[jdev] XEP 0172 in MUCs

[Thijs Alkemade]

Hello,

As a client developer, I'm a bit confused about how XEP 0172 (User Nickname) is intended to be used with MUCs. From the XEP:

"A user MAY specify his or her persistent nickname as well. This may be desirable because the user's preferred room nickname is already taken or because the service "locks down" room nicknames."

So should a client should interpret the XEP-0172 nickname as a replacement for the MUC-nickname? This could lead to confusing situations with the same nick being used multiple times. If the service locks down room nicknames, then it supposedly has a good reason for that, and implementing a way to circumvent that sounds like a bad idea.

The reason I'm asking this is because Google Talk (the web interface) uses, for ad-hoc private group chats, random strings as room nicks, and then sends the user's real name as a <nick> element. I think all users would rather see the real name instead of the random string, but I'm worried about the implications of changing this. I've read the Security Considerations of XEP-0172, but I don't think that really answers this.

Regards,
Thijs