[RFC] Ability to @mention specific users in posts

[JoshyPHP]

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

No worries. There are lots of characters that can be created with AltGr+Key or AltGr+Shift+Key, they're just not well known.

[jsebean]

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.

Why not do it both ways?
Eg. @Joshy would tag them assuming there is no space, but also include the BBCode tag for people who:
a.) Have a space in their username
b.) Do not have @ symbol on the keyboard.

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

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

+1 for this, though it would still be nice to be able to [mention]Joshy PHP[/mention] for people who don't want to hack around with complex BBCodes.

[omniError]

My thoughts are: the @name syntax should be used for all cases except where it is impossible. For spaces perhaps a solution like @"user name" could be explored. Second, I think the bbcode [mention] is too verbose. Mentions are usually very quickly typed and the proposed bbcode is not, including the one above where you have to type out the name of the person twice! If a bbcode is unavoidable instead try [m]user name[/m].

[Pony99CA]

My thoughts are: the @name syntax should be used for all cases except where it is impossible. For spaces perhaps a solution like @"user name" could be explored. Second, I think the bbcode [mention] is too verbose. Mentions are usually very quickly typed and the proposed bbcode is not, including the one above where you have to type out the name of the person twice! If a bbcode is unavoidable instead try [m]user name[/m].

Presumably there would be a Mention button on the BBCode toolbar, so nobody would have to type it.

Steve

[AmigoJack]

For spaces perhaps a solution like @"user name"

No, quotation marks can be in a username aswell (and no, using ' as delimiters in case a " appears in the name and vice versa is no solution either).

[JoshyPHP]

Come on, "no solution" is a bit of an hyperbole don't you think?

And how is it "no solution" anyway? It does the job with few keystrokes and it mirrors the way quotes work.

[AmigoJack]

how is it "no solution" anyway?

Because it'd still not support a username having both, like Jack's "solution". And this is not only a theoretical case - there are users choosing names based on optical reasons instead of literal ones.

And even now you could already encounter names like [i]m[​/i] which are pretty hard to deal with anyway once you don't want them to get parsed (but the rest of your post).

[JoshyPHP]

But this is very much a theoretical case. phpBB does not allow " in usernames.

[AmigoJack]

True - wasn't aware of that one general limitation. Then " as delimiters are indeed an option.

[[/mention]]

Can we just accept that some usernames aren't mentionable, move on, and use an at sign like every other website ever?