@ mention someone with a very common name

[Ian Bruckner]

In a tech community, I'd like to @ mention someone I know exists... but it seems like he must have a very common name... so common he doesn't show up in the list of 5 choices I get when I start typing his name. If he's not in the dropdown, how else can I correctly mention him?

[#2]

@Allen- did I post this in the right spot?

[#3]

@Ian Bruckner 

Yes this is a good place to post it. Its probably worth noting that's exactly why we have started to force new members to have a unique username when they register.

There are a few things we need to work out with this because on balance most users want their posts to come up with their full name rather than there user name and so we plan to fix that. Once we have this fix in place we will then devise a system which will ask already registered members to choose a unique username and the issue you describe will essentially go away after that time. 

The only other thing I would suggest is that when you type @ it will automatically bring up a list of people in the thread your replying to before you start to type any names and that may also help you. 

Thanks for the feedback

[#4]

@Allen Is there a timeline as to when the change name feature is expected to arrive?  I'm only looking for an estimate.  Weeks, months, years?

[#5]

@Philip Urban

The nature of sprint means it’s hard to say we will ship this in x period of time but I would be looking weeks - a couple of months.

Obviously I will post an update once it’s locked into a development cycle