Mentions: inconsistent ActivityPub and site representation

[jeherve]

Quick summary

In some of the ActivityPub representations, we display mentions as <a rel="mention" class="u-url mention" href="https://instance.tld/@example">@<span>example</span></a>. In others, we display the full account name: <a rel="mention" class="u-url mention" href="https://instance.tld/@example">@example@instance.tld</a>. It would be nice if we were consistent in all our implementations.

Similarly, in some situations we include the mention in the ActivityPub representation, but not on the site.

References

wordpress-activitypub/includes/class-mention.php

Line 85 in 00a57c3

return \sprintf( '<a rel="mention" class="u-url mention" href="%s">@<span>%s</span></a>', esc_url( $url ), esc_html( $username ) );

wordpress-activitypub/includes/transformer/class-comment.php

Lines 124 to 126 in a920b1d

	foreach ( $this->extract_reply_context() as $acct => $url ) {
	$mentions .= sprintf(
	'<a rel="mention" class="u-url mention" href="%s">%s</a> ',

Steps to reproduce

1. Write a new post, where you'll mention someone: @pfefferle@mastodon.social hello there.
   • On the site, the mention will be displayed as <a rel="mention" class="u-url mention" href="https://mastodon.social/@pfefferle">@<span>pfefferle</span></a>
2. Have that person reply to you ; their reply will appear as a comment.
3. From your site's frontend, reply to them ; do not include any mention in the body of your comment.
   • You will not see any mention in the comment displayed on your site
   • The ActivityPub representation, however, will display <a rel="mention" class="u-url mention" href="https://mastodon.social/@pfefferle">@pfefferle@mastodon.social</a>

Site owner impact

Between 20% and 60% of the total website/platform users

Severity

Minor

What other impact(s) does this issue have?

No revenue impact

If a workaround is available, please outline it here.

It would be nice if:

• When a mention is included in the ActivityPub representation, it should also be visible on the site.
• All mentions follow the same standard display. imo it should be <a rel="mention" class="u-url mention" href="https://mastodon.social/@pfefferle">@<span>pfefferle</span></a>, where the instance name is not displayed. This is the standard in use on Mastodon for example.

[github-actions]

This issue could use some more labels, to help prioritize and categorize our work. Could you please add at least a [Type], a [Feature], and a [Pri] label?