ISON/USERHOST

[forcer <forcer@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hmm..
I'm recently thinking through irc client design, and i have a question that
bothers me a bit...
Currently, the clients i checked (ircII and friends, and sirc) all use the
ISON command for a notify list.
While notify lists are inherently "evil" as they cause traffic, i wonder
about using USERHOST instead of ISON.
I understand that ISON is a "light" command in that it doesn't get broadcast
over the net, as the connected server can answer that query.
But i also understand that the reply information in USERHOST (nick, user@host,
away/here, oper status) are also all available to the directly connected
server.
So my question is, can a client use USERHOST instead of ISON for a notify list
without causing more traffic and server usage (the extra time to copy the other
informations should be minimal)?
TIA for replies,
	-forcer

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