# There doesn't seem to be any documentation about @mentions
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/there-doesnt-seem-to-be-any-documentation-about-mentions/391612
**Category:** Site feedback
**Created:** [December 17, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/there-doesnt-seem-to-be-any-documentation-about-mentions/391612 "2025-12-17T23:52:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@nathank](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nathank)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/there-doesnt-seem-to-be-any-documentation-about-mentions/391612/1 "2025-12-17T23:52:28Z")
I’m trying to understand the details about how @mentions work. This has been a little dynamic over the years, and it isn’t clear anywhere what the current functionality actually is.
As far as I can tell with my own trial and error:
1. @mentions fire off a single notification
2. they don’t change the watching / tracking status of a Topic for the user (but they used to)
---
### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/there-doesnt-seem-to-be-any-documentation-about-mentions/391612/2 "2025-12-17T23:57:27Z")
> [@nathank](#):
>
> but they used to
I don’t remember that this ever happened to me, and I can only find a topic suggesting that feature [Preference: Automatically Watch Topic when I am @mentioned, quoted, or invited](https://meta.discourse.org/t/preference-automatically-watch-topic-when-i-am-mentioned-quoted-or-invited/44602?silent=true). Can you narrow down the time frame a little bit?
---
### Author:  [@nathank](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nathank)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2025, 12:01am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/there-doesnt-seem-to-be-any-documentation-about-mentions/391612/3 "2025-12-18T00:01:26Z")
I’m sure it used to, and I’m sure I observed it being a big headache for many here on Meta.
I recall having to switch any topic where I was mentioned back to ‘normal’ or ‘tracking’ manually, which was very tedious!!
But I’m a bit uncertain if I am hallucinating, or the functionality changed:
> [@Mention group/user without notification](https://meta.discourse.org/t/mention-group-user-without-notification/38958/31):
>
> I don’t believe a mention has ever caused the person to start watching a topic. Once upon a time when I was a customer, I suggested that as an option, but I’m pretty certain it never was done in any form: [Preference: Automatically Watch Topic when I am @mentioned, quoted, or invited](https://meta.discourse.org/t/preference-automatically-watch-topic-when-i-am-mentioned-quoted-or-invited/44602)
Certainly I have been doing things wrong recently as I expected it to bump people up to watching. Explains a lot of flat engagement!!!
---
### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2025, 8:26am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/there-doesnt-seem-to-be-any-documentation-about-mentions/391612/4 "2025-12-18T08:26:47Z")
> [@nathank](#):
>
> But I’m a bit uncertain if I am hallucinating
I think this might be the case. It’s the other way around: setting a topic to tracking/watching will get you those mentions, so maybe you just drew the wrong conclusion?
---
### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2025, 8:34am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/there-doesnt-seem-to-be-any-documentation-about-mentions/391612/5 "2025-12-18T08:34:08Z")
Maybe it was the preference of automatically watching topics you are assigned to and `Assigns by staff mention` that resulted in the topic being watched after an @mention. 🤔