OK well not quite fully automatic, but semi-automated.
To try to demonstrate I’ve created a Glossary topic for ‘Marlinespike’ (works with the other spelling ‘Marlinspike’ and is case-insensitive)
When someone uses a word like ‘marlinespike’ it would be really useful for that to automatically link to more information on what that is.
In the above examples the links to the Glossary were added by Discourse, not by me. They are added at the point the post is saved. They can be edited by the user if required.
If we can make glossarisation automatic then it means users don’t have to always explain themselves, if they know it will be automatically ‘glossary linked’ for them.
Obviously it will take a while to gradually create all the glossary entries, and we have to create the Watched Words linking for each one manually (unless I can find a way to automate this).