Category:User Signatures

A signature is a simple link to a user page of someone who edited the page, with the date and the time it was posted displayed after.

Signatures are an important part of talk pages, as it allows you to see the who posted a certain comment on a talk page.

It is discouraged to add a signature into a main article. The articles are there for a professional display of information, and do not need to be obstructed with a user's signature.

Normal signatures

Signing your name is quite simple. Just add four tildes (~~~~) and your name and date/time will show up when the page is saved.

To sign with just your name, use three tildes (~~~); and to sign just the date and time, use five tildes (~~~~~).

Unsigned comments

If a comment is left that is unsigned, you can use the {{unsigned}} template to signify who posted it.

You can find out who posted something by looking at the pages history and clicking diff to find differences in the page.

Custom Signatures

Custom signatures are a quick way to insert formatted signatures with a simple template, using the same tilde method as you always did. Heres a quick guide:

1. Create 2 subpages for your userpage, [[User:YOURNAME/Sig]] and [[User:YOURNAME/SigX]].
2. Insert your signature code in [[User:YOURNAME/Sig]]. If you wish to add an info bar to that page, do so with the noinclude tags. Be sure to add the <noinclude>[[category:User Signatures|YOURNAME]]</noinclude> to the end of the code.
3. Put {{User:YOURNAME/Sig}} in [[User:YOURNAME/SigX]]. This inserts the signature code as a 'template'. Again, add an information bar if you please.
4. Go to your Preferences, and look at the "User Profile" tab.
5. Tick Raw Signature under the Nickname box, and then put {{SUBST:User:YOURNAME/SigX}} into the nickname box. Remember to replace all the YOURNAMEs with your user name.
6. Now whenever you use the four tildes, it will show up as the custom signature you made.

Potential Hazards

Following the method above, a template will be included on every page that you sign. After many signs and edits, your signature template may be included on hundreds of pages. This large amount of inclusion may potentially slow down the wiki, especially if you decide to edit the template. Please avoid editing your signature frequently.

One solution for changing it is to create a new sig on [[User:YOURNAME/Sig2]] and put {{User:YOURNAME/Sig2}} on [[User:YOURNAME/SigX]]. A side effect is that should you decide to edit your signature, all signatures previously posted will remain in their old styles, since the old template link is embedded in each page.