Help:Signatures

Need more information on signing your posts?

Maybe you'd like to create your own custom signature?

Maybe you already have and would just like to know how to spice it up a bit?

Well, read on!

Signature Options

There are three default options. Four tildes are standard (full signature). Typing three tildes results in a username-only signature (without timestamp). Typing five tildes results in a pure timestamp (without username).

Function	Wiki Markup	Resulting Code	Resulting Display
Signature with Timestamp	~~~~	[[User:Example User|Example User]] 17:18, 21 December 2024 (UTC)	Example User 17:18, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
Signature only	~~~	[[User:Example User|Example User]]	Example User
Timestamp only	~~~~~	17:18, 21 December 2024 (UTC)	17:18, 21 December 2024 (UTC)

Note: The timezone will always either be UTC (Universal Coordinated Time) or BST (British Summer Time, UTC+1). The server is based in the UK, and will automatically use one of these depending on daylight savings.

If you don't find the tilde on your keyboard, you can use the signature button which is displayed above the textbox when editing. This will insert two dashes followed by four tildes, like so --~~~~.

Signatures do not work in edit summaries.

Personalized Signatures

Basic Signatures

This method allows you to change how your username is displayed, but you are limited in what you can do.

1. Go to your Preferences.
2. Ensure the checkbox marked Raw Signatures is unchecked.
3. Change the Nickname field to however you wish your name to appear.

There is a 255 character limit to the Nickname field, which highly limits what you can enter. Further, any special characters will be escaped so they are displayed as text. This means you cannot format your signature: what you type in is literally what you get out.

Text in Nickname Field	Resulting Code for Signature (only)	Resulting Display for Signature (only)
Blank Nickname Field	[[User:Example User|Example User]]	Example User
I have my own custom username!	[[User:Example User|I have my own custom username!]]	I have my own custom username!

Customized Signatures

This method allows you to create a fully custom signature, including links, images with no character limit.

1. Create a subpage in your userspace. For example: User:YourUserName/Sig where YourUserName is obviously your own username.
2. Add the code for your signature to this page, see Example Signatures below for more information.
3. Save this page, after previewing to ensure it looks correct.
4. Go to your Preferences.
5. Ensure the checkbox marked Treat signature as wikitext (without an automatic link) is checked.
6. Change the Nickname field.
   1. If you want a Non-Templated Signature, type {{User:YourUserName/Sig}} in the Nickname field.
   2. If you want a Templated Signature, type {{Nosubst|User:YourUserName/Sig}} in the Nickname field.

Templated vs Non-Templated Signatures

A Non-Templated signature acts in a similar way to a basic signature. Whenever you sign something, your code is pasted onto the page and will remain like that for ever more. If you change you signature, only messages you sign from then onwards will appear in the new style. Old messages will retain the old style of signing.

A Templated signature acts like a template. Whenever you sign something, code is pasted onto the page that calls the content of the page containing your signature. If you update your signature, all you old signatures will also display in the new style. The update is retroactive.

• Non-Templated Signature
  • Advantages
    • Old messages will remain correct contextually, if your signature or nickname is mentioned.
    • There is a slight reduction in server load compared to a Templated signature.
  • Disadvantages
    • If you discover an error in the code, you would have to change every signature you have made to fix it.
    • Signatures with a lot of code can make editing less intuitive, as every message will be followed with several lines of code, making it hard to identify the poster when editing.
• Templated Signature
  • Advantages
    • All your old messages will change if you adopt a new nickname, helping people to identify you faster.
    • If you fix an error, it will affect all your signatures without needing further editing.
    • The code on the page is short and it is easy to identify the user who has posted the message, when editing.
  • Disadvantages
    • Old messages may appear out of context if somebody refers to an older style signature in one of them.
    • Vandalism to your signature will show up immediately everywhere you have signed.
    • There is a slight increase in server load compared to a Non-Templated signature.

Example Signatures

This section will teach you some basic methods for creating a customized signature.

Your customized signature can be used to create a unique identity. There are some rules you must follow set down in the signature policy. You must follow these rules.

Signature Rules: What is not permissible

• Signatures which have images higher then 14 pixels high.
• Signatures which generally break the wiki in some way either through formatting or other means.
• Signatures which impersonate another user.
• Signatures which link to any of the following special pages: Special:Userlogout or Special:BlockIP.
• Signatures which link to external links that perform malicious actions (closing the browser for example).
• Signatures which contain images larger then 50kb.
• Signatures which contain blinking text or images that mimic blinking text.

Other good guidelines to follow are:

• Make the link to your userpage easy to find.
• Include a link to your talk page.
• Avoid distracting images or gifs.
• Avoid a signature that looks similar to normal text, it makes it difficult to pick out the signature in large discussions.
• Avoid the use of content that is put in <noinclude> tags in your code, this gives the server extra work.

Here is a table of some styling you can use in signatures to create different effects, you may wish to read further on piped links, advanced formatting, and web colors in order to better understand some of the code.

Function		Code Required	Resulting Display
Colored Link	Named Color	[[User talk:Example User|<span style="color:green">talk</span>]]	talk
	Hex Color	[[User talk:Example User|<span style="color:#FF6600">talk</span>]]	talk
	RGB Color	[[User talk:Example User|<span style="color:rgb(0,255,128)">talk</span>]]	talk
Font	Typeface	[[User:Example User|<span style="font-family:Times New Roman">User</span>]] [[User talk:Example User|(talk)]]	User (talk)
	Size	[[User:Example User|<span style="font-size:large">User</span>]] [[User talk:Example User|(talk)]]	User (talk)
	Bold/Italic	[[User:Example User|'''bold user''']] [[User talk:Example User|''italic talk'']]	bold user italic talk
Superscript		[[User:Example User|User]] <sup>[[User talk:Example User|(talk)]]</sup>	User (talk)
Background		<span style="background:orange">[[User:Example User|User]] [[User talk:Example User|(talk)]]</span>	User (talk)
Border		<span style="border:solid 1px black">[[User:Example User|User]]</span>	User
Box		<span style="background:cyan; border:dashed 2px purple">[[User:Example User|User]]</span>	User
Image		[[User:Example User|User]] [[Image:Face-smile.png|14px|:)]]	User

Here's an example signature combining many of the above elements into one. It also makes use of HTML character codes, such as &bull; to insert a bullet point and &nbsp; to insert a non-breaking space. This is like a normal space, but text may not wrap onto a new line, this keeps your signature in one piece.

<small><span style="border:1px solid green; background:green">[[User:Example User|<span style="background:lightgreen; color:darkgreen; font-family:Times New Roman">&nbsp;&bull;'''Example User'''&bull;&nbsp;</span>]][[Image:Face-grin.png|14px|:D]][[User talk:Example User|<span style="background:darkgreen; color:lightgreen">&nbsp;&bull;''[talk]''&bull;&nbsp;</span>]]</span></small>

This results in:

 •Example User•  •[talk]• 

Troubleshooting

• When I sign, a redlink to an uncreated page appears in place of my signature.
  • Check the page title your typed in the Nickname field matches the page title where your signature is stored.
• When signing with four tildes, the timestamp appears in some sort of box, a bit like this:
  17:18, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
  • You may have trailing whitespace in your signature, edit the code, click where the code ends and press delete a few times to remove any whitespace characters. Also check you have closed all your tags correctly.
• When I sign, other messages seem to take on odd styling.
  • You have an unclosed tag in your code. For example if you have a <big> tag, then some text, but no </big> at the end of this text, then all the other text on the page will become big too! Double check you've closed all you tags, including <span>, <big>, <small> and even bold and italic marks like ''' and ''.

Still Need Help?

You can try:

• Leaving a message on the talk page.
• Asking a user who looks helpful on their talk page.
• Leaving a message at Project Mentor or Wiki Questions.

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