Sigs - why have them?

[Lawrence]

On my vB forum I wrote a product to control what forums signatures showed in. Off topic forums were allowed, but the forums that my site was built around, they were not allowed. It worked well, and the members were happy. It was a fair compromise.

 

[Lee]

Signatures are allowed on my forums, but one image and no more than 5 lines of text which must be the standard size. No advertising of other sites is allowed without my personal consent first.

 

[RickM]

Exactly. With regards to my own forum, why should people be able to advertise their own sites? Key words are 'my own forum'.

I suppose it depends on your site. I see what you mean. You dont want people linking out to other sites. But in some cases it can be very useful for members.

Off the top of my head I used to be a mod at namepros, a community for domain owners. Sigs go to great use over there, with people using them to link to their own (or their favourite) domain registrars, domain lists, etc.

On any webmaster site they have great use to link to services, freebies, etc.

At the end of the day, there's no reason to not have signatures in the software full stop - just an on/off switch depending on if your forun would use them.

I always set signatures to only be visible to registered users with 10 posts or more. Stops spammers using them, and prevents a loss in search ranking through external linking.

 

[Dean]

But in some cases it can be very useful for members.

100% agreed. For a multitude of reasons.

I always set signatures to only be visible to registered users with 10 posts or more. Stops spammers using them, and prevents a loss in search ranking through external linking.

Interesting concept. Thanks for sharing.

 

[anotheralias]

At the end of the day, there's no reason to not have signatures in the software full stop - just an on/off switch depending on if your forun would use them.

While this is technically true, there would be one major advantage to just not having the option: you could say "sorry, there is no signature function in this software" and that's the end of it. So long as it's an option, someone is going to lobby for using it.

And I forget how you multiquote so I'm cheating someone out of an alert but, yes it's true that they can be handy to showcase links and personal interests and such - but is there any reason why that stuff can't be put on the Member's Card instead?

 

[Dean]

While this is technically true, there would be one major advantage to just not having the option: you could say "sorry, there is no signature function in this software" and that's the end of it. So long as it's an option, someone is going to lobby for using it.

This is what I've been thinking, especially if we start using the software before our competitors. Trouble is, there is one group that really should be able to have signatures, they contribute large $ to the site. I've been trying to think of a way to word it to people in a nice way, why sigs for those not in that group is not a good thing. For instance with the vb albums I told people that used disk space. I cannot think of any way to word why sigs should only be for a select few though.

And I forget how you multiquote so I'm cheating someone out of an alert but, yes it's true that they can be handy to showcase links and personal interests and such - but is there any reason why that stuff can't be put on the Member's Card instead?

That is also our plan, put custom profile fields, with labels for what is supposed to go in that field, into the member card. If it is a space to type things with no label, such as the 'status', they will type all sorts of things in it.

 

[anotheralias]

This is what I've been thinking, especially if we start using the software before our competitors. Trouble is, there is one group that really should be able to have signatures, they contribute large $ to the site.

I take your point, but is there any other possible compensation for them? If it's a free-link-ad kind of thing, maybe their links on a 'contributor's page' or something? If it's just a perk - maybe some other perk (not that I can think of one offhand)? Not that I'm saying you should try to find some other compensation, I just enjoy trying to figure out a way around something.

That is also our plan, put custom profile fields, with labels for what is supposed to go in that field, into the member card. If it is a space to type things with no label, such as the 'status', they will type all sorts of things in it.

I really like that idea. That's why I think the Member's Card is going to be one of the best new features - you can sling all kinds of clutter into it instead of sticking it in the postbit, and it's very easy to read someone's card, and without leaving the post - no scrolling or serial-clicking involved.

 

[David Thomas]

Wow, I never knew so many people were against sigs.

 

[Dean]

I take your point, but is there any other possible compensation for them? If it's a free-link-ad kind of thing, maybe their links on a 'contributor's page' or something? If it's just a perk - maybe some other perk (not that I can think of one offhand)? Not that I'm saying you should try to find some other compensation, I just enjoy trying to figure out a way around something

There is a whole lot of compensating going on already.

There really needs to be some post bit viewable difference. Thank you for giving me an idea! I'll put special information under the avatar in the post bit. And because of your great idea, they won't be having a signature, no one else will ask for one either.

 

[anotheralias]

I like your idea, and you know - the more minimalistic the postbit, the more any kind of a special perk will stand out, too. And if it's under the avatar it won't stand out in an annoying way.

 

[woostar]

Not having signatures would be a show-stopper for my forum. A lot of info/dynamic tickers are in our members signatures.
Although, as with every site, we do have rules:
Sigs are turned off to guests.
Max. 600x300 total size.
No advertising.

We also have a feature for users to turn all signatures off (as do all forums), or just individual members (kinda like an ignore system just for sigs).

 

[jonsidneyb]

I need to do some reading out here.

I would want to be able to control the size. Height and width of sigs and would want to find away to stop member cards from being used as advertising space.