[Submission] @ means membership

[bumbleblue]

The Design Problem

Federation introduces many communities. Usernames should build on the mental model that users belong to a community.

The Design Solution

This membership relation can be expressed by the "@" sign, e.g. bumbleblue@chaos.social

Why Choose ... ?

Best Practice: How to Implement ...

• Matrix, Mastodon

Potential Problems with ...

• confusion with email
• confusion with social media handles where the username is what follows "@"

The Take Away

References & Where to Learn More

[okdistribute]

How is this different from Full Address? Is this another way of describing the same concept?

[bumbleblue]

I think this in on the UI level, i.e. I will be taught about the meaning of "@", while Full Address is a protocol decision?

[okdistribute]

Interesting! I didn't really see Full Address as a protocol pattern... but if you did then perhaps we should revisit? Sort of begs the question how much do we separate a UI level pattern from a protocol pattern when they are exactly tied together -- for example, should someone be able to use '@ means membership' without using 'full address'? And would one be able to use 'full address' without '@ means membership'?