Parley Chat Updates Mention Logic for Federated Nicks

Addressing Unintended Notifications

Parley, a federated chat platform, has implemented a change to its mention notification system. Previously, if multiple users shared the same nickname across different instances within a channel, a mention of that nickname would trigger notifications for all users, regardless of the sender's specific intent. For example, a mention like "bob:bar.com: lunch?" from foo.com would notify both 'bob' on bar.com and 'bob' on foo.com.

Revised Mention Interpretation

The updated logic now interprets mentions based on how the sender's client displayed the name. A qualified nickname, such as "bob:bar.com" or "bob@bar.com", will specifically target the user 'bob' on the 'bar.com' instance. A bare nickname, like "bob", will only target the user 'bob' if they are on the sender's local instance. This ensures that notifications are delivered only to the intended recipient.

Technical Implementation and Testing

The change involves modifying how the system's `namesAccount` function processes nicknames and how `pushConsidered` reads peer information. New integration tests, such as `TestOnlyTheBobThatWasMeantIsPushed`, were added to verify the correct behavior, confirming that notifications are pushed only to the specifically named 'bob'. Existing tests were also checked, and documentation was updated to reflect the new protocol behavior.

Impact on User Experience

This update resolves an issue where users received irrelevant notifications due to ambiguous nickname mentions in a federated environment. The change ensures more precise communication within Parley channels, particularly in scenarios involving shared nicknames across different instances, by aligning notification delivery with the sender's explicit targeting.