# Using name tags to call someone's attention?



## Kelly B

This is essentially an etiquette question. The new forum software allows tagging individuals in a post using @User Name, and it causes a notification to pop up in UserName's Alerts. I noticed it when somebody tagged me in a thank you post.

How do you feel about using that feature to call a thread to the attention of someone you think is knowledgeable about a given topic? I might be aware, for example, that someone is fluent in Haitian French, or has shown a remarkable depth of knowledge about motorcycles. If that's you, how would you feel if I tagged you in a response to a newbie's question?

I think it could be helpful, or it could be really obnoxious. I've seen a similar feature used elsewhere and it doesn't seem to be used to excess, but I don't really know, as I'm not an expert on anything there.


----------



## Paulfromitaly

Kelly B said:


> or it could be really obnoxious


If I were one of the most valuable and recognized contributors of a specific forum I really wouldn't want to be called on every time someone starts a new thread just because they know that I'm probably able to give a good answer..


----------



## EStjarn

Why not try the idea at once? Like you, I have been tagged in a thank you note, and I still don't understand what the purpose of the alert I got was or why I was tagged in the first place. I notice that @JamesM has tagged another user in at least one of his posts, and, being a moderator, he probably had a good reason for doing that, one that he might be willing to share.


----------



## DonnyB

I, too, have been tagged once so far in a thank-you post and it wasn't until I just read this thread that I realized what the significance of it was.  So I suspect that relatively few members will want to use it.

It might be worth giving this idea a try.  I can't envisage more than a tiny handful of very prolific posters being tagged enough times for it to become a real inconvenience to anyone.


----------



## Salvatos

I say people should go for it. Those who do not want to be alerted by tags (or quotes) can turn that functionality off in their Alert preferences.


----------



## swift

Hi,

I think the tagged member will be alerted only if the tag appears at the beginning of the post. So, for example, I'm now tagging @Kelly B but she won't be notified about this.

I have used this feature in the lengthy software-transition threads. It was useful there.


----------



## Kelly B

swift said:


> I'm now tagging @Kelly B but she won't be notified about this.


Mais si ! It's why I'm back here. Not that I mind. 
*



swift tagged you in a post in the thread Using name tags to call someone's attention?.
		
Click to expand...

*


----------



## Loob

Golly-gosh, Kelly, etiquette questions are always so _difficult._

I can envisage using the @-tag when Member A has mentioned, in a thread, a comment made elsewhere by Member B, and it would be a kindness to let Member B know (s)he's being talked about.  But I'm less sure about using it to try to get Member B to join a thread.  I suppose it would be OK provided there was a recognition that Member B could completely ignore the prompt if (s)he wanted to....


----------



## Paulfromitaly

Loob said:


> But I'm less sure about using it to try to get Member B to join a thread


That's my point: I think it's unfair to call on skilled members and make them feel compelled to answer.
People must be free to join in or not join in a thread, without getting a nudge if they decide not to 
Having said that, it is true that the tag alert can be disabled.


----------



## Loob

I wouldn't want to disable the tag alert, because I'd want to know if someone was talking about me behind my back.....

But I would hate to feel obliged to join a thread simply because someone had @-tagged me.


----------



## Paulfromitaly

Loob said:


> I wouldn't want to disable the tag alert, because I'd want to know if someone was talking about me behind my back


Precisely.
A forero should be free to keep the tag alert enabled without being constantly called on in threads.


----------



## Wordsmyth

Paulfromitaly said:


> That's my point: I think it's unfair to call on skilled members and make them feel compelled to answer.
> People must be free to join in or not join in a thread, without getting a nudge if they decide not to


 The really insistent ones do it by PM! When I get that, I always look at the thread that's been drawn to my attention; then sometimes I join in, sometimes not. But if not, I still feel obliged to write a polite 'no' via PM — and the really really insistent ones won't take 'no' (even a very polite one) for an answer. But I'd have no qualms about ignoring an alert from an @-tag.

Ws


----------



## Englishmypassion

Does tagging need simply writing @name or something more complex and hence not meant for me? I don't know whether swift has added something technical to his tag in post# 6 or simply typed @+name? I thought it a better idea to first ask it here than to use my fumbling fingers straightaway in an English Only thread.


----------



## Cagey

I think people just write the name. 
Let's try it, and see whether I can signal you:  @Englishmypassion 

Watch to see whether you receive an 'alert'.


----------



## Englishmypassion

Wow, it's wonderful . I did get an alert, Cagey. So I can also use this magic. I am so happy, but don't know about the members I will tag ???


----------



## Englishmypassion

Oh, I unknowingly tagged the senior member by that name in my first post above. I never imagined that could be a member's name! Your name is so common-unique, sir, so really unique. I am sorry and hope you don't mind my tagging you unknowingly.


----------



## Cagey

I don't think you have to worry after all.  
'_name_' hasn't been online since they signed on in 2006.

*Added*: I wouldn't have guessed that anyone would really use that username either.


----------



## Englishmypassion

Oh, such a long period! I didn't mention his name again for the fear of sending another alert.
 I am so addicted to WR that I can't live a single day without it. 
Thank you so much, Cagey.


----------



## Cagey

I think it takes the @ to turn a name into a tag that sends an alert.  

It would be terrible if every time someone wrote a word that happened to be someone's username, that person would get an alert.


----------



## Englishmypassion

Thanks. I hope I don't irritate learned members (it _is_ a diplomatic statement).


----------



## Language Hound

I just came across this thread and am horrified to learn that I have been inadvertently tagging people.
Sometimes in a long post in which I'm replying to several other posters without quoting their posts, I
use @ before the member's username, but I never realized that would send them a special notification.
Since I often tend to abbreviate long user names, instead of writing, for example, @Language Hound,
I would write @LH.  I suppose this means that if the abbreviation is actually another member's user name,
that member will receive an alert.
I think that from now on, I'll just write, for example, "*LH*," (without the @).


----------



## Englishmypassion

Hello LH, some people have also tagged me in the same way and created a link to my profile but while replying to my own posts. I think the respondents didn't realize that, but I would get the alert either way. So I didn't point it out. I myself have never been a fan of using @ like that.


----------

