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Mentions plugin uses WP account names, not display names

GO gorky5
gorky5
Member
Member since Jul 2009
98 posts
Mar 4, 2014 · 7:08 am · Edited

I’ve just started using the Mentions plugin, to allow users to @ tag others on my forum.

It mostly works fine, except where people have changed their display name since joining.

I understand that SP taps into the WP membership database, and usernames there can’t be changed. However, SP does allow people to use a display name different from the one they registered with.

If someone registers as UserA, then changes their display name to PersonB, the autocomplete on the @mentions will display @UserA. This gets a bit confusing when someone hasn’t used their registered name for a long time, and other forum users have forgotten all about it. It looks like an error when @mentioning them, even though it’s not.

Is there any chance that autocomplete could show the display name instead of the login name?

3 Answers

New Answer
MP Mr Papa
Mr Papa
Member
Member since Dec 2006
19,448 posts
Mar 4, 2014 · 9:44 am

not following…  when you start typing after the @, the autocomplete shows both the sp display name and the user loging…  when you select a user, it populates the post with @ and the user login (has to because of regex stuff)… when the post is saved, then the linked name in the resulting post does show the display name…

so not sure what you are asking…  of course, the user ‘can’ have a wp display name and sp user display name that could be different… but if that is the issue, you can also keep them in sync on forum – profiles – profile options…

GO gorky5
gorky5
Member
Member since Jul 2009
98 posts
Mar 4, 2014 · 9:49 am

Yes, sorry, my mistake. It does show the SP display name and the user login.

when you select a user, it populates the post with @ and the user login (has to because of regex stuff)

That’s the bit that is proving confusing to users. Is there no way for it to show the SP display name instead, apart from preventing changes to display names?

MP Mr Papa
Mr Papa
Member
Member since Dec 2006
19,448 posts
Mar 4, 2014 · 10:07 am

I dont understand the issue… its a very brief moment, only after selecting until saving that the login name is shown… you find a user by display name and when saved the post displays the display name… unfortunately we have not found a way to not use the login for the momentary intermediate step (not sure why that would confuse anyone)… we have asked before, but if anyone knows a regex to use on display name that does not eat the whole post and use tons of cpu, we would be all ears…