Tagging other members

I have had a couple of people contact me through the purple moose thingy, asking for individual advice. It's not that I mind so much, but it seems to defeat the purpose of the forum which is to spread public knowledge to the multitudes. However, I also understand the need to ask a for a specific person's input. Is there any way to tag users in a post similar to the way Facebook allows you to tag other Facebook users?

A common way people do this is to click the “quote” button at the top of another’s post. This puts their post in quotes. If they have already read all the other posts in the thread and have posted, this probably will notify them, depending on their watch settings for the particular thread. If they have already had another new post email from that particular thread, they may not get an email for your post.

I will often just say something like “Lawren, what are your experiences with suchandsuch?”

What I usually do if I want someone to see something and think they may miss it is send a PM with a link to the post or thread. It seems like the simplest way to get someone’s attention.
Usually I trust that they’ll see it even without a PM, if they are paying attention.