Thread: No sig lines means no sig lines

SRP has more soul than it can control with or without sig lines. The personality is within the posts much of the time. How could it be otherwise. Moreso than if it were merely sigs. Just in my humble opinion.

Maybe it's just me but I never even read or even noticed the sig lines as I gave all my attention to the main post. I personally won't miss them (or probably even notice they are gone)

Well I do hope that the name thing gets sorted as I do like to reply to people by "real" name in the SOTD thread but I'm rubbish at remembering who's who other than a few, and often get names confused! Otherwise I guess its time for a spread sheet, as an aid memoir which would be a bit of PITA!

Originally Posted by LegalBeagle

Gentlemen,

I knew this change was coming in advance. I wasn't consulted, I merely had a heads up. At first I was a bit taken aback. I liked my sig line and I enjoyed the ability to have it. That said, the change does not detract from the "collegiality" or the "congeniality" of the forum. Heck, I'll admit that I didn't even really notice it was gone until I saw reference to it...

Admittedly, I've been relatively quietly the past few days; life has had me preoccupied with other matters. But if anyone wants to see where the relationship between the members comes in, look at the SOTD posts this week. I pointed out the curve ball life threw me, and the membership responded with words of encouragement. It meant a tremendous deal to me as I am struggling to pick up the pieces and keep things moving forward for my family and me. You can similarly look at the response that Grant (aka Baldy) receives routinely when his son, Jackie, or one of those he met along the way through his ordeals has a setback. Look to the support and encouragement that Amund received in his battles or the response after Mark passed. That is where you see the heart and soul of this forum.

And I challenge a single person here to show me evidence that they couldn't or wouldn't have shown the same support of me or any other member if the signature lines were not active during those times of need. The character and caring of the membership exists regardless whether there is a signature line. It is born of a common interest that transcends cultures, nationalities, or what type of straight a person owns; and it does not turn on whether one has a favorite witticism. We are friends here because of who we are, and that will not change because I no longer have a signature line.

Lastly, let me say that I appreciate what the mods are trying to do, even if it's not a decision I might have made. They work hard to ensure each and every one of us can benefit from the truly important work done on this site whether it is spreading the knowledge base or connecting friends new and old!

Thank you for letting me vent, I'll get off my now...

Bill,
Your post is about 98 posts late. Had I read it after the first I would not have posted the rest. I stand corrected my friend, you are 100% correct. Thank you.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

SRP has more soul than it can control with or without sig lines. The personality is within the posts much of the time. How could it be otherwise. Moreso than if it were merely sigs. Just in my humble opinion.

Once again, your correct.

Originally Posted by Jeltz

Well I do hope that the name thing gets sorted as I do like to reply to people by "real" name in the SOTD thread but I'm rubbish at remembering who's who other than a few, and often get names confused! Otherwise I guess its time for a spread sheet, as an aid memoir which would be a bit of PITA!

Use a spread sheet.

I couldn't agree more with Bill (LeagalBeagle), the brotherhood and camaraderie has nothing to with a sig line.
I have no problem with a single line with your name, but as mentioned, this can be solved placing it in the info bar of each member.

In another shaving forum (I'm sure many know which one) what and how much you can put in your signature line is determined by your level of economical contribution to the forum i.e the more money you have donated, the more text, links, pictures etc. you can put in your sig.
The result of this is that many have a signature line filled with mostly usless stuff, some of them, even whith a relatively long post takes up 2-3 times the space as the post itself, and when you get two - three of these in a discussion one page can be 15% useful posts and the remaing 85% sig lines. To me this is so annoying that I often didn't bother reading or participate in the thread.

So thank you for trying to prevent this problem

Originally Posted by Caledonian

Nobody has taken away anyone's right to add names, greetings, good wishes etc. It is just that we would have to type them every time. This is getting to sound like these things are very important, but not so important that they shouldn't be quick and easy. It doesn't seem a lot of trouble, for a courtesy, and not having them doesn't sound like the kind of discourtesy anybody is liable to notice.

Originally Posted by MickR

G'day Mick, yeah I had my sig line automatically removed too, but I wasn't sure if the rule of no sigs extended as far as a please don't sign your name at the end of each of your posts as I tend to do.

Mick

Originally Posted by MickR

Pardon my ignorance here, and this is meant to be a polite set of questions. When we are talking about signiture lines, it's what has already been removed right? It's not about signing off at the end of your post with your name or anything is it? Or is it? If it is then I will stop doing that too. No problems with that on my part.


Mick

Originally Posted by Bruno

Yes, actually it is.
We are looking at a way to automatically put your name next to the post.

Other than that, please do not put signature lines inside your post. We removed the 'sig line' functionality because that was what everyone was using for doing this.
With that disabled, some people started typing their sig lines at the end of every post. The reason we wanted the sig lines gone (other than the space they occupy) is that they're off topic and have no relevance for the discussion.

Actually Caledonian, you're mistaken. That 'right' was taken away according to the answers I recieved.

Originally Posted by MickR

Actually Caledonian, you're mistaken. That 'right' was taken away according to the answers I recieved.

Indeed. Though I admit freely that we had not looked at the difference between valedictions and expression of opinion.
Some people started pasting their old sig line (with political / philosophical expression) at the bottom of their post. That is what triggered this thread. The rules we implemented: 'no sig lines' had the effect of banning both, whereas what we wanted to target was only one thing. One of the reasons we didn't see it was because not all of us (most of us IIRC) did not use valedictions. I know I didn't, or at least not in group based communication like forum posts.

During the course of this discussion here, we also argued the issue amongst ourselves.
Expression of e.g political opinion has no place in e.g. a honing discussion. There are other places here on the site where such things should go.
Otoh, valedictions are one form of good manners, and this being a gentlemen's site, that should not be punished.

Therefore we will have to amend the rules.
Some of you were using valedictions in the actual post, and have always been doing that. If you want to continue doing that, that's fine. Just keep it limited to that.
Some others kept their valediction in their sigline. Currently, all sig lines are still in the database so we can't just turn them on again. I'll ask the devs to clear all signatures from the database, and then reenable a limited sig line.