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I've seen several posts where people have commented, and then following comments will reference previous comments by including the username preceded by an @ symbol: @dudeman. I've started doing this too, but...

  1. Is this just an accepted practice or an official way to reference?

  2. I'm not sure how to correctly reference another user when they have a space in their username.

E.g., username with no spaces:

I agree with what @superSmartGuy said, but be careful to...

...username with spaces:

@[dan the man], Thanks for your input. I'm sorry I don't know how to correctly refer to your username with spaces :(

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    typically, if you type "@X" where X is the first char of the name of the poster, there is a pop up to pick from. The "@" assures that the person gets a notice of your comment, not just a practice. May 19, 2014 at 12:47
  • While the displayed name may have spaces, the name used for referencing does not, just as the profile url doesn't include a space - see e.g. here. The easiest way to get the name is to just start typing the first few letters and then using the autocomplete suggestions by pressing tab.
    – l4mpi
    May 19, 2014 at 12:48
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    Rules are here, it's really simple...
    – Mat
    May 19, 2014 at 12:48
  • Perfect, especially the reference to the rules. I'll definitely read through it. The one good thing about stupid questions is that they usually have simple answers. Thanks, guys. May 19, 2014 at 12:52
  • @l4mpi I've read the rules that Mat's provided a link to. However, I'm still not clear on how to differentiate between two users whose nickname are "cuc umber" and "cucum ber". Jun 1, 2014 at 11:55
  • @KonradViltersten Uh, that's a good question... I believe the notification system is somewhat fuzzy, meaning that as long as only one of these users participate in a comment thread, @cucumber should notify them. But as I said, when in doubt the easiest thing to do is to just look at the autocomplete suggestions; so in this case I would type @cu and check what options are provided.
    – l4mpi
    Jun 1, 2014 at 12:09
  • @l4mpi That'd require a question with multiple commenters of the very specific difference in their nicknames. I have no such question (nor can I think of any means to obtain such, except for creating spoofed accounts). My interest was purely academic. Jun 1, 2014 at 12:50
  • @Mat The rules you've linked to are not that simple as one might think. I haven't found any info on how certain name differences are treated. Jun 1, 2014 at 12:51
  • @KonradViltersten: They actually are that simple. If both you and Kondo Dweller posted comments, replying with '@Ko' would offer both names in a hint from which you can choose one (with or without one of them containing a space). Adding a couple of additional letters (e.g., '@Konr`) would specifically select you from the two choices.
    – Ken White
    Jun 6, 2015 at 4:09

2 Answers 2

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Using the information from the comment by @Mat and according to this answer you can do the following to match a name with spaces in an @-reference:

Spaces are removed from the display names for matching purposes. So to match Peter Smith you may use @pet, @peter, @peters, or @petersmith. The last two are useful if Peter Jones is also participating, who can then be distinguished using @peterj. However, no spaces are allowed in the @name itself. Like to notify P Smith, one must use @psm or @psmith. (Here @P Smith would be handled as just @P, which is too short.) Single quotes, dots, dashes and underscores should not be removed.

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    I have a problem with that, Either I got something wrong, either it does not work. See my comments here: Joachim Pileborg does not appear to be notified (or is he ? Because there is no link). Do you know what's wrong ?
    – kebs
    Jan 22, 2016 at 8:58
  • 5
    This still seems to occasionally not work. Tried responding to a comment by [at]Temani Afif in question stackoverflow.com/questions/50344467/… but no matter what I type after the [at], T, Te, Tem, or TemaniAfif or t, te, temaniafif, it doesn't work, even if I copy the actual glyphs of the name and use them
    – clayRay
    May 17, 2018 at 2:42
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    I'm finding the same thing - trying to reference someone with a space in their name, it doesn't bring their name up. Like Ethan Fischer in this question: stackoverflow.com/questions/54431635/… Apr 20, 2020 at 14:46
  • This solution doesn't work for me either
    – armara
    Oct 10, 2020 at 9:39
0

Another trouble with special names: the name can contain special chars, like in "Radosław Wójciak"

I tried to comment referencing the OP in this question which already have a comment by the OP. However no popup is displayed with any amount of chars I inpu, and even if I copy& paste manually his name or just the first part (to avoid a special char in the second part), my comment actually contains no reference at all.

The problem is that both parts contains such special chars, 'ł' in Radosław and 'ó' in Wójciak.

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    Sorry to appear patronising, but is this an answer? Or is it not better placed as a comment or edit to the question?
    – halloleo
    Jun 11, 2015 at 1:11
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    Is there a solution to this problem?
    – crush
    Jun 27, 2017 at 21:11
  • I don't know for sure if it actually works, but in a situation where someone has a space in their name, weird characters, or the situation where their visible name is not the same as their username that links to them I have been doing this. Right click on the name to open their user account in a new tab. Then up in the navigation bar it shows their "actual" name that I think you can use to reference the person. For example, for your account it would be @blas-soriano
    – Odin1806
    May 2, 2019 at 15:56

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