If I add "@" in front of a word, Dreamwidth makes that word a DW user link: @ thenewbuzwuzz without the space is thenewbuzwuzz. It works both in the HTML editor and the rich text editor [ETA 2: and in comments! Thanks, angrboda], but you have to preview or post in order to see that it's working (it doesn't show in the rich text editor during editing).

Not that it does anything besides creating the username link to the other person, BUT STILL. I like it so much better than trying to memorize the html for tagging users. Now I can tag EVERYONE in a matter of SECONDS! I can tag that tree over there! tree clouds

ETA: ah, this is not preserved in LJ crossposts. LJ thinks the @ is just an @ symbol always.

ETA 3: and if you need to use an @ directly before a word without making a username link, you can escape the @ with a backslash! \ @ word with no spaces is @word. Thanks for asking a great question, deird1!