# Brevity is the soul of signature files.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brevity-is-the-soul-of-signature-files/21025>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [May 31, 2000, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brevity-is-the-soul-of-signature-files/21025 "2000-05-31T19:05:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brevity-is-the-soul-of-signature-files/21025/1 "2000-05-31T19:05:31Z")

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We’re all for creativity and expression around here, but some of these sig files are really getting out of hand.

If you can’t say it in a few lines, maybe it doesn’t need to be in your sig file.

Long sig files are annoying to read, clutter up threads, and draw extra bandwidth that could be put to better use.

What’s too long? Well, just my opinion, but it’s more than four or five lines, that’s too much information.

Please give a little thought and consideration to your fellow Teemsters and clean up your act, okay?

your humble TubaDiva  
Administrator

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brevity-is-the-soul-of-signature-files/21025/2 "2000-05-31T20:28:14Z")

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How about a serious wedgie to the first person in this thread that adds a post with a honking big signature.

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**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brevity-is-the-soul-of-signature-files/21025/3 "2000-05-31T20:45:44Z")

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YEAH! Don’t make me send Arnold out after you.

No jokes, please.

your humble TubaDiva  
Administrator  
Seriously now!

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brevity-is-the-soul-of-signature-files/21025/4 "2000-05-31T20:50:48Z")

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I have a suggestion: why not disable sig lines except for the user’s first post in each thread? I usually show my signature only on my first post (when I remember). Of course I don’t know how you’d go about doing that; I’d leave that up to the techies.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2000, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brevity-is-the-soul-of-signature-files/21025/5 "2000-05-31T22:06:39Z")

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I dunno, biblio… That’s the main way that I recognize folks. (It’s more in the stream of text than the name beside the post.) As long as they’re only a couple of lines long, I don’t see that it’s a problem having multiple instances of the same sig.