Mentions and hashtags
Members can @mention each other and add #hashtags in every place they write in your app. A mention links to the member and tells them. A hashtag links to every post that carries it, through your Search screen. Both show as highlighted badges, while the member writes and once the post is up.
This works in:
| Where members write | Ultimate Member | BuddyPress and BuddyBoss | Forums |
|---|---|---|---|
| A new post | Create Social Post, News Feed | Activity | — |
| A comment | Activity Thread | Activity Thread (BuddyPress) | — |
| A reply to a comment | Activity Thread | Activity Thread (BuddyPress) | — |
| A group post, comment or reply | Groups discussion | Groups (BuddyPress) activity | — |
| A forum topic | — | — | ForumWP, bbPress |
| A forum reply | — | — | ForumWP, bbPress |
Editing a post, comment or reply offers the same suggestions.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”| Plugin | The Memberside plugin 2.96.0 or later on your site; 2.97.0 or later for the badges |
| Endpoint groups | Mentions and Hashtags. Placing any of the features above switches both on |
| Plan | Every plan |
Placing a feature members write in turns on both groups. Turning on Hashtags is what makes your site start keeping its hashtag index, so a site that never places one of these features does no extra work.
How they look
Section titled “How they look”A mention picked from the list and every hashtag show as a badge in your app’s primary colour:
- While writing a post, comment or reply on the News Feed, in a group or in BuddyPress or BuddyBoss activity, the badge appears as soon as a name is picked or a tag is typed. Backspace after a name removes the whole name.
- Once posted, the same badges appear in the feed, in comment threads, in group discussions and in ForumWP and bbPress topics and replies. Tapping one opens the member’s profile or Search on the tag.
Your website is not changed. The post is saved exactly as the website saves it, and the website shows it the way it always has. The app keeps its own formatted copy alongside the post. If the post is later edited on the website, the app shows the edited post instead, with the mentions your site links itself.
Forum topics and replies keep their formatting toolbar while writing; the badges appear once they are posted.
Mentions
Section titled “Mentions”A member types @ and the first letters of a name. The app lists who matches,
and tapping a name puts the mention in the box.
Who appears in the list follows the rules of the plugin behind the screen, so a mention always becomes a link:
| Where | Who can be mentioned |
|---|---|
| Ultimate Member - Social Activity | The author’s friends, followers or both, following Enable friends mentions (Ultimate Member - Friends) and Enable followers mentions (Ultimate Member - Followers) under Ultimate Member → Settings → Extensions → Social Activity. With both off, the app offers no mentions there |
| Ultimate Member - Groups | The group’s approved members |
| BuddyPress and BuddyBoss | Any member. In a group, the group’s members |
| ForumWP | Any member. An administrator writing a reply can also mention @everyone |
| bbPress | Any member |
The mentioned member is notified the way your site notifies them for a mention written on the website. Editing a post only notifies people the edit adds. A member you have blocked, or who has blocked you, is never suggested.
Hashtags
Section titled “Hashtags”A member types # and the first letters of a tag. The app lists the tags already
in use, most used first, and tapping one puts it in the box. A new tag is typed
in full.
A tag is # followed by letters, digits or underscores, in any language, with at
least one letter: #TrailRun, #café and #race_day are tags; #2026 is not.
Capital letters do not matter: #TrailRun and #trailrun are the same tag.
Opening a tag
Section titled “Opening a tag”A tag in a post, comment, reply or topic is a link. Tapping it opens Search on that tag, over the screen the member was reading, so Back returns them to the post. Search shows the tag’s posts first, one tab per kind of post:
| Tab | Holds |
|---|---|
| Posts | Ultimate Member activity and group posts |
| Activity | BuddyPress and BuddyBoss activity |
| Topics | ForumWP topics, or bbPress topics when it is your only forum |
| Forum topics | bbPress topics, when ForumWP is active too |
| Hashtags | Tags that start with what was searched, with how many posts carry each |
A tag used only in a comment or a reply finds the post it is under.
Hashtags are links only when your app has a Search screen with Hashtags among its result types. Without one, a tag shows as plain text, because a tap on it would have nowhere to go.
Who sees which tags
Section titled “Who sees which tags”A member only ever sees tags and posts they could open anyway. A tag used only in a private group, on a wall set to Only me, in a private or hidden forum, or by someone they have blocked is left out of their tag list and their counts as well as their results.
Older posts
Section titled “Older posts”When Hashtags is first turned on, your site indexes the posts written before then in the background, a batch at a time as people use it. On a large site, or one with few visitors, run it at once from the server:
wp memberside-hashtags backfillwp memberside-hashtags stats shows how far it has got, and
wp memberside-hashtags rebuild starts over.
Ultimate Member keeps its own hashtag pages on your website. Posts written in the app appear there too.
When it does not work
Section titled “When it does not work”| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
Typing @ offers nobody on the News Feed | Both Enable friends mentions and Enable followers mentions are off, or the member has no friends or followers yet | Turn one on, or expected |
Typing @ or # offers nothing anywhere | Plugin older than 2.96.0, or the Mentions or Hashtags group is off | Update the Memberside plugin, then save the app once in the builder |
| A name typed by hand stays plain text | The name was typed rather than picked from the list, or on Ultimate Member the person is not in the author’s friends or followers | Pick the name from the list; it only offers people a mention can link |
| Mentions and tags are links but not badges | Plugin older than 2.97.0 | Update the Memberside plugin |
| A post edited on the website lost its badges | The app shows the website’s edit, which has only the links your site makes itself | Expected. Edit it in the app and pick the names from the list again |
| Hashtags show as plain text | No Search screen, or Hashtags is unticked in its Result types | Place Search and tick Hashtags |
| An old post’s tag finds nothing | The backfill has not reached it yet | Run wp memberside-hashtags backfill |
| A tag finds fewer posts for some members | Those posts are in places those members cannot read | Expected |