"J.P." <jp@neverwas.me> writes:

>>> Unfortunately, the best we can do for ERC 5.5 (Emacs 29) is to mention
>>> somewhere, like in (info "(erc) Network Identifier"), that users really
>>> worried about this issue should choose an `:id' containing characters
>>> disallowed in nicks by their network (or just something improbable and
>>> unlikely to be guessed). But, hopefully, we can address this in a more
>>> DWIM-like fashion in an upcoming ELPA release, such as ERC 5.6.
>>
>> Hopefully won't be an issue for most people, although it might be not
>> that uncommon for this kind of service/bot/proxy ircd's to also use
>> their name for messaging user with any kind of service-related info/issues.
>
> Hm, right. That's good to know. I think the key for now is to make
> people aware that they should assign an ID or modify
> `erc-networks-alist' if they find themselves in a similar boat. Most
> folks just connecting to a public network should be safe because those
> NETWORKs are mostly titlecase and/or contain a dot. But, in the long
> run, I'd definitely like the default behavior to account for this
> possibility.

Actually, an egregious oversight has come to light that makes this a
more general (and more pressing) matter relevant to Emacs 29. Currently,
renaming queries fails if *any* buffer, even a non-ERC buffer, exists
whose name matches that of the target in question. And, AFAICT, no
amount of :id or options twiddling can serve as a workaround. (If this
is what you've been getting at this whole time, then apologies: I'm
rather thick headed, if you haven't noticed.)

Anyhow, I have attempted to address this in the attached patch. If you
or anyone out there is willing, please install it locally atop the
current lisp/erc subtree on the emacs-29 branch and see if you can break
it. Thanks in advance!