple device changes.

dvdgsng 8y ago

Reading old IRC or ICQ logs from 2001 can be quite fun though, brings back some memories.

mruts 8y ago
Mine got me interviewed by the FBI. So there are some downsides :p
- StyloBill 8y ago
  I'd love to know more about this story! Care to elaborate?
  - mruts 8y ago
    Fortunately my name isn't associated with this HN account. So I suppose I can comment about the situation. Me and a bunch of other people met online and talked about programming, hacking, etc. All of us were teenagers at the time. One of the people, who I considered a good friend, turned out to be this guy: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-identifies-suspect-in-major-leak-of-cia-hacking-tools/2018/05/15/5d5ef3f8-5865-11e8-8836-a4a123c359ab_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-id... They found the logs of our IRC conversations over a period of 5 years and found a bunch of incriminating stuff (just teenagers shooting the shit, trashing people, and talking about hacking and stuff)
    - tgragnato 8y ago
      EDIT: domain removed It's unpleasant to know a bunch of people read your private stuff. TBH, the username is pretty similar
fernandotakai 8y ago
my group of friends have a 4 year old telegram group chat. i downloaded all the history, put it into a markov chain library and now we have a bot that can generate random phrases (some, absurdly hilarious) based on our own conversations.
- newscracker 8y ago
  Sounds interesting. Is your bot available for others to use (source or orherwise)?

newscracker 8y ago

I partially agree with you on the point that we should be cautious with not storing any and all communications "forever", but messages among friends, relatives, etc., and on groups focused on specific topics can be very nice to look back on (or even get inspired by). The same goes for photos shared in the past too.