Controlling active and passive participation in a thread of conversation

摘要

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to instant messaging and persistent chats and provide a method, system and computer program product for controlling active and passive participation among participants in a thread of conversation in an instant messaging session or persistent chat. In one embodiment of the invention, a method for controlling active and passive participation among participants in a thread of conversation can be provided. The method can include creating a thread of conversation in a messaging system, adding participants to the thread, classifying the participants as one of either active or passive, and permitting only those participants classified as active participants to post to the thread while providing merely a view of the thread to the passive participants.