Mentions resolve incorrectly if specified post ID is authored by a different user

[davwheat]

Bug Report

Current Behavior
With reply mentions (@username#id), if the ID doesn't match the correct username, the mention resolves to the post author instead of the specified username.

I can see why this could be "intentional" (or desired) but I think it's better to resolve to the username in the case of a bad ID.

For example, if someone clicked reply but accidentally removed a digit from the ID without noticing, the mention could ping off to a random person on the forum.

Example: https://discuss.flarum.org/d/23962-give-me-an-answer/6

In the example above, Pollux created post 133408, so the mention resolves to them.

Steps to Reproduce
2. Find a random post ID
3. Create a post with @anyusername#id
4. See that it resolves to the creator of the post, not the username

Expected Behavior
Debatable, but I think it should resolve to @anyusername. This makes it more likely to go to the right person if a mistake was made.

Environment

• Flarum version: 0.1.0-beta.13
• Website URL: http://discuss.flarum.org

[dsevillamartin]

A bit related to https://github.com/flarum/core/issues/1734, perhaps.

With the post mentions, we'll probably want to do the same as my comment there. Now, I think the text that preceeds the post ID doesn't matter at all (even though it should).

Now, more specific to this issue: I think what we want to do here is error if the user associated with the post mention (@user#postid) does not exist - that way we can avoid unintended consequences by mentioning the wrong person or associating the wrong post as a reply.

I know this issue has been talked about before, but I couldn't find any issue on GitHub for it. Odd 🤔

[davwheat]

I would have thought it had been mentioned before but after I couldn't find it, I decided to just roll with it in case :P

An error would be a good idea, but maybe confusing to non-technical users. Seeing "Invalid post/mention" would confuse some users into just not posting, which could be an issue for some forums.

[dsevillamartin]

It would help having some kind of visual feedback when you are replying. Perhaps in the textarea or preview we could have it show as a red error or something 🤷

[davwheat]

I think it would be better as a warning. Maybe highlight it red or something?

It should still let you post anyway as people will still get confused by that. Some people get frustrated at the "can't start thread" button...

Maybe this could be the start of post syntax validation for markdown (I wish).

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. We do this to keep the amount of open issues to a manageable minimum.
In any case, thanks for taking an interest in this software and contributing by opening the issue in the first place!

[davwheat]

Not stale :)

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. We do this to keep the amount of open issues to a manageable minimum.
In any case, thanks for taking an interest in this software and contributing by opening the issue in the first place!

[davwheat]

Not stale :)

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. We do this to keep the amount of open issues to a manageable minimum.
In any case, thanks for taking an interest in this software and contributing by opening the issue in the first place!

[luceos]

This still applies to 1.0.2, see https://discuss.flarum.org/d/27629-test/3

However, after saving and then editing the username has been updated:

[davwheat]

I opened this when I didn't understand the mentions system, but now I think it should be intended behaviour.

The only thing we have to base it off of is post ID, and nothing else. The display name is purely there to indicate to the user that they are, in fact, replying to the right user.

[SychO9]

This still applies to 1.0.2, see https://discuss.flarum.org/d/27629-test/3

However, after saving and then editing the username has been updated:

It's correct behaviour, the display name is only there for us to know who the author is, which is more readable, why would you write a wrong display name that's not the actual author ? the display name is always updated to the actual author's display name in case they update it, which also keeps everything consistent.

I opened this when I didn't understand the mentions system, but now I think it should be intended behaviour.

The only thing we have to base it off of is post ID, and nothing else. The display name is purely there to indicate to the user that they are, in fact, replying to the right user.

^this.

I would close this issue, I don't believe there is anything to fix.