This template is used to trigger a notification to one or several registered user(s) you are replying to in a discussion without displaying any text. The notification will only work successfully if you sign your post in the same edit in which you use this template. If you make a mistake in placing this template or in signing, see Help:Fixing failed pings. It is an alternative to the {Reply to} template. It works on any talk page or Wikipedia namespace page.
IP addresses are only notified if you post to their user talk page.
For transparency reasons, please be cautious and judicious when using this template, and make sure you are familiar with the guideline on canvassing.
It is not necessary to use this template to ping the user if you are already linking to the username from your post, neither is it necessary when posting on their own talk page.
Single recipient
Use the following syntax:
{Hidden ping|Username}Message text. ~~~~
For example, {hidden ping|Jimbo Wales}This is a message that Jimbo might be interested in. would display "This is a message that Jimbo might be interested in." and notify Jimbo Wales.
The comment must be signed and belong to a named section of a "Talk" or "Wikipedia" namespace page in order for the notification to work.
Multiple recipients
You can reply to up to 50 people at once. Use the following syntax:
For example, {hidden ping|Example|Jimbo Wales} would notify User:Example and User:Jimbo Wales if used in a signed comment.
Warning: If the total number of detected to-be-pinged users in an edit exceeds 50, no notifications will be delivered. An error message will be displayed when previewing the page, but not once the page has been saved.
Error messages
As the intention of this template is that it not produce any output, error messages are only displayed when previewing a page. Once the page has been saved, this template will not display any output.
This indicates that no usernames were specified. This error can also be produced when the recipient's username contains an equal sign, for example {hidden ping|test=test}. To fix this, simply add 1= at the beginning of the username, 2= at the second username, 3= at the third username and so on: {hidden ping|1=test=test}
If the total number of detected to-be-pinged users in an edit exceeds 50, no notifications will be delivered. An error message will be displayed when previewing the page, but not once the page has been saved. This is a limitation of the Echo software that provides the notifications (as of August 2015[update]).
