manton
manton

For replies, Mastodon only links the username (e.g. just @manton), even for users on other servers. Micro.blog always links the full username with the instance name too (e.g. @manton@manton.org). A bit conflicted. Concise but problematic for common names, or verbose but correct?

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mike@libertynode.net
mike@libertynode.net

@manton I prefer seeing the full username. There’s at least one person I follow that uses (at)mike on another instance and whenever someone I follow mentions him I have to go into the thread to see if they’re replying to me or not.

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cdu
cdu

@manton Perhaps display just the username but have the underlying link go to the full username with instance?

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scully@chinwag.org
scully@chinwag.org

@mike @manton same. And likely the same Mike :)

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yatil@micro.yatil.net
yatil@micro.yatil.net

@mike @manton +100. I find the Mastodon way way more confusing.

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manton
manton

@mike Thanks, that is the scenario I was thinking of too. It's fine if "everyone" is on Mastodon.social, but as people are spread out, it's potentially confusing.

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jesse@pub.frostillic.us
jesse@pub.frostillic.us

@manton I already find the shorthand form weird, and I imagine it'll only get worse as more people participate. It's not the end of the world, since the full name is still in the data, but I personally prefer the longer form.

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mike@libertynode.net
mike@libertynode.net

@manton I think I’ve submitted a feature request on every Mastodon app I’ve used asking for an option to show the full username in the timeline. Lol

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babbage@iosdev.space
babbage@iosdev.space

@manton@manton.org isn’t it the case that Mastodon only *displays* the username when there’s no ambiguity, e.g. there is only one user with the username ‘mike’, but will use full usernames if there is ambiguity? Adding @manton@mastodon.online to illustrate the point… (and in both cases, the actual *link URL* is of course full, so can be hovered over to disambiguate the abbreviated form.

Personally, I really like this compromise that Mastodon has found. Just my 2c.

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babbage@iosdev.space
babbage@iosdev.space

@manton@manton.org @manton@mastodon.online to clarify, I mean one user with the username ‘mike’ who is *mentioned in the conversation*.

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Yoshiyoyo@pawoo.net
Yoshiyoyo@pawoo.net

@manton verbose, but correct

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SimonWoods
SimonWoods

@manton Verbose but correct. I don't think seeing these long usernames is anywhere near as jarring an experience as it would be to feel fooled by obscured shorter versions.

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manton
manton

@babbage Ah, I wasn't aware of that behavior. I'm not sure it's enough but it's an interesting compromise.

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vincent
vincent

@manton I vote for long usernames also. And remove hashtags instead 🤣

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heyscottyj
heyscottyj

@manton I’m new here, but I think I appreciate the full name. It would help me understand context and attribution for conversation, which could be relevant.

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babbage@iosdev.space
babbage@iosdev.space

@manton I think I can’t have fully described the actual behavior either, because in this thread all the replies are displaying to me the full username plus server at the start of each reply, even for unambiguous users like Mike here, but mentions of you as the OP we showing just [at]manton in the body.

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babbage@iosdev.space
babbage@iosdev.space

@manton In other threads I just re-looked at, however, it was short usernames all the way down.

May depend on who I follow. But I’m not sure that fully captures the behavior?

The other possibility is that users have the choice to keep typing to fully specify the link text and it is then displayed. So it could be the disambiguation I’m seeing was manually achieved by the person replying?

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js@podcastindex.social
js@podcastindex.social

@manton Concise, but with anchor title="<full username>" for hover info

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gregmoore
gregmoore

@manton Whatever makes the behavior clearer. I love the idea of blending the two services but I have no clue if my Micro.blog replies will ever make it out to Mastodon usernames so I never try.

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pimoore
pimoore

@vincent @manton Yes please, #SayNoToHashtags. 😆

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pratik
pratik

@manton I am in the minority here but prefer the shorter name with the actual address available upon hover/click as @cdu mentions. We should reclaim the @name from Twitter. This is similar to Outlook where you can @ someone in the email body and only the linked name appears (if it's in your contacts).

But I like the compromise that @babbage mention about Mastodon.

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Ddanielson
Ddanielson

@pimoore @manton @vincent I’m with Pete on NO hashtags. So say we all!

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zorn
zorn

@manton It also impacts the message size limit. I’ve gotten burned by unexpected cross post failures / format changes because of thing like this.

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mrbeefy
mrbeefy

@manton I’m noticing that if someone I follow on mastodon via MDB replies to someone with the same username as someone on MDB (@jeffmueller@appdot.net), and I follow the MDB person (@jeffmueller), it’ll count that as a reply to someone I follow even if I don’t follow that one.

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alexito4@mastodon.social
alexito4@mastodon.social

@manton i like full adress. And people seems to have some kind of pride of belonging to an instance so seems nice to show it

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In reply to
Medievalist
Medievalist

@manton Go with verbose. It's potentially useful data

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moonmehta
moonmehta

@manton I'm with @vincent. Verbose, correct usernames but remove hashtags. While hashtags are useful on Mastodon, their absence on Micro.blog is one of my favorite things here.

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manton
manton

@mrbeefy Thanks, we’ll get this fixed.

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nicktmro@mastodon.social
nicktmro@mastodon.social

@manton having two @ symbols is aesthetically jarring. I vote for simple just because it’s easier to look at and often context can be inferred

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gaelicWizard
gaelicWizard

@manton One special case: users of the form “manton.org@manton.org” should probably be shortened.

Otherwise, long form 1,000%.

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otaviocc
otaviocc

@manton Mastodon's Mention payload has a property for the username that's displayed (username), and another for for the full qualified name (acct). In case the account is in the same instance, acct and username are the same.

For user experience, I would always display the full qualified name, since it's quite common for people to have multiple accounts - mastodon, pixelfed, etc... - using the same "username".

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matt17r
matt17r

@manton Show short version visually (less clutter) but hyperlink to full version???

Or minimise clutter by representing service as a small coloured avatar before or after username?

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moonmehta
moonmehta

@otaviocc Great point, differentiating between the same people but different users/avatars is also important. Also, nice to see a physicist in here. :)

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Ciantic@twit.social
Ciantic@twit.social

@mike @manton Yeah all clients should put full username visible, but user's client could then choose to show the host part if it's necessary.

For instance if I follow Manton, I don't need to see @manton.org anymore. But that should be decision for the client, not the person writing the reply.

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manton
manton

@Ciantic Making it a client preference is a good solution. How confusing it is really depends on how many username conflicts a given account might have in their following list.

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