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I have noticed that some users have a lot of expertise in certain fields. For example, C.S.Cameron has answered a lot of questions on interesting unconventional installation methods, N0rbert has answered many questions related to numerical computation using Ubuntu (of course, they have answered other questions too, and there are certainly many more users who have expertise in other fields).

Can I tag (@) someone in comments in case a question remains unanswered for some time? It may be that they have not noticed the question, and may be capable of answering it.

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Unfortunately, you can't successfully notify people with @ in comments under a post unless they have interacted with the post in specific ways:

  • If they have ever commented on the post, you will be able to tab-complete their username (start typing @name and it will appear) and the tagging will send them a notification.
  • If they have ever edited the post, you won't be able to tab-complete the name, but if you put @username they will get a notification (note that this doesn't work for users who suggested an edit to the post if the edit was not applied)

So, if you @ someone in comments under a post they haven't commented on or edited, they'll probably never know about it.

If you think a particular user might be interested in answering a question, you could let them know in chat, but if they haven't been there (if you can't tab-complete their username when you start typing @user) then they won't get a notification there either. I guess most users would probably be ok with you leaving a comment on one of their own posts linking to the post you think they'll be interested in, though you might want to check with them first (I would be ok with it, but there aren't many questions I can answer - also I'm always in chat and happy to be pinged there :).

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    Um. Please do NOT start pinging random users because you feel they might be able to answer a question. And most certainly don't start leaving comments under their answers to badger them about some other question! I've had people leave comments like that and I always find it pushy and annoying.
    – terdon
    Commented Feb 23, 2021 at 9:52
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    It turned out that N0rbert quickly answered my recent question about numerical computation with great details, without any need to ping him. @terdon Would you write that comment as your answer? I would like to know the opinion of most users on pinging someone in their posts. I understand that it may sometimes be annoying. Commented Feb 23, 2021 at 14:36

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