4 ms·

You could easily just use a different symbol, or pronounce it differently. We think it makes sense the way it is now, but that's only because we've all collect

You could easily just use a different symbol, or pronounce it differently. We think it makes sense the way it is now, but that's only because we've all collectively gotten used to the meaning it has in email addresses. If it had had a different meaning all along then that would make sense to us. com.gmail.cydeweys doesn't really work because you need some way to distinguish that as an email address and not just a subdomain on com.gmail. So it really does need a different delimiter, like how you need a different delimiter in URLs when it switches from the domain to the path (and then also to the querystring and fragment).

cestith 6y ago
'@' was used to mean 'at' or 'each' for a long time before email addresses. Often in pricing. '12 @ $3' means twelve units priced at $3 each. It's referred to sometimes as 'commercial at', including its Unicode name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign It was used as 'at' in computing in Algol 68 where it was a shorthand for a keyword 'at'. It has a different application as 'at' in Dyalog APL.
- CydeWeys 6y ago
  It wasn't remotely as familiar to a broad audience back then as it is now, though. Considering that people accept its non-idiomatic use for website user names even now (which is the same as what I'm proposing no less), I don't think this would be a problem.
  - cestith 6y ago
    Using your example with left-to-right domains and needing a delimiter, one could build a URL structure for mail that changes the protocol but not the path. https://com.google https://com.google. for the main page https://com.google.mail https://com.google.mail for gmail https://com.google.mail/localpart https://com.google.mail/localpart for one's own gmail account mail://com.gmail/localpart to send mail to what is currently localpart@gmail.com Alternately, we could continue to use '@' and put the localpart first. The URL method of specifying a username or username and password does this for HTTP/HTTPS. http://username:password@com.site/login http://username:password@com.site/login And currently we use mailto:localpart@example.com but we could use mailsend:localpart@com.example instead.

cestith 6y ago

'@' was used to mean 'at' or 'each' for a long time before email addresses. Often in pricing. '12 @ $3' means twelve units priced at $3 each. It's referred to sometimes as 'commercial at', including its Unicode name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign It was used as 'at' in computing in Algol 68 where it was a shorthand for a keyword 'at'. It has a different application as 'at' in Dyalog APL.

CydeWeys 6y ago
It wasn't remotely as familiar to a broad audience back then as it is now, though. Considering that people accept its non-idiomatic use for website user names even now (which is the same as what I'm proposing no less), I don't think this would be a problem.
- cestith 6y ago
  Using your example with left-to-right domains and needing a delimiter, one could build a URL structure for mail that changes the protocol but not the path. https://com.google https://com.google. for the main page https://com.google.mail https://com.google.mail for gmail https://com.google.mail/localpart https://com.google.mail/localpart for one's own gmail account mail://com.gmail/localpart to send mail to what is currently localpart@gmail.com Alternately, we could continue to use '@' and put the localpart first. The URL method of specifying a username or username and password does this for HTTP/HTTPS. http://username:password@com.site/login http://username:password@com.site/login And currently we use mailto:localpart@example.com but we could use mailsend:localpart@com.example instead.