Three days ago, we looked at Anarchogeek's investigation into the history of Twitter's @reply, and in that time Garrett Murray of Maniacal Rage posted an interesting response disputing the symbols' real Twitter origins. According to Murray, Robert Anderson used the @reply to address another twitter user (its current adopted and integrated use) on November 2nd, 2006. Afterwards, the @reply saw a lull in use until November 23rd when a tiny explosion of use, started by Neil Crosby, propelled the paradigm into the mainstream. Murray takes pride in his participation in this event, saying "[it] turns out that I'm not the inventor of the @reply, though I'm definitely one of the pioneers."
@ buzz - you broke your thumb and youre still twittering? that's some serious devotion
— Robert S Andersen (@rsa) November 3, 2006