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Replacing @user with full name in microblog posts may alter meaning

Open pbackus opened this issue 10 months ago • 7 comments

Describe the bug

In microblog posts, Mbin displays @user as the full name of the user referred to. In some cases, if the author of a post intended the reference to be read as @user, this can change or obscure the post's intended meaning.

On which Mbin instance did you find the bug?

fedia.io

Which Mbin version was running on the instance?

1.8.0

To Reproduce

  1. View the post at https://fedia.io/m/[email protected]/p/1596322/My-hotel-at-tea-at-a-gup-pe-expectations-are-risen-to-new-altitudes-it
  2. View the same post on its original instance at https://vis.social/@baptnz/114052272846894756
  3. Observe that @tea in the original post has been replaced with tea group in the mbin version.
  4. Observe that this change alters the meaning of the sentence it occurs in.

Expected behavior

When viewed on mbin, the post should have the same meaning as it does when viewed on its original instance.

Screenshots

Mbin version:

Image

Original version:

Image

Desktop (please complete the following information):

  • OS: Debian
  • Browser: Firefox
  • Browser Version: 135.0b7

pbackus avatar Feb 23 '25 15:02 pbackus

tea group is the display-name of the account mentioned... Would it be enough if it was converted to @tea group?

BentiGorlich avatar Feb 24 '25 14:02 BentiGorlich

The author of the post clearly intended for it to be displayed as @tea, and that is in fact how it's displayed on the original instance. Ideally it would be displayed as @tea on Mbin as well.

pbackus avatar Feb 24 '25 14:02 pbackus

I would not say that The author of the post clearly intended for it to be displayed as @tea its just how a mention is looking on Mastodon...

BentiGorlich avatar Mar 04 '25 07:03 BentiGorlich

The mention @tea is used in the post as a substitute for the word "tea." When the author talks about his "@tea expectations," he is clearly talking about his expectations for tea, the beverage, not for @tea, the gup.pe group.

pbackus avatar Mar 04 '25 08:03 pbackus

You're absolutely right, I am sorry. It seems like I didn't properly read the post...

However platforms do render things differently and that was my main point. I myself am unsure whether I like the inline previews/components for user and magazine mentions in the rendered markdown... I thought it was a very cool idea and I think with magazine mentions it can look very good, but with microblog mentions, especially in busy comment sections, it can be very distracting...

Maybe it is time for another poll @melroy89 ? :D

BentiGorlich avatar Mar 04 '25 16:03 BentiGorlich

I created a discussion thread in the mbinMeta magazine: https://gehirneimer.de/m/mbinmeta/t/516855/Discussion-Magazine-And-User-Mention-Rendering

BentiGorlich avatar Mar 04 '25 16:03 BentiGorlich

You're absolutely right, I am sorry. It seems like I didn't properly read the post...

However platforms do render things differently and that was my main point. I myself am unsure whether I like the inline previews/components for user and magazine mentions in the rendered markdown... I thought it was a very cool idea and I think with magazine mentions it can look very good, but with microblog mentions, especially in busy comment sections, it can be very distracting...

Maybe it is time for another poll @melroy89 ? :D

Less is more 😅. So I'm also fine for disabling this inline markdown preview in microblog all together if that solves the problem again.

melroy89 avatar Mar 04 '25 17:03 melroy89