A Quick Notice on Forum Signatures

[James Falconer]

** Update: October 16, 2015 **
Signatures have been removed! Read below for more info on WHY we made this move. We thank each and every one of you for the feedback provided!


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Greetings all,

This is a quick and important notice on forum signatures.

For years now we have allowed members to add almost anything they like to their signatures. As we move forward into the fall and winter we're moving towards doing away with them completely, for many valid reasons:

1. Speed up load times
2. 'Mobile First' design in mind (signatures take up a LOT of space)
3. Curb unnecessary spam
4. Make modding easier by not having to deal with problem signatures
5. Put the focus back on posts (signatures can be distracting and make it hard to find what members have to say)
6. Clarity and unity across all communities

All that said, I'd appreciate any feedback you can provide. We don't want to simply 'flick the switch' before giving everyone a chance to reply. If you think it's a bad idea, let me know. Good idea, that's great too. Feedback is good.

Thanks everyone!

 

[mmcpher]

Will it impact the avatar? If signatures are so elaborate that they're obscuring posts, that speaks to limiting or eliminating them.

 

[Laura Knotek]

How will this affect signatures using the Tapatalk app?

Sent from my rooted Nexus 7 (2013) using Tapatalk

 

[Arizona Willie]

I enjoy a lot of them and see pictures worth saving.

But I don't believe in designing for mobiles first, either.

I see the forum on my phone sometimes, but use a Surface Pro tablet ( which is a form of mobile but is actually a full computer ) or my desktop ( most of the time ).

I would think a reader survey to determine how the forum is being accessed the most would be in order before changing to cater to people using phones.

 

[James Falconer]

How will this affect signatures using the Tapatalk app?

Sent from my rooted Nexus 7 (2013) using Tapatalk

I'm discussing this with Tapatalk as we speak.

 

[PepperdotNet]

Would like to see some commonsense rules, some of the signatures are ridiculously huge and distracting. But no, don't ban them entirely.

"Mobile first" is one thing but it doesn't mean dumbing everything down to the lowest common denominator so that it looks mobile even on a full-featured computer.

 

[davidofmidnight]

If the signature area is placed in a div, can't you just do a display:none; on it in a mobile style sheet? (Assuming you're using a different style sheet, not sure how vbulletin works with mobile sites.)

 

[HeyCori]

How about limiting signatures to plain text only, no links or references to external (non-Mobile Nations) sites, and (maybe) a character limit?

OT: If you're looking to conserve space you could shrink the Reply, Quote, Thank, Like buttons.

 

[palmujukka]

What about using a character limit for the signature?

 

[xandros9]

I still see the notice is up on the main forums page so I still must insist signatures be limited instead of axed.

 

[DuncanF62]

If you want to speed things up, get rid of "thanks" and "likes". That has has far more impact on DB performance/load times than signatures.

It makes this place look like some sort of, group hugging hippy commune. I don't need anyone's gratitude or approbation for my posts. But that's probably because I'm a miserable s​od ... :wink:

 

[xandros9]

Nooooo!

I still think changing up the buttons or limiting signatures is best.

Sent via magical carrier pigeon.

 

[anguilla1980]

I would VERY much like to at least have my signature information. It was a list of every phone I've ever owned. Is it possible for a mod to please look at my profile and email me a copy of my signature? I notice they are disabled so the info should still be there.

I would REALLY appreciate it!

Thanks!A

lex

 

[xandros9]

I would VERY much like to at least have my signature information. It was a list of every phone I've ever owned. Is it possible for a mod to please look at my profile and email me a copy of my signature? I notice they are disabled so the info should still be there.

I would REALLY appreciate it!

Thanks!A

lex

I had to dig a bit but I found this:

AT&T Nokia Lumia 1520: Windows 10 (Personal)
Microsoft Lumia 640 (RM-1113): Windows 10 (Personal)
Verizon Nokia Lumia 929B (Icon): Windows 10 (Company)
Owned: Audiovox 9000>Motorola V60>Motorola T720>LG 5350>Samsung SPH-i330>Hitachi G1000>Audiovox PPC-6600>HTC Mogul PPC-6800>HTC Touch Pro PPC-6850>HTC Touch Pro 2 PPC-T7380>HTC Arrive HTC-T7575>HTC Titan II HTC-PI86100>Nokia Lumia 1520.
Verizon 1999-2001, Sprint 2001-2012, AT&T 2012-current, Digicel 2015-current

 

[anguilla1980]

I had to dig a bit but I found this:

Thank you SOOOO much! Can't tell you how much I really appreciate you going out of your way to do that!

Thanks!!!!

Alex

 

[Tumultus]

I don't see how signatures would slow down the forums at all! I am working with MySQL databases professionally and you already pull the user data from the table in order to display them next to the posts. 1 more field doesn't have any impact on it except for signatures that load pictures and such from other websites.

As it has been suggested already, limit signatures and block external content. Problem solved!

 

[HoosierDaddy]

This is annoying. My signature was around 20 text characters and actually served as the last sentence for about half of my posts. Somebody actually got upset a few days ago when the post was misconstrued due to the missing signature. I guess, I'll have to start pasting it into half my posts.

First, make the default to not show signatures, if it wasn't already. At least then I could blame the upset party instead of the forums for the misunderstanding. LoL

And limit size and content.

In other words don't eliminate signatures, just eliminate the kinds of signatures that cause problems. Yeah its extra work, but that's why you get the big bucks. Just do what the forums I moderate do: Pay for it with Moderator pay cuts.
_____________________

Yes, if you have any doubts, I am kidding.

 

[Laura Knotek]

This is annoying. My signature was around 20 text characters and actually served as the last sentence for about half of my posts. Somebody actually got upset a few days ago when the post was misconstrued due to the missing signature. I guess, I'll have to start pasting it into half my posts.

First, make the default to not show signatures, if it wasn't already. At least then I could blame the upset party instead of the forums for the misunderstanding. LoL

And limit size and content.

In other words don't eliminate signatures, just eliminate the kinds of signatures that cause problems. Yeah its extra work, but that's why you get the big bucks. Just do what the forums I moderate do: Pay for it with Moderator pay cuts.
_____________________

Yes, if you have any doubts, I am kidding.

Mods are all volunteers.

Sent from my rooted Nexus 7 (2013) running Stock/AOSP (Android 6.0 Marshmallow) ElementalX N7-5.05 via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[HoosierDaddy]

 Mods are all volunteers.

You didn't read the last line of my post (my former sig I now have to paste in).

It may be hard to read if you don't highlight it.
____________________

Yes, if you have any doubts, I am kidding.

 

[RumoredNow]

I got it in one, HoosierDaddy.

Your posts match your user name to a fault.