you can filter the chat on the right by clickining on the symols on top - maybe its enough.
No its not, there are not enough filter options. If you are in a town for example if your friend is having an important discussion with an NPC and your trying to read along, the chat box will be littered with random NPCs talking.
Even if you go back and read through the messy chat window, or your journal it does not show your friends questions that he asked the npc, only the npcs answers.
