[RFC] Ability to @mention specific users in posts

[JoshyPHP]

I don't understand, why would a BBCode be easier? You need custom code to handle the mention, a BBCode doesn't help with that.

[DavidIQ]

Because there isn't a better way of doing it right now without taking into account username variations? I mean I'm sure to you it would simply work by just using:

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@JoshyPHP

Which is fine but what should happen if your name had a space in it?

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 @Joshy PHP

Do we notify user Joshy or user Joshy PHP? A BBCode would handle edge cases like that in the following way:

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[mention]Joshy PHP[/mention]

The BBCode name is obviously up for debate but doesn't matter right now as that would be up to the extension developer to decide if they even want to use a BBCode. Once we have a proper WYSIWYG editor in place this will be much prettier plus even with that you would end up with a BBCode in the background anyways.

[JoshyPHP]

Ok, I didn't take it that way. I was looking at it from a technical standpoint, not in terms of UI. From a purely technical standpoint, there are other ways to match those names without using BBCodes. For example, if you match @foo followed by a space, you can look for usernames that match "foo %" in the database and see if any of those match if you consume a bit more text. That's not what I'd recommend though. If you want to give the user a format that handles spaces and other characters, how about optionally enclosing the username in quotation marks? e.g. @"john doe"

@-mentions are so much easier to use than BBCodes. Whatever other mechanism is implemented to deal with usernames with spaces, I hope that @-mentions will be available. On this board, only 1.6% of usernames contain a space. If I only count those who have posted, that's only 0.48% of all users.

[Mess]

I would add 2 options. One for "normal" usernames and a bbcode solution for the few % which fail.

[DavidIQ]

I would add 2 options. One for "normal" usernames and a bbcode solution for the few % which fail.

That's no good. How do you determine if it will fail? Try one method and if it fails try the other one, by which time a notification has already been created for the failed example? That's not only annoying but confusing so I would say that's a no go.

There might be an auto-complete plugin by jQuery that might work for this though and won't need the WYSIWYG editor so that as one types the "@" without any text before it and follows it with letters or numbers one can select from a list and the user gets inserted. Would be kind of like Facebook does it I guess.

[leschek]

I would like to be able to mention user in this way:

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[mention=Joshy PHP]Joshy PHP[/mention]

In this case the important part is in [mention=Joshy PHP] and user can write anything between the tags. (e.g. [mention=Joshy PHP]Joshy[/mention])

Maybe it could work in similar way as Magic Links, so user could write [mention=Joshy PHP]Joshy PHP[/mention] or [mention]Joshy PHP[/mention].

I would prefer not to use character @, because in some languages it is not part of default keyboard, so user has to switch to En keyboard (if he/she has it installed), then write @ and switch back to first language again to finish post.

[JoshyPHP]

Is there really a keyboard/layout that cannot create an at-sign? If you can't make it with Shift, try AltGr. If there is such a keyboard, is it really easier to create two pairs of brackets?

[leschek]

Well at least Czech keyboard doesn't have at-sign (our alphabet has more letters than English so we have to use it for another letter).

Neither "Shift" nor "AltGr" works. Writing brackets is as difficult as writing at-sign (I have to switch into En keyboard), but it is easy to click on BBCode button.

Also I would like to use BBCode, because we use declension in names. I wrote about that here.

Not sure if it's possible, but why not make it similar as magic URLs - users would be able to write any of the following forms:

[@=JoshyPHP]Joshy PHP[/@] or [@]Joshy PHP[/@] or @=Joshy PHP

I would be able to click on BBCode and you could write at-sign.

[JoshyPHP]

Well at least Czech keyboard doesn't have at-sign

Have you tried AltGr+V? That's what Wikipedia shows in this image.

it is easy to click on BBCode button

I agree but if you use a button then it doesn't matter what the text looks like, right? Mentions could use an Unicode snowman; It wouldn't change a thing. ☃

Your only concern then is about declension.

[leschek]

Well at least Czech keyboard doesn't have at-sign

Have you tried AltGr+V? That's what Wikipedia shows in this image.

Thank you, it works. I feel kind of stupid now.

it is easy to click on BBCode button

I agree but if you use a button then it doesn't matter what the text looks like, right?

You could write [@=leschek]☃[/@] and I would know you mentioned me (if it will be connected with notifications).

Your only concern then is about declension.

Yes.