[icod1]

Or why you should not use chats but use forums or QA setups.

Use something that can be searched, and doesn't require one to have an account to read the messages and/or search.

[pasc1878]

This is internal to a company - everyone able to access the chat better have and account and use it - you need to be sure who said what.

And setting up search on the chat is not difficult, we had search on chat 25 years ago.

[m_eiman]

Extracting useful information from a chat log is tedious and error prone, though. If it's something that should be saved for later, copy it over to a wiki or some such and edit it suitably.

Chat is ephemeral, treat it as such and everyone's life will be better.

[pasc1878]

Yes if it is useful copy it to a wiki etc.

But how do you get the information first. You have to look at the chat transcript - and in an international company and a problem requiring thought or research the information could be spread over a couple of weeks SO you still need to scan the transcripts.

Yes Chat is ephemeral and I can't think of cases that involved looking back a year but weeks definitely.

Chat id part of the process - if an issue is raised then the solution will be a permanent change, in my case software code changes, or an email summarising the solution for non computer issues, or chnages to documentation (if you are lucky enough to have documentation)

Another example is if you go on vacation for a few weeks the a quick scan of chat is often useful.