Problematic display of deactivated users in @-mention automatic suggestion list

[pykenny]

Summary

Display of deactivated users on the suggestion list provides misleading/wrong information when trying to @-mention user in a channel or direct message.

Steps to reproduce

Server Version: Enterprise Edition, 9.6.1

Step 1: Create a user to the server.
Step 2: Deactivate the user.
Step 3: Open any channel or direct message. In message editor, try @-mention the user's name, and wait for the auto-suggestion to show up.

Expected behavior

• The deactivated user should not appear in "CHANNEL MEMBERS" section, unless it's in a direct message where the user is one of the group members.
• The user's option should be accompanied by a label indicating this is a deactivated user.

Observed behavior (that appears unintentional)

• If the deactivated user was in a channel before being deactivated, the user will always be listed in "CHANNEL MEMBERS" section on the suggestion list, which conflicts with the actual channel member list unless the chat is direct message.
• In desktop client and website client, there’s no indicator on the option to help user tell if a user is deactivated. In mobile client, "(Deprecated)" label will appear by the user’s name, the label may be cut off if there’s no enough space to render the whole description, however.

[amyblais]

@pykenny I wasn't able to reproduce it just now. What OS and version are you on? Do you see any errors related to this in the Mattermost server logs or in the developer console?

[pykenny]

@amyblais

From what I got from locally run preview server (Team Edition 9.7.3), seems that deactivated users are automatically removed from the suggestion list on this version, and auto-suggestion only shows this type of users within threads where they have took participation in.

So it's possible something happened to the server we're using. Will need some time to request our system admins for further investigations.