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In two postings today, I saw a few @sparaps in comments. But no poster or other commenter is found with this user name... So I suppose that the author of the previous comment is meant.

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    Probably there was a user with that name but either the comments from them were removed, or they've changed their name. Alternatively, somebody assumed the @ will work to notify a random user but it doesn't work like that. Commented Feb 11 at 18:35
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    As @VLAZ said, someone changed their name/the other user had their comments deleted, or they tried to ping someone that did not comment on the post. Without more context (such as the post you saw this on), one can only guess which one was the most likely. Commented Feb 11 at 18:51
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    If you have a bug report, it should be a separate question, not an edit to the current one. Commented Feb 12 at 12:28
  • This is not a bug report, only a pure question. In the correct substack. Some comments show that clarification regarding system responses when anybody has left membership is worth discussing. When I receive a couple of downvotes because of this question. Be it. Meanwhile I don't care anymore about downvotes. Ignore them. As a phenomenon that fits (alas) in this era. Commented Feb 12 at 12:35
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    "According to the page 'details or clarity', one should receive a private message with the reason why a question is closed." I'm afraid you've misunderstood the help page there. The "private feedback" it refers to is merely the blue close message at the top of the page, explaining why your question is closed - it's visible to you, and to those with the "vote to close" privilege, but others will see a much more generic close message. Commented Feb 12 at 12:46
  • Ah! Thanks for clarifying this. There seems to be a bit of inconsistency. Then, when I delete an (own) answer, the then red coloured entry is accompanied by the message that a deleted answer is hidden, but as such not visible to others. Commented Feb 12 at 14:27

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Based on this SEDE query, it's referring to user224284 on Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange, who has chosen to delete their account. That resets their username; it would be nice if all the comments would be edited to reflect that change, but until that happens, it's usually not too hard to figure out who users are @replying to from the context. In some cases, it may be the previous commenter, as you figured out.

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  • Thanks for that. Indeed user224281... In my age I really thought I was missing some modern sort of abbreviates established by the younger generation. Commented Feb 12 at 7:25