STOWiki:Signature

Signing on the wiki is important as it enables the author of a comment to be recognized.

Signatures are normally only ever added on talk pages - it is discouraged to sign on the actual articles, apart from on specific occasions.

Standard signatures
To sign your name, four tildes ( ) will be automatically replaced when saving your edit by your default dated signature.

Three tildes only ( ) will add your signature without the date and time, whilst five tildes ( ) will add the date and time without your signature.

Unsigned comments
Unsigned comments can have a signature added easily using the unsigned template, and we ask that people add this whenever a comment is unattributed (whilst notify the commenter if needed).

The template takes one argument - the name of the comment's author.

Usage example:

creates: —The preceding unsigned comment was added by.

Signature templates
There are a couple of templates you can use to quickly create something slightly different to the default design.

To use these, go to your Preferences. In the "Signature" edit box, add   and tick "Raw signature".


 * user - simple (takes one argument, the username)

Custom signatures
Instead of adding in the whole HTML code in order to add in your signature, here's a quick guide to insert signatures as a template:

If you wish to add an info bar to that page, do so with the noinclude tags (see User:bobalobabingbong/Sig for an example). Again, add an information bar if you please and check out User:bobalobabingbong/Sig1 for reference.
 * 1) Create two pages,   and , where "X is would be the number of your choosing.
 * 2) Place your signature code in.
 * 1) Place   on  . This inserts the signature code as a 'template'.
 * 1) Go to your Preferences, and look at the "User Profile" tab.
 * 2) In the "Signature" edit box, put   and tick "Custom signature".
 * 3) Now you can use your custom signature as usual with  .
 * 4) Tadaa!  [date]

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 if this is the case, and check the following suggested solutions:

Solution one
One solution for changing it is to create a new sig on  and put   on. 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.

Solution two
Another approach around this is, using the original example, to put  directly in the box, without a SigX intermediary. This copies the output of your template to the edits you sign, instead of including the template itself. This method results in the same appearance as the former method, and greatly reduces the chances of affecting wiki performance. A side effect is that should you decide to edit your signature, all signatures previously posted will remain in their old styles, since the code is embedded in each page. Also, longer signatures may take up several lines of code and make the source unreadable for editors - use sparingly.

Things to avoid
When making a signature, please avoid making it obtrusive or unreadable (preferably on both dark and light skins). It should not affect surrounding text to any great extent, and any image use should be limited.

If you are substing the full sig code into an article, please ensure it does not use too many lines in an edit window.

Please ensure your html/wiki code is valid and all tags are closed.