On the Connect app, there's an option that users can enable to make user notes global. This applies a user tag to all accounts with the same username across instances. Any accounts that get a copy of the tag has an added * to denote that it wasn't originally tagged; as a reminder since some people may simply have the same username on different instances.

I prefer to tag accounts over blocking because I think it's beneficial to upvote pushback or correction replies, which you wouldn't see by blocking. But some people have way too many alts and it's rather tedious to tag each one. Granted, I also have many accounts, but that's mainly for testing purposes.

This seems like a potential minefield if implemented naively.

e.g. someone could make an account with your username, implement a troll campaign, then walk into someplace like !chapotraphouse@hexbear.net and cause not only themselves but YOU also to receive hundreds of DMs over the course of WEEKS and WEEKS, with little to no recourse to stop it.

But... admittedly the likelihood of that seems extremely low (for a normal person), so if it would be too much work to try to prevent, then even in that case perhaps that possibility should not stop the rest of us from having features useful to those capable of existing in a more polite society?

I have multiple accounts with this username. A few years ago it was kind of unstable and instances would be down randomly. Also from instance hopping. I'm kinda interested does it tag me?

Could this not be implemented with clever back-links to other "shared" accounts for users who care to keep this kind of thing connected? Kind of like how Mastodon works with web ownership verification, except for fediverse account linkage.

Tagging is user specified so unless someone tags you and also enabled the setting, you're wouldn't be affected under normal circumstances.

I would like to see an app or platform tackle something like this since I would like to see tagging functionality expanded. But unless an interested party develops something, I don't think we'll be seeing it anytime soon.

The setting is not enabled by default. Also, the * hopefully reminds people that they didn't tag that specific account and that the same username on a different instance may represent two different people.

EDIT: Perhaps I should clarify that like user notes on Piefed, the ones in Connect are account specific. So different people don't see one another's tags. Though it's more app-specific in that your tags will be global, if you enable the option, across accounts on the app. So if I tag on Lemmy, I will see that tag if I'm on my Piefed account.

Oh true so if I wasn't tagged on my other account I wouldn't be tagged here.

I don't know who's tagged by whom and who's not. All I know is I don't have you tagged.

Something like this?

The checkbox would only visible if there are multiple accounts with that user name.

Oh, was that added more recently or did I not notice it? But yeah, that would do it.

It's not released yet but is coming very very soon. :)

Thanks for the idea.