# Sig announcement **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 23, 2001, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-announcement/83314 "2001-09-23T06:50:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-announcement/83314/1 "2001-09-23T06:50:07Z")
Lingerie should be the soul of sig files? :eek: Ok…I’ll go to bed now. ---
**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:** [September 23, 2001, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-announcement/83314/2 "2001-09-23T20:59:03Z")
Well, keep sig files short and skimpy, is what I’m saying. For those of you who slept through English class: Our first quote comes from Shakespeare . . . “Brevity is the soul of wit.” (Hamlet, act 2, sc. 2, l. 90) . . . and was ever so gently tweaked by Dorothy Parker: “Brevity is the soul of lingerie.” Need more insight? I recommend a field trip to VIctoria’s Secret or any other lair of women’s undies. your humble TubaDiva Administrator who does her shopping at “Vicki’s Big and Tall, it ain’t such a big secret.” ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-announcement/83314/3 "2001-09-24T04:30:46Z")
Sorry…I was trying to be funny, and failing miserably. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-announcement/83314/4 "2001-09-24T15:48:06Z")
No, MysterEcks, that was how I read the sentence, too. Just some confusion brought on by word order. Regarding sig files, I’ve never really understood the point. Why would someone want to end _every_ comment they make with a generic witticism? Would you insert some waggish line after every statement you make in a conversation? I know, I’ve used one a few times in the past. Mainly I was experimenting, and the sig I did use was “I said _what_?”, so it was mostly a comedic tag line to add irony whenever I made some imperious pronouncement of my own superior knowledge. But I haven’t used it in a while. I’m curious as to why others use them. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-announcement/83314/5 "2001-09-24T15:54:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Irishman \* > **Would you insert some waggish line after every statement you make in a conversation?** You’ve gotta admit, that could be hilarious – especially in court. In fact, from now on I’m going to read everyone’s sig with that image in mind. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-announcement/83314/6 "2001-09-26T12:04:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Irishman \* > > **Would you insert some waggish line after every statement you make in a conversation?** > > You’ve gotta admit, that could be hilarious – especially in court. In fact, from now on I’m going to read everyone’s sig with that image in mind. \*\* …between the sheets… ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-announcement/83314/7 "2001-09-26T12:43:27Z")
A sig is a row of flags flying on the battlements of your screen persona. Some of us need more flags than others to be truly happy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-announcement/83314/8 "2001-09-26T13:59:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TubaDiva \* > **"Brevity is the soul of wit." (Hamlet, act 2, sc. 2, l. 90)** In my book, Brevity is a very useful 6 year old sprinter which finished second in a valuable handicap at Ayr last Saturday, doubtless burdened by the extra weight of **Nostradamus** ’s cash money. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-announcement/83314/9 "2001-09-26T14:43:20Z")
Good excuse to test my new sig file… ---
**Author:** ![AM\_PM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@AM\_PM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AM_PM)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-announcement/83314/10 "2001-09-26T18:08:50Z")
If you use [sup] and [sub], then you can fit more into a single line, so sigs take less space. Being smaller, as well, they are less like the post, so they are less distracting and easier to skip for those not interested in sigs. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-announcement/83314/11 "2001-09-26T20:31:53Z")
AM/PM, the true problem is not how much space they take up in the post, but how much bandwidth they take up during the posting. I don’t know for certain, but I highly doubt that superscript and subscript codes reduce the amount of bandwidth for the sig. Some techie will gladly correct me if I’m wrong. Sigs are bad. They weren’t _quite_ as bad on the old system (UBB) when they were downloaded to the thread once and saved as data rather than downloaded with the post every time the post downloads like the username and stats. ## The “how much space they take up in the thread itself” question, i.e. sigs longer than post content, is an aesthetic point that is valid to a degree but not the real issue for downloading speed. I think. This is not a sig file. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-announcement/83314/12 "2001-09-27T04:30:52Z")
Actually, subscripting only makes the print smaller if you’re using the right fonts. In the one I use, for instance, there is no difference. (This can be true of bold and italics, too–not all fonts register them.) As for sigs, I didn’t always use one. But then I realized that someday I might think of something so profound, so utterly brilliant, that I would want to show if off even in long-dead threads. Granted, this hasn’t happened yet…but maybe it will eventually, and I’d hate to be caught short. Besides, there are dozens–or maybe even hundreds–of threads that are more of a waste of bandwidth than sigs. Anything I’ve ever started in MPSIMS, for instance.