User:Legoktm/pings

Pings suck because:
 * based on username linking, which is used for other things...like linking to users (c.f. on enwp)
 * No way to verify you actually pinged someone
 * requires a signature
 * can't go back and adjust text to ping someone

Idea!:
 * Create a PST magic word thing so you type in " ", which upon save is transformed into " User " (and support multiple users with $wgContLang->commaList).
 * Echo hooks into PST somehow to do the transformation and note which users were mentioned
 * Easy for users to verify their pings went through
 * Pinging has to be deliberate, but most people are already using the wrapper template so it shouldn't be too disruptive

Notes:
 * Is this even technically possible???
 * On-wiki templates might be implemented differently, so overriding them with magic word might cause problems.
 * What about saving pages that already have a old "ping" template on them? Will it trigger new notifications?
 * Matt pointed out that the syntax would be so it wouldn't conflict.