this is a bit offtopic, but i think it's related to the discussion here:
IMO, nick names should:
- Begin with a non-space character (maybe only with a letter or digit
- Contain only (english) letters (A..Z, a..z), digits (0..9) and a very reduced set of signs (maybe only these: +-_.,
- Be at least 2 characters long (maybe only 1? that's weird for a nick)
- Have no more than X characters (where X = 20? 25? 30?)
- Have at least one space every X characters (X = 10?), to avoid that long nicks mess the layout of the forums (for example that PiratesOfTheCaribbean (no offence, fraisie))
- Not have 2 or more spaces one next to the other, to not confuse "This is my nick" with "This is my nick")
- and, of course, the nicks would be stored case sensitive, but there wouldn't be 2 users with the same nick without caring about the case (<- thi is like it's now)