Thread: RFC 1855: Netiquette Guidelines

(excerpt from) Section 2.1.1 (for mail):

- If you include a signature keep it short. Rule of thumb
is no longer than 4 lines. Remember that many people pay for
connectivity by the minute, and the longer your message is,
the more they pay.

I only post this because I see, here and elsewhere, a tendency among people to have quite lengthy "signature blocks". These look particularly ludicrous when appended to short postings.

Most (dare I say "none"?) of us no longer pay for connectivity by time, and a few added bytes aren't going to be noticed in one's overall amount-transferred; still, if your signature block is longer than your post, you've surpassed the McQuary Limit.

If the content of your signature block is that interesting, post it as its own thread... once!

I see that you are just below the limit, thank you.

I got special permission from McQuary.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I got special permission from McQuary.

Yeah Jimmy, I figure your post count should earn you a special dispensation.

Might I suggest that while signatures ought be tasteful and readable, RFC 1855 was last updated in 1995 long before php bulletins were in use. We might consider that netiquette 15 years old and written for plain-format email is not the law of the land anymore...

I don't have a signature line for the simple reason that i have not taken the time to find anything clever. How about this, If you don't like the signature line, then don't read it. There are too many people trying to not hurt other peoples feelings and as a result, are not being true to themselves. If it is not vulgar or tasteless, then what difference does it make?

Originally Posted by prosneek

How about this, If you don't like the signature line, then don't read it. There are too many people trying to not hurt other peoples feelings and as a result, are not being true to themselves. If it is not vulgar or tasteless, then what difference does it make?

I'd be glad to not read 'em (if they're "short stories"); and there's a user-configurable option to do just that:

Straight Razor Place Forums » User Control Panel » Edit Options » Thread Display Options » Visible Post Elements » Show Signatures

but it's "all, or nothing-at-all"; which is why I made my original post about minimizing signature-block length.

Well it looks like you can't have your cake and eat it too.

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

Might I suggest that while signatures ought be tasteful and readable, RFC 1855 was last updated in 1995 long before php bulletins were in use. We might consider that netiquette 15 years old and written for plain-format email is not the law of the land anymore...

What he said.

Considering the art we practice and regularity we use 1800's stuff, I don't think we have anything to say about a ruleset a mere 15 years old. I mean, that's practically brand spanking new! =D

However, netiquette should be observed today too because of the popularity of mobile reading - huge signatures with fancy animate gifs and shaving club affiliations look plenty good with big screens, but people reading with mobile phones on slow connections might not have very positive things to say about them. Some people's signatures are almost one and half screens worth on my phone.

There's no law about these things, but it is a courtesy extended to others. This site has been pretty good in those things, and I'd like to think it continues in the future.

And Jimmy, don't you touch that flexing fingers text in your sig - that's one thing that can't be repeated enough.