I think the chat history window should be open by default on new installations. Once closed manually, then it would need to be manually reopened. (Would be nice if it stuck across sessions -- I like to keep mine open all the time.) It's tough to keep track of who's saying what, especially in the Welcome Area, and most new residents, if anything like myself, are too busy trying to keep up with the conversation to do much looking around at the various menu options to even know there *is* a chat history window.
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