This is expected behavior from historic Jira users, please either implement it as a project setting or at least make it very straightforward to add it in the automations.  When comment -> any mentions -> add as watchers.

This is an outstanding issue for Team Managed Projects. Until a full solution/feature is implemented into the Team managed project, Atlassian Support created an automation that does this functionality.

When: Issue commented           Comment Type: Comment on the main action
Then: Create variable             Variable name: varAddWatcher  Smart Value: {{issue.comments.last.body.split(" ").match("(accountid:.*)]").remove("accountid:")}}

Advanced compare condition:   First value: varAddWatcher  Condition: does not equal Second Value: empty
Then: add Watcher   {{varAddWatcher}}

well I did this:

Trigger: When comment added
Condition JQL: comment ~ userID

Action add desired user as watcher.

You can also make this happen through web requests, set a variable then use it from get to post there's several ways to do this. Smart Values, bla bla bla

I am also looking for this for my project. This will really be helpful in our day to day work and tracking. Thank you

Other tools do this, and I think it's expected behaviour:

• When someone is mentioned in a Slack thread, they will get notifications for all future replies until they unfollow the thread.
• In Dropbox Paper, when someone is mentioned, they get notifications of all future comments along with a consolidated diff of changes to the document (they coalesce edits over time to reduce notifications).

I'm in favor of this feature - if users are afraid of spam when they are mentioned, when they get an update, you should have a link that offers to "stop watching"

Thanks for taking the time to raise this issue.

Due to the large volume of JIRA feature suggestions, we have to prioritise our development efforts. In part, that means concentrating on those issues that resonate the most with our users.

I am writing this note to advise you, that we have decided to close your Suggestion as it has not gained traction on jira.atlassian.com. We believe being upfront and direct with you will assist you in your decision making rather than believing Atlassian will eventually address this issue.

Thank you again for your suggestion and if you have any concerns or question, please don’t hesitate to email me.
Kind Regards,
Kerrod Williams
JIRA Product Management
kerrod.williams at atlassian dot com

I agree with Mark - this issue has a huge potential to bother people. I think it's probably something that we should not fix.

If we did this, then let the user decide if they want to "auto-watch when mentioned".

Maybe a global setting for the "default value" that users would pick up unless they explicitly choose something else.

edalgliesh This issue seems to be tagged with JIRA and this sounds JIRA specific. If you agree then please pull it into the JIRA project.