Tracking interactive text-message communications

An article of manufacture, comprising:

• a computer readable tangible storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, the computer readable program code comprising instructions for execution by a processing unit that cause the processing unit to:
• present a real-time interactive communication system message entry interface to a first user that displays in real-time a plurality of chat or instant message text messages of a conversation with a second user comprising outgoing messages from the first user and incoming messages from a second user in reply to the outgoing text messages by displaying each new message immediately after a most recent previous outgoing or incoming message in one chat or instant message window, wherein each of the messages comprise a plurality of discrete message text items;
• in response to detecting an entry of a character combination text string comprising a unique text item term by the first user via a text entry routine into a portion of one of the outgoing messages from the first user, create a question tracking thread for the outgoing message portion, the question tracking thread comprising the character combination text string, a query message timestamp, question text, second user identification data, an answered status initialized to unanswered, and a reply message answer field, and send the outgoing message portion comprising the character combination text string to the second user through a communication medium;
• and
• update the created question tracking thread by entering answer text into the reply message answer field and setting the answered status to answered in response to receiving a reply text message comprising a text dialog box entry of the answer text that is sent back to the first user by the second user and that is linked by to the outgoing message portion comprising the character combination text string sent to the second user.

A system, comprising:

• a processing unit;
• a memory in circuit communication with the processing unit;
• a computer-readable storage medium in circuit communication with the processing unit;
• and
• a network interface in circuit communication with the processing unit;
• wherein the processing unit executes program instructions stored on the computer-readable storage medium via the computer readable memory and thereby:
• presents a real-time interactive communication system message entry interface to a first user that displays in real-time a plurality of chat or instant message text messages of a conversation with a second user comprising outgoing messages from the first user and incoming messages from a second user in reply to the outgoing text messages by displaying each new message immediately after a most recent previous outgoing or incoming message in one chat or instant message window, wherein each of the messages comprise a plurality of discrete message text items;
• in response to detecting an entry of a character combination text string comprising a unique text item term by the first user via a text entry routine into a portion of one of the outgoing messages from the first user, creates a question tracking thread for the outgoing message portion, the question tracking thread comprising the character combination text string, a query message timestamp, question text, second user identification data, an answered status initialized to unanswered, and a reply message answer field, and sends the outgoing message portion comprising the character combination text string to the second user through a communication medium;
• and
• updates the created question tracking thread by entering answer text into the reply message answer field and setting the answered status to answered in response to receiving a reply text message comprising a text dialog box entry of the answer text that is sent back to the first user by the second user and that is linked by to the outgoing message portion comprising the character combination text string sent to the second user.