Can @ mentions be parsed without clicking name in drop down?

[bigPaws]

Just noticed this when replying to another thread. I wanted to tag @Charles and I typed it quickly, as he has a nice and easy to remember user name. I therefore didn't wait for the drop down mention box to load and I kept typing. I clicked submit and noticed his name hadn't change to a link/mention. So is it necessary at the moment to have to click a name in the drop-down? Any chance the final version if v4 can pick up @ mentions and convert them anyway - eg. without waiting for the drop-down box to load and having to expressly click on a user name?

[Mur]

Possible? Yes, but as a generic default you'd either have to pick mentions auto-parsing or allowing for spacing in usernames. The two don't generally work hand-and-hand. Prime example would be Twitter vs Facebook mentions.

It's definitely possible but wouldn't be practical imho.

[craigf136]

The @Mentions hook for 3.4.* worked like that, you could type in @craigf136 and it would tag me (also works with spaces within username) - the wait after typing @ then username is a tad slow.

[bigPaws]

It does surprise me that it can't be programmed to look and parse something starting with @xxxx (i.e. letters after @ with no space). 

[TSP]

I do agree this would be nice, but I think problem is there is no easy way to interpret it since username can contain spaces etc.

Personally I believe it could be solved though and think it would be good idea to implement, but it would require quite a bit of logic and may not work on all usernames.