Name Completion - option to use short name? (e.g. John B.)
When authenticated users use campfire, it lists their full names in the user list, but in the transcript only uses the first name and last initial. When using the name completion, Propane fills in the full name, not the first name and last initial. That can be a bit awkward in conversation when replying (Josh Wand: blah blah blah, vs. Josh W: blah blah blah).
Would be nice to have an option to use the short name.
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Support Staff 2 Posted by trevor on 27 Jan, 2010 09:56 PM
Hey Josh,
Before the change to 37signals ids we had a rule in our campfire of setting your name to be a nickname (usually your first name).
A week (or so) ago, 37signals posted an update to campfire that allowed you to set a 'nickname' to go along with your 37signals ID name.
I had hoped would solve this issue. Unfortunately they pulled the feature citing that, when used a certain way, it was confusing.
I've just logged a request on their answers site about it: http://answers.37signals.com/campfire/295-any-chance-you-could-resu...
I'm still mulling over my options because Propane needs to be able to alert you when "someone mentions your name". If Propane is too liberal in alerting you about something that looks like a mention, people complain. If it misses alerts because it's not liberal enough, people complain.
So for now I'm going to leave it as autocompleting your full name and considering your full name as a match for a mention. It's the only way I can guarantee I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to.
Which is to say, it's on my mind, it bugs me, and I'm thinking about it.
Regards, Trev
3 Posted by josh on 27 Jan, 2010 10:05 PM
If Propane were consistent about always abbreviating in the same manner, then you'd really only have a problem with false alerts on people with exactly the same first name and last initial (which is probably a problem when reading the normal web interface, too-- I wonder how it handles that?) AND also using Propane..
But thanks for the detailed reply. Glad to hear you're thinking about it!
4 Posted by bradley.wagner on 18 Jan, 2012 03:00 PM
Does this mean it's not possible to use "mentions" at all as a Propane user or is it just auto-complete that won't work? I'm able to see mentions of myself but not able to create any: e.g.
@Tim - helloSupport Staff 5 Posted by trevor on 18 Jan, 2012 04:34 PM
Hi Bradley,
It doesn't mean either of those things.
The original request was to autocomplete a shortened version of the name instead of the (default) full name.
Trev
6 Posted by bradley.wagner on 18 Jan, 2012 05:35 PM
Got it. Sorry. I think I'm getting a little mixed up with my terminology. Thanks for clarifying.
trevor closed this discussion on 19 Feb, 2012 06:32 AM.