Why isn't there an @all thing yet?

No one ever gets a notification. If you want to speak to everyone don’t mention a specific user.

What would be the purpose? The whole @ feature is to link to specific posts. How would such a thing even work?

As @J0E says, nobody gets a notification when a response is directed at them. Lots of people wish that was a feature, though.
As @uberbatman says, when you click on a red ”@so-and-so” link, it will take you to the last answer from that person in the thread. Where would an ”@all” link lead to? I do use ”@all” sometimes, it just doesn’t make a red link when I do.

Posts addressed to @ all do not have an @ sign in front of them. That is presupposed.

@all… there, you’re welcome.

@all you’re doing it wrong.

@J0E cheater.
I see what you did there, sneaky bitch :P

Speaking of doing it wrong…

I was under the assumption that the @ feature was to be used specifically to address another user’s post in a thread, not just to refer to another user in general.
Eg.

“I was talking with @augustlan the other day and she said…” Wrong

” @marinelife What do you mean by presupposed?...” Right

Am I wrong or right?

@breedmitch I would agree with you. When I say stuff like ” I was talking to breedmitch about blah blah” I just try and bold usernames since im just talking about you and not something you said in that specific thread. Otherwise id use the @

@breedmitch, that’s exactly how the convention was explained when the linked @ feature was introduced, and some did stick to that use of it. But others immediately began using it for all references because I guess that made sense to them or they thought they were supposed to. Maybe they just didn’t distinguish between a third-person mention and a second-person direct address.

I was a holdout for a long time for the same reasons you just explained, but after a while I caved because it does make it clear when you’re referring to a username and not just typing some weirdly spelled word. Also it makes them stand out in a thread, in case you’re scanning for someone’s name. So I think this is a case where usage trumps logic and the custom has evolved at variance with the original intent.

Wow! I had no idea! I thought the @Jeruba was to merely draw attention to the name.
I never know it took you to a specific post! Gosh!
Now I’ll have to figure out how to bold text easily.
OK. Got it. But, color is so much more dramatic.

@all