What are the rules behind when an @-username gets linked in a timeline post? Sometimes (too often) I flub them, usually when posting from Drafts, and when I go back to edit the post to include the right username it seems like it sometimes does and sometimes does not hotlink them. And, I’m guessing, does not send a mention. Are there rules set up around how this works?
Example post and it on the timeline.
Based on what I’ve observed, it does not send a mention when:
Thanks, that’s helpful. It’d be pretty awesome if it checked for usernames on edits, just putting that out there. 
Hmm. This post was published right from the web interface and Matt’s username didn’t get the fancy shortening treatment. Not really a problem, just inconsistent, which bugs me more than it should. The @-usernames without the additional @-domain looks so much cleaner to me.
Coz it’s a Mastodon handle? Those show up as shortened on Mastodon (if cross-posted) but not on Micro.blog.
Oh, maybe you’re right. I could have sworn I had some Mastodon names get shortened. But maybe I’m thinking of posts I’m seeing from other Mastodon users.
Wait! I knew wasn’t crazy. Here’s a reply where @agiletortise@mastodon.social was shortened to @agiletortise. Maybe because it’s a reply? Maybe because I selected his username from the suggestions bar on the web?
Who knows? 
But it sure would be nice if it were consistent.
Also (related?) I’m not sure why that reply isn’t showing up on my blog. 
I agree this should be consistent. The way I intended it to work is that Micro.blog always shows the full username including domain name, but when sending it to Mastodon it uses the shorter version. I’ll take a look at this… There’s a lot of improvements we can make to how usernames are displayed.
Thanks for looking into it. The full usernames look kinda clunky to me, but I’m sure I could get used to it in the end.
While we’re discussing username wishes, it would be way nicer if the username suggestions would pop up no matter where in the text that you’re editing them. Right now, they have to be the last thing in the text box for them to be recognized and suggested.
When I’m trying to add them in text I’ve already typed, my workaround is to select everything below it, cut, start typing the username, get the correct one from the suggestions bar, and then paste the text back in. Not a show-stopper, but annoying, especially without an physical keyboard.
Thanks, I agree the usernames should show up anywhere. This is a limitation on the web and iOS… The native app for Mac handles this better.