Origins of @InsertNameHere

I just recently caught on to the trend of referencing other people’s blog comments by prefixing their username with @. I like it. And I’m probably one of the last people on Planet Internet to “catch on”. (again, feeling behind the curve here)

Did this convention originate with Twitter?

I fully expect a whole bunch of comments where you guys reference each other’s comments with @.

Go.


Eric Burke Says:

Here is the first comment to get you started.

Weiqi Gao Says:

@Eric I first saw the @handle commenting convention on blogs that does not support threaded comments. I think it predates Twitter.

Rafe Says:

I saw it on the World of Warcraft official forums quite awhile ago.

Override Says:

I wonder if it was the JSR 175 folks, or Crazy Bob

Inject Says:

@Override. You might be onto something there!

Eric Burke Says:

@Inject and @Override, I think you are the same person.

Binny V A Says:

This trend will stop when WordPress supports comment nesting/replying.

Dennis S Says:

@what’s @the @big @deal…

dan Says:

@Santa, I would like a pony.