On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 10:03 AM, ehird <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > :[EMAIL PROTECTED] PRIVMSG #really-a-cow :This is a test. > :[EMAIL PROTECTED] NICK :foobarbazquux > :[EMAIL PROTECTED] PRIVMSG #really-a-cow :It is certainly a > message, and that is how it is specified in the IRC protocol - just not of > the PRIVMSG kind. It's explicitly sent as a message. That is not metadata. > :[EMAIL PROTECTED] PRIVMSG #really-a-cow :It just so happens > that IRC has different types of messages.
The Public Forum in question is the channel #really-a-cow. According to RFC 1459, NICK messages are not sent to the channel but to the server; the fact that the server relays them to the clients of the users who happen to be in the channel, and that those clients often choose to display them as if they're messages in the channel itself does not mean that the message is sent via the channel and thus via the Public Forum. If you send me an email message with the subject "BUS: whatever" and other appropriate headers, my email client may display it in a thread with public messages; this doesn't mean that the message was sent via the public forum.
