Ftp-WG: Suggestion - blank userid in FTP URLs.

I get a lot of requests from users for the ability to "pop up a user / 
password dialog box".  Obviously, this isn't anything to do with my 
server's implementation which, like other servers, _always_ greets with a 
220, and responds to a USER command by asking for a PASS command.  On a 
little investigation, it turns out to be a direct result of the FTP URLs (a 
pain in themselves), and the fact that there is currently no generic URL to 
say that the browser's user must be prompted for user name and password.

I've given this only light consideration, and wonder if something like 
"ftp://@sitename" or "ftp://:@sitename" might be a good start - or perhaps 
"ftp://?@sitename".  The first two obviously conflict with RFC 1739's 
statement that these specify an empty username and/or password.  The second 
requires, essentially, that no user on any FTP server have the name "?", or 
that it should be escaped, something that potentially could cause 
backwards-compatibility issues.

So, since these have some problems, can anyone suggest a form of generic 
FTP URL that could be used to say that the browser must ask its user for a 
name as well as a password?  Or are the problems I've described simply too 
insignificant, and one of the above should be adopted?

Alun.
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