28 Jun
2025
28 Jun
'25
10:15 p.m.
I've seen some IM platforms (namely Revolt and Guilded) have the ability to let the
user reference multiple messages in a single reply, which might be a useful feature. I
think with the XEP as it currently is, it could be fairly simple to add support for this
feature.
I think an addition like this would be good.
"""
Section 3.2 - Multi-Message Replies
A user may want to reply to multiple messages with a single message. This can be done by
including many reply elements. Ordering is important, so the reply element MUST include an
"arrangement" attribute that counts up from 0, with 0 being displayed at the top
in the client UI.
EXAMPLE 5. Yuri replies to both Max's and Anna's messages in a MUC.
```
<message to='knightsguild(a)muc.example.org'
from='knightsguild(a)muc.example.org/anna' id='groupchat-id1'
type='groupchat'>
<stanza-id xmlns='urn:xmpp:sid:0' id='groupchat-id1' />
<body>A fort will keep us safe!</body>
</message>
<message to='knightsguild(a)muc.example.org'
from='knightsguild(a)muc.example.org/max' id='groupchat-id2'
type='groupchat'>
<stanza-id xmlns='urn:xmpp:sid:0' id='groupchat-id2' />
<body>Adoring blue flags for style!</body>
</message>
<message to='knightsguild(a)muc.example.org'
from='knightsguild(a)muc.example.org/yuri' id='groupchat-id3'
type='groupchat'>
<stanza-id xmlns='urn:xmpp:sid:0' id='groupchat-id3' />
<body>Excellent ideas! Let's get right to it!</body>
<reply to='knightsguild(a)muc.example.org/anna' id='groupchat-id1'
arrangement='0' xmlns='urn:xmpp:reply:0' /><reply
to='knightsguild(a)muc.example.org/max' id='groupchat-id2'
arrangement='1' xmlns='urn:xmpp:reply:0' />
</message>
```
A fallback for this would work in the same way as the previous section, the main
difference is that the fallback would include all referenced messages.
"""
I think it also might be worth considering having some kind of limiter in how many
messages can be referenced by one reply - perhaps MUCs that advertise support for replies
could indicate in a data form how many references may be one message, and if clients
don't self-enforce this, then the MUC could throw a policy violation error and drop
the message.