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23rd Nov 2014, 4:27 pm | #1 |
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Why is the @ used before a username sometimes?
The title says it all, I keep finding these spurious @ symbols before names, why?
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23rd Nov 2014, 4:36 pm | #2 |
Nonode
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Warsaw, Poland and Cambridge, UK
Posts: 2,679
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Re: Why is the @ used before a username sometimes?
I think it's adopted from Twitter, in which it indicates that what the writer is writing is addressed to, or replying to, a particular user. The '@' means it's easier for computers to spot that the message, on a 'broadcast' medium like Twitter, is relevant to a particular user and therefore make it more prominent in that user's view of the conversation.
I've noticed it adopted as a convention when addressing usernames in other media, too. Chris
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23rd Nov 2014, 4:36 pm | #3 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: St.Ippolyts, Hitchin, Hertfordshire QRA IO91UW
Posts: 3,518
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Re: Why is the @ used before a username sometimes?
@merlinmaxwell, it is just a way of expressing who a comment is directed at.
To be honest, it is also fairly impersonal, and does not really belong here - proper conversational English is easier to read for those of us that are a bit older! Cheers Sean
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23rd Nov 2014, 4:58 pm | #4 | ||
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Re: Why is the @ used before a username sometimes?
Quote:
Quote:
At least I know now, worst luck. |
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23rd Nov 2014, 6:40 pm | #5 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,966
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Re: Why is the @ used before a username sometimes?
It's just a convention which some people choose to use and others don't. There are no specific forum rules about it and we just ask people to use common sense.
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23rd Nov 2014, 7:05 pm | #6 |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Cardiff
Posts: 9,072
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Re: Why is the @ used before a username sometimes?
On some social networking websites such as Facebook, if you type @ then start typing a friend's name it suggests the names to auto-complete and tags the person (so the text is a link to their profile and they get a notification that they have been tagged).
That could be where the convention comes from, or maybe Facebook got the idea from somewhere else. It doesn't work in the Facebook way here, so you just get the @ in front of the name. Personally I'm not bothered by it, though I can see that as text some may feel it's rather impersonal. I'm sure nobody doing so here would be intending any offence though. |
23rd Nov 2014, 9:55 pm | #7 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,554
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Re: Why is the @ used before a username sometimes?
Do they have any function at all on the forum software?
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24th Nov 2014, 11:19 am | #8 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,966
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Re: Why is the @ used before a username sometimes?
As Paul Stenning said, they have no technical function here. '@example' is just a shorthand way of writing 'The following is for the attention of example'.
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24th Nov 2014, 6:23 pm | #9 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Shropshire, UK.
Posts: 3,051
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Re: Why is the @ used before a username sometimes?
I usually read it as 'to'.
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26th Nov 2014, 1:25 am | #10 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Magor, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK.
Posts: 436
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Re: Why is the @ used before a username sometimes?
There is at least one other forum I use that if you put @some_user in a post, then some_user will be notified via pm or email that a reply has been made to their posting.
If it doesn't work here I'll not do it again.
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26th Nov 2014, 3:57 am | #11 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 9,642
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Re: Why is the @ used before a username sometimes?
That functionality is available, under Thread Tools at the top of each thread, but not automatically.
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26th Nov 2014, 8:44 am | #12 |
Guest
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Re: Why is the @ used before a username sometimes?
Don't do it to me though.
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