# What does the Buddy List do?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-buddy-list-do/231147>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [February 25, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-buddy-list-do/231147 "2004-02-25T18:25:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-buddy-list-do/231147/1 "2004-02-25T18:25:50Z")

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I believe I know what the ignore list does, but what does the buddy list do?

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**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-buddy-list-do/231147/2 "2004-02-26T00:08:16Z")

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It conveniently lets you see if certain people are online, and send them private messages. Except, it doesn’t let you send them private messages.