OT: abuse of the '@' sign

[Polytropon]

On Sun, 29 Dec 2013 16:17:39 +0100, Matthias Apitz wrote:
> I do read, understand, but do not use because I find it unpolitely, the
> construct '@Polytroop:' in the meaning you say 'to Polytroop:'.

The "new" meaning of @ as a prefix to a name is, if I see
this correctly, its use on "Twitter" (and maybe on comparable
instant messaging systems), when embedded in normal text, to
illustrate that the person in question has a "Twitter" account
one can "follow" by the same name. I do not have such an
account, that's why this use is futile. :-)

A terrible example:

	I've been talking to @Bob about this
	new #crapware they install in his office.

In this example, if Bob has a "Twitter" account, @Bob is being
used to indicate that the reader can follow him. This is
often done in a "tweet", but also in regular text (typically
on web pages). Topics that the "Twitter" service can be
searched for are prefixed similarly by # and called a
"hashtag". Again, even though their primary use is in
messages distributed by that service, they're also often
used in web pages.

Needless to say, Bob works at $company. :-)



> IMHO the '@' sign should only be used for the expresion
> 'Polytroop at host.foo'

In today's "web 2.0" use, @somebody, as well as #something,
are as common as the modern $placeholders found usually in
web forum communities. But I didn't expect to see something
like this on the FreeBSD mailing list. :-)



-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...