Use "@example.com" as an alternative to "site:example.com"

Metaright

Considering that snaps are used to limit searches to specific sites, it would be very helpful for the same symbol to be used as a substitute for the "site:" operator even if a custom snap isn't available. Snaps and "site:" fulfill the same function, so being able to use both would make these searches more intuitive and quick.

For example: If I want to search only on Reddit.com, I can use "@r". If I don't find what I need and want to search Hackernews instead, it would be intuitive to be able to just switch to "@news.ycombinator.com" instead of having to type "site:news.ycombinator.com".

nobodywasishere

You can use the @hn snap for hacker news, and if any are missing you can add custom bangs for your account. I'm not sure if this is a good idea as it increases the complexity of bangs / snaps, and potentially has negative side effects (like if you're looking for someone on Mastodon and type @username@mastodon.social, which would get converted to site:username@mastodon.social)

Metaright

nobodywasishere Hacker News was just an example; substitute it instead for a website that does not have a snap.

Bangs and snaps are not the same, so making a custom bang does not help here. And even if it did, adding a custom one for a site individually does not help as an alternative to "site:" generally.

If you wanted to search for the user @username@mastodon.social within the website mastodon.social, you could use quotation marks, I assume. Something like searching "@username@mastodon.social" @mastodon.social.

RoxyRoxyRoxy

Metaright Maybe double at signs? (@@example.com -> site:example.com)
I don’t think forcing usage of quotations for queries starting with @ is the right move here, especially for newer users this could become very confusing. I can’t think of any time where double at signs would have the same collision, but let me know if I’m wrong on that front.