Should @ in referring to some one in comments be changed

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Asked 5 years, 9 months ago

Modified 5 years, 9 months ago

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Suppose I want to refer some person X in comments, I write @X.

Suppose the name of that person is not in English script, it is not clear how to refer that person. Some times it comes automatically when I write @ and some times it does not.

In chat, there is an option saying "reply to this message". It is much easier in that way.

Is it a good idea to change @ to something similar to reply in chat? Is it possible?

edited Nov 29, 2018 at 17:05

Martin Sleziak

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asked Nov 29, 2018 at 16:49

Praphulla Koushik

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$\begingroup$ As far as I know, the users who do not appear in autocomplete are either users who are notified anyway, and from pingable users only some cases which are not used very often, such as pinging an editor or user who closed a question using diamond powers or dupehammer. See also the section Why do some names not appear in the auto-complete box? in the FAQ about comment replies. And maybe also this: Comments @ auto-complete doesn't always appear $\endgroup$
– Martin Sleziak
Commented Nov 29, 2018 at 17:19
1

$\begingroup$ There is also one situation which is not handled ideally in the current system and where something like this could help - namely if several users have the same username. Here is link to the feature request related to this: How to reply to one user among two having same names? $\endgroup$
– Martin Sleziak
Commented Nov 29, 2018 at 17:20
1

$\begingroup$ BTW here are some feature request on the main meta which seem (at least to me) somewhat similar to your suggestion. Both of them are marked (status-declined). Add “Reply” link to comment that pre-populates comment box with @username and Let's make it easier to reply within comments! $\endgroup$
– Martin Sleziak
Commented Nov 29, 2018 at 17:25
3

$\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak The autocomplete does not exist at all on mobile devices, which are coincidentally also the devices where manually copying and pasting a user name is a royal PITA. $\endgroup$
– Emil Jeřábek
Commented Nov 29, 2018 at 18:21
1

$\begingroup$ @EmilJeřábek I was not aware of that. (I have never used any SE site on a mobile device.) I will just add a link to Meta StackExchange where this is documented and some related posts can be found: Add the comments @ auto-complete to mobile theme. Among the linked posts, this one seem the most closely related to the question at hand: @Replying to non-alphanumeric usernames $\endgroup$
– Martin Sleziak
Commented Nov 29, 2018 at 18:27

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