Zero width space character is breaking messages with UTF-8 characters in nickname in simple mode

[ynerant]

My nickname starts with a ÿ, and the ZERO WIDTH SPACE character that is added between the first and the second characters in the nickname in simple mode:

<Ãâ  ¿nérant#0719> plop

This also breaks UTF-8 characters in the content of the message.

I suggest to remove the U+200B character (it is working without it), why is it needed?

[llmII]

The zero width space is probably used to keep from highlighting and notifying. I remember seeing it inserted for @everyone and such so I know it's at least in use to prevent highlighting on Discord side but wouldn't surprise me if it's also used to prevent accidental IRC nick highlights too.

[qaisjp]

The zwsp is to prevent self-tagging on the IRC side.

I don't think it's used on the discord side.

The correct fix would be to, when modifying, "process" the nickname as a utf8 string instead of a plain sequence of bytes. This should be an easy fix.

Useful pre-reading for whoever wants to fix this: https://blog.golang.org/strings