If this feature (i.e. notifying user in Q&A body content by "@Username") is NOT implemented, then (IMHO) it should not be allowed at all to write @Username because:

• If the user pointed to by @Username changes their username or deletes their account, then the @Username will not be relevant (because it is not dynamically linked to the real username).
• In the event of account deletion, this could lead to breaches of confidentiality.

Proposal

When clicking the blue "Save post to Q&A" button, if a "@Username" is detected in the text body of the Q&A post, then the post is not allowed to be published and a warning is displayed (like when an image with no alt text is given) stating that notifying a user by @Username is not allowed in Q&A posts (only in comments).

Publication of the post could still be allowed if the @Username is not a valid username existing in the user database. But in this case, a warning message could still be displayed explaining that it is not recommended to use @Username in the body of questions and answers (see the Bonus section below).

Bonus

This solution also provides a way to create a kind of "general recommendation" about how to quote the author of a comment or Q&A, as some explanations can be added to the warning message, for e.g.:

Please use links to quote a comment or post without explicitly writing the name of the author. See this post [link to post] for more details.

Possible issues

A possible issue is the fact that sometimes one will want to use the @Username syntax intentionally, for example. to explain something on Meta. Then it might be nice to be able to "escape" the automatic @Username detection. For e.g. by inserting a character before like \@ or something.

But, if the @Username doesn't point to an existing username, then we can still use @Username so it's kind of an escape (if a non-existing username is find).

posted 10 months ago

CC BY-SA 4.0

10mo ago

zetyty‭

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