While the fourth step should be clear from the foregoing text and the third step is necessary since XMPP addresses are not URIs, the meaning of the first and second steps may not be obvious.
Regarding step one, many non-XMPP messaging systems use URIs to identify addresses (examples include the mailto:, sip:, sips:, im:, pres:, and wv: URI schemes) or otherwise encode an identifier (e.g., an LDAP distinguished name). Before transforming an address or identifier into a JID, it MUST first be decoded according the rules specified for that type of address or identifier in order to ensure that the proper characters are transformed.
-Regarding step two, it is possible for some non-XMPP addresses to contain strings that correspond to JID-escaped characters (e.g., "\27"). Consider a Wireless Village address of <wv:\3and\2is\5@example.com> -- if that addresses were directly converted into a JID, the resulting XMPP address would be \3and\2is\5@example.com, which could be construed as :nd\2is\5@example.com if JID escaping logic is applied. Therefore the leading \ character MUST be converted to the string "\5c" during the transformation, leading to a JID of \5c3and\2is\5@example.com (which would be presented to a human user as \3and\2is\5@example.com). Escaping of the backslash character before two hexhex characters MUST NOT be performed if the string is "\5c", only if the string corresponds to the encoded representation of he disallowed characters.
+Regarding step two, it is possible for some non-XMPP addresses to contain strings that correspond to JID-escaped characters (e.g., "\27"). Consider a Wireless Village address of <wv:\3and\2is\5@example.com> -- if that address were directly converted into a JID, the resulting XMPP address would be \3and\2is\5@example.com, which could be construed as :nd\2is\5@example.com if JID escaping logic is applied. Therefore the leading \ character MUST be converted to the string "\5c" during the transformation, leading to a JID of \5c3and\2is\5@example.com (which would be presented to a human user as \3and\2is\5@example.com). Escaping of the backslash character before two hexhex characters MUST NOT be performed if the string is "\5c", only if the string corresponds to the encoded representation of the disallowed characters.
In order to maintain as much backward compatibility as possible, partial escape sequences and escape sequences corresponding to characters not on the list of disallowed characters MUST be ignored.