Adding linkage (Not a link) to user when using @ tag [duplicate]

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Closed 14 years ago.

Possible Duplicate:
Change of name across all the site (including @reply comments)

It would be great if there were some markdown which would automatically link to the user when using the @ tag as sometimes people change their usernames.

Note this is independent of creating a physical link as mentioned in these posts:

• @ comments should link to the named person's profile (like twitter)
• Link @ to usernames

• M. Tibbits: In other words, using [user:164452] for instead of @Jacob to notify you?
• Jacob Eggers: @Tibbits I mean stackexchange would replace @Tibbits with [user:152009] but show @M. Tibbits and change it when you changed your username to just Tibbits. Notifications would be up to you.
• slhck: (Declined) Duplicates: @<name> comments should link to the named person's profile (like twitter), Link @ to usernames,
• Jacob Eggers: @slhck. This is not a duplicate of the above ^^. His primary desire was that a link be created. My primary desire is that the name be linked in case the username is changed.
• slhck: But that'd require the name to be linked in the first place, would it? The reason it was declined is that > Adding another link to comments would make them even noisier than they already are. (Jeff) -- I know what you're saying, but those two are dependent on each other.
• Arjan: Indeed, a dupe, as some linking is required even when not visibly/actually linking when rendering. (Like when replacing @slh with [user:159624] in the database, which would then show the current username when rendering, with or without an actual link.)
• Jacob Eggers: @slhck. It doesn't need to have a physical link as far as I'm concerned. It could just update the @username when a change is made to the username. They are different features and should be treated differently.
• slhck: Then the best way would be to phrase it differently, explicitly say you don't want a publicly linked username, and elaborate a bit on why it would be useful. Then, flag for a moderator to reopen.
• Jacob Eggers: @Arjan how is that a duplicate? A url link is not the same thing as database link.
• Arjan: All is handled in the other question (and in many others).
• Arjan: Very well, a dupe of Change of name across all the site (including @reply comments) then.
• Jacob Eggers: @Arjan. yes it is a duplicate of that post.

Answer 1

From what I gather, many of the occurrences of @-notifications are undesirable - so much so that comments in which it can be fully determined that the notification is redundant, it is removed automatically.

For this reason, I don't think @-notifications are something SE want to advocate with extra features. They are a means to an end as is: providing a point of tracking. As for the argument of user names changing over time, this is a consequence, yes, but comments aren't held in highest regard for the benefit of the content anyway.

• Arjan: For cases where one can fully determine who's being replied to, there wouldn't be a need to change the (removed) @mention when the user changes their name. For all other cases: changed names cause pollution too!