When did @username gain currency as a way of highlighting a reply in online discussions?

November 10, 2008 12:07 PM

When did @username gain currency as a way of highlighting a reply in online discussions?

I've probably noticed this more since I began using Twitter more regularly, but it's certainly on the increase. At Metafilter I've usually seen:

>feelinglistless

feelinglistless:

or the original comment in italics

(sometimes including a link back to the original comment)

But @username is becoming more prevalent even here and I was just wondering if this was this in use pre-Twitter or has Twitter simply copied existing etiquette?

posted by feelinglistless to computers & internet (19 comments total)

Digg users use this version of replying most of the time.
posted by chiababe at 12:18 PM on November 10, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

@username is becoming more prevalent even here

Oh no it isn't! *sticks fingers in ears, head in sand*

We discussed this two years ago and it appears to have gained popularity through Digg, but I think Twitter has made it even more popular. It may have started somewhere else, but I would blame Digg for its popularization.
posted by grouse at 12:19 PM on November 10, 2008

I first saw it prevalently used in the Gawker Media blogs, back before they switched to linked, and eventually threaded, comment sections. The "@username" is now codified in that it is automatically generated when you click on a "reply-to" link. I'm not claiming this is the first use of the format, but it is certainly an early and influential one.
posted by muddgirl at 12:19 PM on November 10, 2008

I would say that it has not gained currency here, although some people do use it. It's basically a rather rude form of address (no one want to be talked at) to be denigrated here at mefi.
posted by caddis at 12:20 PM on November 10, 2008

Plus it's misleading, as the @ symbol is universally seen as an indicator of an email address. It's also "grammatically" incorrect: would you say "At FeelingListless, I've got a comment for you..."?

I hate it. Fark's convention is pretty good, bolding the name of the subject user whenever it's used.
posted by Aquaman at 12:27 PM on November 10, 2008

I should have said I do like its usage. It differentiates nicely the replies from the new comments.
posted by feelinglistless at 12:28 PM on November 10, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Monitoring use of "@username" is a good way to tell who pays attention to social conventions around here, and who chooses to ignore nuance and import norms from lesser websites.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 12:32 PM on November 10, 2008 [9 favorites has favorites]

I remember using this '@username' nomenclature on local BBS forums in the early 90's.

Typically, it would be used when there were multiple recipients to the message. '@username' would be used to call out that a particular line in your reply was more for that specific user rather than a reply to the group.

@solipsophistocracy: Social conventions? Pfft.
posted by thisisnotbruce at 12:57 PM on November 10, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

It's used heavily on various SF-related blogs and forums, many of which have heavy cross-over with the old-school Usenet crowd.
posted by Happy Dave at 1:29 PM on November 10, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

feelinglistless wrote:

> When did @username gain currency as a way of highlighting
> a reply in online discussions?

When enough people wandered onto the internet with no sense of netiquette, probably while carrying live chickens, to drown out the voice of reason.

I can't remember seeing this on SF usenet from back in the late 80s/early 90s.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 2:50 PM on November 10, 2008

I recall "@name" being used in IRC channels in 2002. It's certainly not a new phenomenon.
posted by Wasabunchi at 3:45 PM on November 10, 2008

Wasabunchi, in IRC, "@name" is how ops are identified.

As to the original question, I first remember seeing it as in unthreaded blog comments in this format: @[name][time of comment]. I thought it was an elegant way to keep from having to clog up an already convoluted conversation with quotes.
posted by blackunicorn at 4:19 PM on November 10, 2008

I can't find the reference, but I got called out on metafilter for responding to someone using the "@_______" format- apparently it is considered pretty rude. I thought it was neat and tidy, but have since stopped using it assuming everyone else knew something I didn't.
posted by arnicae at 5:22 PM on November 10, 2008

I use an italicised quote if I'm referring to a specific sentence, I tend to go with @username otherwise. Bolding is an unnecessary eyedrag and the caret lacks elegance. I'll switch over to a colon though, since so many people appear to find the symbol rude.

(I'm still not quite seeing the argument for 'it's rude'. If you make a comment directed at a specific user, why not use an at symbol to make that clear?)

And if there are a large number of people with a violent hatred for the convention, it might be worth dropping a line in the FAQ about what the preferred format is. @username is SOP elsewhere on the web and newbies are not mind readers.
posted by the latin mouse at 6:17 PM on November 10, 2008

If you make a comment directed at a specific user, why not use an at symbol to make that clear?

Because it's rude to talk at people rather than talking to them.

I just added "How should I reply to a comment?" to the FAQ suggestion queue.
posted by grouse at 6:54 PM on November 10, 2008

If you make a comment directed at a specific user, why not use an at symbol to make that clear?

the_latin_mouse, it turns out that the English language already contains a mechanism whereby you can do that without recourse to an unrelated typographical symbol and in a fashion that's more friendly and less peremptory and businesslike than using that symbol.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:08 PM on November 10, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Re: "It's basically a rather rude form of address (no one want to be talked at) to be denigrated here at mefi." and "Because it's rude to talk at people rather than talking to them."

Might it not also be rude to take everything so literally and presume that rudeness abounds where none is intended? Frankly, I've never even thought that it might betray any implicit offensiveness.

But, then again, I'm Canadian and play well with others, so I might not know what I'm talking about.
posted by astrochimp at 9:58 PM on November 10, 2008

Plus it's misleading, as the @ symbol is universally seen as an indicator of an email address. It's also "grammatically" incorrect: would you say "At FeelingListless, I've got a comment for you..."?

@Aquaman (;)) it is grammatical if you imply a "directed" before the @ symbol.

"Directed at Aquaman: it is...."
posted by softlord at 5:41 AM on November 11, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

And if you imply other things, it's not. I still find the construction awkward and ungainly, even with the implied verb. Been BBSing since the early 1980's, FWIW.
posted by Aquaman at 8:29 AM on November 12, 2008