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When people refer to me on stackexchange websites they call me @broiyan. Where did this convention arise from? If it were taken from my email address, the @ symbol would be at the other end of my name so that does not appear to be the source of this convention.

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it comes from Twitter – nohat♦ Sep 20 '11 at 23:48
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Not really a ELU question: It is a programming convention to ensure that comments can be directed to you by including @broiyan in the text of the comment. You should get a notification that you have "inbox" items in the upper left corner where it says "StackExchange". – JeffSahol Sep 21 '11 at 1:03
@JeffSahol I think it is an ELU question; I've seen it used in emails and on forums where it's a style thing not a programming thing. – Hugo Sep 21 '11 at 6:16
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You may be interested in other modern uses of the @ sign. While Twitter popularized the @name convention, it is sometimes used in emails or other contexts where it has no technical effect (it does not trigger a notification but merely serves as a typographical cue). – aedia λ Sep 21 '11 at 18:27

2 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

Its first popular use seems to have begun on Twitter. It was formalized on Stack Overflow in January 2010. http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/01/new-improved-comments-with-reply/

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@ is sometimes referred to as the at sign, so when you leave a message @broiyan, you are directing it at broiyan.

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This doesn't answer the question. – Hugo Sep 21 '11 at 6:14

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