[Pidgin] #9290: irc: automatic alternative nick should be generated by adding an underscore

[Pidgin]

#9290: irc: automatic alternative nick should be generated by adding an underscore
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 Reporter:  mhaecker     |        Owner:  elb
     Type:  enhancement  |       Status:  new
Milestone:               |    Component:  IRC
  Version:  2.5.6        |   Resolution:     
 Keywords:               |  
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Comment(by elb):

 Replying to [comment:3 mhaecker]:
 > Well if there is no standard with something it is always the best to do
 what most other people do - as uniformity is easier to explain in almost
 all circumstances and therefore makes life much easier for users.

 The problem is that "most" doesn't apply here.  The behavior we have now
 is very similar to the behavior of irssi, which is a very popular client.

 There is no uniformity in this behavior, this argument is specious.

 > If you feel that as a power user this policy does not fit you i can
 relate to that. But then again, perhaps many clients that are based on
 libpurple would like it to behave this way to ease their users life.

 Our behavior has one major advantage over appending _s, which is not
 obvious to many because several popular IRC networks now have very long
 nick limits -- we have 9 alternate nicks in the space of one character.
 Note that freenode, your reference for a server recommending appending
 underscores, is a network which allows very long nicks.

 I truly feel that the current behavior is a technically superior solution,
 and I would have to hear some strong arguments for changing it, which I
 have not so far.  For review, the current behavior is as follows:

 1. Upon setting a nick, look to see what comes back in the nick used
 numeric; if the string coming back is shorter than the nick we chose,
 shorten our nick to the length of the returned nick - 1 char.
 2. If the last digit of the nick is a digit, increment it; if not, append
 a 1 to the nick.  Try again.
 3. If a subsequent nick used message comes back, increment the digit.
 Wrap '9' to '1' if necessary.

 This is certainly both more flexible and more aesthetically pleasing (the
 latter being subjective, I realize) than an ever-increasing tail of
 underscores.

 Ethan

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/9290#comment:4>
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