I wasn't consulted on the removal of signature lines either. But then, I have never been charged a penny for the use of this website, and the organisers have. He who pays the piper calls the tune. As for getting to state who we are, or know who someone else is, SRP obligingly appends all we choose to have known on the left-hand side of each post. For self-expression we can have an avatar, and if there is some exceptional need to know someone else's identity, postal address etc., there is a personal message system.

There is also now the advantage that everything in the post, can now be taken to be deliberately intended as part of the post. I think a text signature was more troublesome than a pictorial one. How often were we unaware whether some expression of views on politics, interpersonal relations etc., which seriously coloured our view of the poster, was meant to be answered, or put us off answering? I don't see the freedom of expression in that.