@ syntax as a synonym for user name=

[deborah]

Title:
@ syntax as a synonym for user name=

Area:
Entries

Summary:
In an entry, if someone types "@[string]" (more specifically, something like "(^|\s)@[legal characters in usernames]*\b), check to see if that's a username at posting time. If so, translate it internally to <user name="> syntax.

Description:
This would allow users to choose the now-common shorthand of '@username' to indicate users on the local system. This would be taking a design pattern that has become mainstream over the last several years, which users are used due from Tumblr, Slack, Twitter, etc. I'm not suggesting auto complete; there are too many more important pending changes to the post system. I'm also not suggesting a variant for the other-sites functionality of the user element; no @username@twitter, or something. Just a very straightforward replacement. But this would be a nice shorthand that users have become accustomed to.

Poll #20845 @ syntax as a synonym for user name=

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 120

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This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
56 (46.7%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
39 (32.5%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
14 (11.7%)

(I have no opinion)
10 (8.3%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (0.8%)

Comments

[silveradept]

I am fine with @ staying in Markdown-land rather than becoming a site-wide convention, or with it jumping in to general site-wide use.

If @ becomes more widely acceptable, or even becomes more used in the Markdown department, I'm leaning toward an implementation that allows for a user name and a domain that goes with it, because I'm trying to think of how it might be possible, for example, to gather the right user masthead for a Mastodon or other federated instance to indicate that it's Mastodon-as a service and also generate a correct link to the right user on that instance, since MAstodon doesn't have a central server idea like Twitter, tumblr, or Dreamwidth. If it's technically feasible to pull off this particular bit of wizardry, then @ syntax seems to have a possibility for doing all the things I would expect it to be used for.