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The rules governing @User comment replies are described at length, but don't address bounties.

  • If I put a bounty on someone else's question, will I be notified of undirected comments?
  • Can people notify me via @-replies even if my only involvement with the question is putting a bounty on it?

If the answer to one or both is no, could we get a new feature putting anyone with a bounty on a question on par with the question's author for the purposes of comment @-replies? Or, if not, at least add them to the list of @-reply targets to allow messaging them?

This was all prompted by this question from DanQ that had a bounty put on it by rabidsnail, presumably because she had the same problem. Once it showed up on the Featured Questions list, people asked for more information in comments. DanQ never responded, and may well not have cared about the question by that point. Presumably rabidsnail cared, but did she get any notification about the comments requesting more info? (I assume rabidsnail checked in on the question at some point, and obviously didn't add more info then, but maybe she would have had she known sooner.)

There's also the question of proper etiquette when elaborating on a question that's not yours, but that's beyond the scope of this question.

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  • I don't know about undirected comments but I can confirm that bounty-placers are @-replyable; I was the subject of such a reply yesterday.
    – Jeremy
    Apr 13 '12 at 23:44
  • Thanks, good to know. I guess TheBountyHunter started being more careful with directing his comments between the aforementioned question and yours.
    – blahdiblah
    Apr 13 '12 at 23:57
  • @TwilightSparkle: Hmm, which bounty? It may have been because of your comment or something--it doesn't autocomplete.
    – Manishearth
    Apr 14 '12 at 1:02
  • @Manishearth This comment was @-me and I was notified. I hadn't commented first.
    – Jeremy
    Apr 14 '12 at 1:03
  • @TwilightSparkle: Test commented. Did you get pinged?
    – Manishearth
    Apr 14 '12 at 1:07
  • @Manishearth Nope, no ping from the untargeted comment.
    – Jeremy
    Apr 14 '12 at 1:09
  • @TwilightSparkle: OK, thanks for being a guinea-pig :)
    – Manishearth
    Apr 14 '12 at 1:10
  • @Manishearth IIRC editors are also not auto-completed, but can be @-notified, so this isn't entirely inconsistent.
    – Jeremy
    Apr 14 '12 at 1:10
  • @TwilightSparkle: Aah, right.
    – Manishearth
    Apr 14 '12 at 1:11
  • I have edited the "How do comment @-replies work?" FAQ.
    – user206222
    Jun 4 '13 at 0:12
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Looks like you can. This comment notified @JeremyBanks. Interesting functionality, since the autocomplete doesn't work.

Undirected comments have no effect.

Regarding undirected replies, I guess it's the duty of the bounty giver to keep track of it themselves. Remember, there are truckloads of comments on the answers as well--and it's good for the bountygiver to keep watch on those. Like this question--there were lots of interesting points being raised; I tried to keep watch.

EDIT: Seems that anyone in the revision history can be @notified. So bounty placers, lock-ers, and closers, as well as the mundane editors and retaggers can be notified, though autocomplete works only for comments.

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  • 9
    basically any user in the revision history can be notified, but autocomplete will only complete the names of any other users in the current comments. This is by design.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Apr 14 '12 at 8:49
  • @Jeff, does that also include all people who voted to close? I know that moderators are mentioned explicitly in the Markdown help: "You can use the same method to notify any editor of the post, or – if this is the case – to the ♦ moderator who closed the question."
    – Arjan
    Apr 15 '12 at 9:23
  • As for undirected comments: when favoriting a question, one gets notifications when "new answers were added, or new comments on the question. As if you owned the question you favorited". So I guess one could favorite when putting a bounty on it, if one is aware of this... I am not sure if those are Inbox notifications though.
    – Arjan
    Apr 15 '12 at 9:32
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    @arjan that favorites functionality has been broken for over a year now; it does not behave that way and hasn't for 12+ months. We haven't figured out what to replace it with. As for your other question, qnly the single user who is entered in the user field in the revision history table (e.g. the moderator who forced the close) can be notified. Essentially the "owner" of that history entry if you will.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Apr 15 '12 at 16:03
  • I have tested it not long ago - only users with binding close vote (moderators or those with dupe hammer) can be notified via @-reply, "ordinary" close voters do not gett any notification.
    – Shadow Wizard Hates Omicron
    Mar 24 '15 at 19:56

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