I think something that might be useful would be to parse the "@" symbol to automatically create links to user profiles when followed immediately by text in comments & forum threads.
Example:
I'd like to hear from @MedicineStorm about this as well.
In addition, users could be notified via email that they are mentioned in this manner. This would be especially useful in threads where that particular user has not participated.
Edit: One caveat might be usernames with whitespace. It would probably have to be mandatory for the writer to use dashes ("-") in place of whitespace, since that is what is used in such username URLs.
Example:
This is based on @Clint-Bellanger's work.
(Notice above that link parsing should end with special punctuation like periods (".") & apostrophes (" ' ").)
I've seen this feature on other forums. After the server move and subsequent drupal upgrade, I'm sure we'll be able to find a plugin that can do this. :)
--Medicine Storm
"Server move"? The server is going to have a new host location?
Yes, but you shouldn't notice anything different beyond improved response time hopefully. A lot of the updates and features we plan to do require newer server features, so Botanic and a few others are working on getting the whole site moved to a new server.
--Medicine Storm