There are two three proposals being tossed around here, it’s getting confusing.
a) No suppression of full names. Ex:
For downey / Michael Downey, show username and full name (current behavior).
For sam_saffron / Sam Saffron, show username and full name (no suppression).
For joe1234 [no fullname set], show username (joe1234)
b) Suppress all usernames when full name is present. Ex:
For downey / Michael Downey, show only full name (Michael Downey)
For sam_saffron Sam Saffron, show only full name (Sam Saffron)
For joe1234 [no fullname set], show username (joe1234)
c) Change current suppression to hide username vs fullname
For downey / Michael Downey, show username and full name (current behavior).
For sam_saffron / Sam Saffron, show only full name (Sam Saffron).
For joe1234 [no fullname set], show username (joe1234)
All three could be options, but I would really like Option B. My site is focused on real people and community building; cryptic usernames are far less useful than full names for accountability reasons. IMHO It’s OK to obscure the username. The @mention already searches on full names when provided, so that’s a non-issue. By typing @kane, I see Kane York pop up, and autocomplete will correct that to @riking.