Mention Function/System

Is there any possibility of adding a mention system to this forum? Some people I've talked to this about didn't know what it is so i'll try to explain. First of all it isn't quoting in any way. It has nothing to do with me taking information from a post and adding it to my post. Its more like me using the "@" with another users name like "Wanderlust Warrior". What it does is it sends that user a notification like the private message system does but would redirect him or her to my post. So lets say if Wanderlust and I are having a conversation in a thread and 3 new pages come up that have nothing to do with our conversation comes up that nothing to do with what we were talking about or someone else joins in. I can just @, Wander and this new guy and continue our conversation without having to search through those old pages. Another case say a new thread pops up that someone I know may be interested in or I have an announcement for some people. I could just mention that person who would be interested in the thread or make a mention list and just mention those people so they won't have to search for my post or be notified by me one by one.

Technical issues aside (we have one coder and he has a day job), the main objection to this is that we are trying to avoid becoming a social media site like Facebook. As enjoyable as the forums are for many people, they are not the reason that we are here. We are here for the tropes.

You could achieve something like this with a tailored Google search, anyway. Use "inurl:posts.php" with your handle in the search box. 'Raigas' isn't so common a handle that you'd trip over ordinary language.

edited 18th Mar '14 11:57:46 AM by Fighteer

Well, I can see how it would have some utility beyond the social thing. I'm reading this as a notification system to bring a given post to the attention of certain individuals. I think we'd have to limit the number of people being notified, because there are bound to be some people who think that any post they make MUST be brought to the attention of all of the 100's of thousands of tropers.

Maybe a limit of 3 notifications per post, say.

Let me see what I can come up with. The @ is already used to create a link to the troper's page, so a different markup would be needed.

Any reason the @ markup couldn't pull double-duty?

We wouldn't want to send a notification every time someone's name is mentioned. That would become annoying instantly.

Okay, this is implemented. You can have up to three notification targets. You put a tilde in front of the handle and end the list with at least one character (space, comma, period... makes no difference).

edited 20th Apr '14 2:35:42 PM by FastEddie

Like this? ÞTropers/FastEddie?

Test: ~Fast Eddie.

Edit: Okay, the tilde interacts oddly with the [= markup, but anyway...

Test: ~Discar.

Well, I'm not getting anything, so either it doesn't work on yourself or I'm formatting it wrong.

edited 20th Apr '14 1:42:38 PM by Discar

Leave off the @ or Tropers/, whichever you use.

edited 20th Apr '14 2:38:05 PM by FastEddie

~Fast Eddie.

~Discar.

Still not getting a notification, though again, maybe that's just because I'm doing it to myself. Where would it show up, anyway? The PM screen?

edited 20th Apr '14 3:13:38 PM by Discar

~Irene

Let's see if putting nothing by it works...

Yep! Don't put any actual coding in. Just a tilde and your exact name as it's written. I presume avoiding a Wiki Word case too.

edited 20th Apr '14 3:17:39 PM by Irene

What about two-part names such as mine?

~Discar.

Yep, that works. Septimus, tell me if you get anything here:

~Septimus Heap.

edited 20th Apr '14 3:28:12 PM by Discar

Nope.

Let me try this;

~SeptimusHeap

I tried de-Wiki Wording it.

edited 20th Apr '14 3:30:45 PM by Irene

Hey ummm, I hate to ask but is there any way to make it triger with a combination of ~ and @

I know alot of people that use ~ to indicate a playful tone, myself included. and it is causing them to send a large amount of unintended P Ms to people who may or may not exist.

Combining it with @ would prevent accidental triggering, and make it a bit clearer its going to a person.

Sorry.

Wait, so Irene~ causes that too? Maybe make it at the start of the actual word only?

Friend of mine showed me last night it's occurring for every word he puts a tilde in front of. So yeah, making it a double combination would make it much easier to keep the mention function from triggering unintentionally.

edited 21st Apr '14 7:12:53 AM by Raidouthe21st

Still isn't working at all for my name.

Same for me as well.

Does ~Septimusheap work?

Crazysamaritan, what were you originally logged in as? Upper or Lowercase? I think you need to be Uppercase to receive it. ~crazysamaritan should work then. Or ~Crazysamaritan.

I've noticed you can't Wiki Word it at all. First letter is uppercase, everything else is lowercase. I was able to previous contact myself and Deadbeatloser22 this way with zero issues.

Now, that did work this time.

I can't get it working for my username either

Excellent.

~Sixthhokage1

I wonder if this is due to the fact some have logged in with variations of their first printed username. I know we had that issue back when trying to edit pages.

Huh, it worked there but trying it in the sandbox I can't get it working

...I wonder if you can longer use it contact yourself? One sec.

~Irene

Yep. Disabled for yourself. Try it on me. I think I got this figured out, then.

edited 21st Apr '14 8:03:25 AM by Irene

I tried it with my alt, ~Djpon3, and it didn't work either, ~Irene.

But the alt did just get notified for that

edited 21st Apr '14 8:05:29 AM by Sixthhokage1