Well... I know it can be a hassle with people posting inappropriate images as their signatures.. but on all other forums I find these available. If you are worried about inappropriate images, maybe you could have a "request a signature" where they may link you, and you approve it and upload it as their signature.
We have this discussion several times, like at Feb this year
Some like the idea, some not... @Boppins made a very good point:
If everyone had a few lines it would be a mess, and makes it harder to read the actual content. Having no signatures leaves us with quite a nice looking forum.
I cant agree more, i see some forums with signatures... and yes, it is a mess. Mostly it is not only normal text, no, you have also links, gifs... and ASCII-art. Just normal text ruined the look, but with all of these extras it becomes even more unsightly... and if you dont allow links and gifs you still have ASCII-art...
I don't see any reason why signatures would be a feature worth adding to our forums. The last thing we need is to have every page of every thread cluttered up with the same useless text that no one will read at the bottom of every post; all it will do is make each page twice as long, and it would benefit nobody.
The sad truth is, although one may find their own signature to be uproariously amusing, people in general have very little interest in the signatures of others, and after looking at them once, will ignore them from then on. Is it truly necessary to have something on every single page of every single thread that will not benefit anyone and will be ignored 99% of the time?
Why not? Just limit the amount of content you can put in the signature then. Say half a dozen lines and a couple of pictures maybe. I used to think it would create a mess, then I visited other Forums. AG looks clean, but if clean means boring and minimalistic, then no. Sigs add character, and they're good fun in expressing said character.
Signatures are indeed something only the person who made these will enjoy, not others. Most people will simply overlook them really quickly, which defeats their purpose entirely... if someone wants to make a funny statement, share a moment of their life or quote a saying or catch phrase, they can use the unlimited space on their profile's about. The forum is a place where people discuss topics, not a bulletinboard for repeated statements if you ask me... not to mention the abuse that will most certainly be around... advertisements and whatnot? Nope... I say keep them nice and tidy! =)
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Edit: Hey look! We can make signatures already! Simply make a line and type!
I've seen many forums using signatures and they are much harder to work through than ours! Mainly because of the... can you guess it? Correct... signatures! They are distracting from the proper discussion and most of the time contain jibberish and/or meaningless images, or worse... gifs that slow down loading significantly. That's a big 'nope' for me! =)
If you really wanted a signature the only place I can see putting it that would be annoying as heck is under the armatar area when posting. I would make it though that it can only be a line or two though. Don't think we need one though.
1 In general, without very stringent limitations, this would leave the forums vulnerable to indecency, extreme excess, and probably more ads. Signatures are not post/thread specific, so the content would have to be dealt with by means other than deletion.
2 If every post has something this
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big appended to it, scrolling through a simple discussion can become quite tedious. All the more if it's an image and more still if it's an animated gif. It is analogous to inserting commercial breaks between each line in a sitcom.
3 We have profiles - vast, largely untapped, regions of customizeable space - at our disposal for just this kind of thing. What content is so crucial that it mandates attachment to every one of your posts instead?
4 Boppins is a valuable resource. We need him for game and site maintenance issues; not making frivolous features to let you do something you can already do on the spot.
We do not have many users to monitor on the Forums. As it is, there are various ways to abuse the system, like the profiles mentioned, or one of the million comments on the site that goes unnoticed, so I think discounting the small chance that people will abuse a sig, and immediate get caught, is not unsound.
There are various ways of getting around the fact that sigs can be too long. Simply limit the amount of content available per sig. It's not a necessary or vital feature to add, but it's not one that is entirely detrimental or not worth considering.
Like most web-a-holics, I have been through forums where every participant had their own unique signature. I've come to dislike their very existence, not because of the length or even specific content within them, but because seeing the same thing over and over gets so old so quickly!
Sigs add character, and they're good fun in expressing said character.
We are not a large community compared to some forums... many threads consist of the same two or three people posting on each page. If only three people post on a page, you'll see at least one signature three times on the same page! If anything, I think that would subtract character rather than add it.
If it's character you're looking for, read the posts themselves. A signature is the same for every one of a user's posts, but no two posts are alike. That's where the character is... not in some repetitive epigram you see 1,000 or more times. =)
If you really wanted a signature the only place I can see putting it that would be annoying as heck is under the armatar area when posting. I would make it though that it can only be a line or two though. Don't think we need one though.
Daleks has an excellent point here.
As well as that, though, (as half the other people have been saying) signatures can be distracting if they're big and rainbowwy and are full of gifs and things. I mean, if the signature was small and limited to a line or so (like the "edit" notice, then I think it would be fine, but if we did that, then where would edit go?
There was a time when I actually supported signatures, but looking at the forums now... it would not look good with signatures. It would look messy and disorganized, and an organized forum is good for ArmorGames. Yes there are forums that actually look fine with signatures, but ArmorGames would not be one of them.
Use your bio like everyone else has been suggesting, or do what @Jacen96 does and do the -whatever words you want here thing.
or do what @Jacen96 does and do the -whatever words you want here thing.
I'm curious, what are you talking about?
This?
Today I decided to remove most of the copy/paste crap from my about, and make it something actually about me.
Currently living in a area halfway across the country from where I was, from the pacific northwest to a desert.
Being proficient at mastering the subjects taught in schools, I am currently enrolling in multiple duel credit and AP courses for my Junior year in high school.
Tending to veer away from society, I developed a keen interest in video games and movies, being a major fan of the show Dr. Who and playing Starcraft for hours on end.
