[Pmwiki-users] signature (--username) markup

[Patrick R. Michaud]

Another terrific thread... I'll summarize my thoughts about the
"--username" proposals here.

Steven's comment that we already have a syntax for signatures,
namely WikiWords and FreeLinks, is essentially correct for many
wikis.  What makes PmWiki a little different is the availability of
a common WikiGroup to hold user descriptions.  While signing with
markup like "PatrickMichaud" isn't too unreasonable, it would be 
looking for a page in the same group as the current one.  I'd be
discouraged if I had to always type "Contributors/{{Patrick Michaud}}"
for my signature, and I like it when people sign their contributions.

Plus, I believe that if a feature is used frequently, there should be
a relatively simple markup for it.

I think that the pattern "(^|\s)--\s?[[:alpha:]][\w- ]+\W*$" 
(i.e., "--username") is unworkable if it displays '?'-links.  I think
there will be too many "surprises" from unintended matches to the pattern.
Of course, a WikiAdministrator will be able to add this pattern as
a local customization if desired--I'm just concerned about the default
PmWiki behavior.

Other markup suggestions that I think have promise:

[[--username]]     
    A very reasonable alternative to --username, plus it has 
    the advantage that it can be inline.

[[~username]]      
    Good analogue to usernames in unix and uris.

~username~
~~username         
    Two more excellent choices, not likely to otherwise occur in text.
    Perhaps the tildes would be difficult on some keyboards?  The
    markup could still render as "--username" if desired.

--/Username
--/{{username}}
    These are also okay but they start to look like too much markup.

Since usernames are essentially things that match the free link
pattern, we could also consider {{--username}} as an alternative
to [[--username]].  

Finally, no matter what markup we choose, I'll probably come up with
shortcuts for inserting an author's signature into the text.  For example,
the edit form can provide a JavaScript keyboard shortcut and/or button
that automatically inserts the author's signature at the current
cursor position.  (It should also be relatively easy for others to
do similar things in the pmwe and EmacsModes editors.)

Pm