But this issue with /msg is part of a bigger picture, for /msg it's ok, there are others commands to send a message. The problem is building script around $nick and such. An update of IRC to allow for nickname starting with a number would lead to scripts breaking, stuff like $nick() takes a nickname or a number for the same parameter.
I've written thousand of quick 'nick registration/login' systems for picture games in mIRC, where you don't rely on $me but on something entered by the user via $input or something, if you are not aware of this problem and validate a nick such as 0nick, you'll get in troubles, easily.
To me, the script language relies on nickname not starting with digit and not starting with a dash, so with that in mind and for consistency, "/msg -nick message" should be interpreted as switches and return an error.
