Re: rcirc changes

[Miles Bader]

On 2/15/06, Ryan Yeske <address@hidden> wrote:
> After running with your installed changes, I realize I don't really
> like this particular feature (earlier I said "I like it" after only
> reading the patch, not running it, sorry).  It breaks nick-completion
> (you still complete the underlying nicks, not abbrev) and it doesn't
> deal with nick changes which are abbreviated.  It seems like this is
> adding a feature to solve a local problem... if your own nick is too
> long, then you can just change it, can't you?

That's the whole point, it changes the _presentation_ in a particular
context, not the nick itself.  In one particular context -- the nicks
inserted into the log with each message -- they are used so incredibly
often, that otherwise acceptable nicks can become very annoying.  In
that sense, it doesn't break completion or whatever, because what are
inserted into the log when this feature is used are _not nicks_, they
are abbreviations for nicks.  [I've actually used this to map
different nicks (the same person on different IM servers) to the same
name when inserted into the log.]

As for whether I can "just change my nick", no I don't seem to be able
to without actually changing my global IM name, and that is not
something to be done lightly (i.e., I won't).  Most IM clients seem to
have this sort of "local name" feature (which changes the printed form
of the name, but not the name used in more formal contexts) for
exactly the same reason.  Ihe IM translator I use with rcirc, Bitlbee,
has a local rename feature, but (1) it doesn't seem to work on _my_
name, and (2) it apparently can't handle ambiguous names.

Anyway, if you take it out, I'm going to have to add it back in my
local copy, and patches like that are a pain to maintain, so I'd
really rather you didn't; if you can think of some better method that
will accomplish what I want, that would be great, of course...

One possibility would be to make the "abbreviated" form have it's own
format letter in rcirc-format-response-string; for instance, %n would
print the real nick, and %a would print the abbreviated nick; this
would at least allow a bit more control.

-Miles
--
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.