You can block signs by going into your User CP. Under the Thread Display Options heading, just unclick “Show Signatures” and save it.
That’s the problem with these cute signoffs, that they cannot be turned off.
Maybe you could just allow people to use signatures as many times as they want in a thread and disallow signoffs. That way people who like them can see them and those who don’t don’t have to.
tada, mon petit pois
Sapo
I know these things bug some people, but I don’t think this rises to the level of a problem. I also felt that making a rule against signoffs is too picky. We’ve got a few rules you don’t see at every board, but we don’t need to make everybody post the same.
Not a bad idea. I think these are less disruptive and annoying than sigs, though.
In your excitement, Sapo, I think you missed part of Ed’s post:
Found it. Just for the record, you have to go into Edit Options first to find Thread Display Options.
Could someone clarify the policy as regards links within signatures? What is permissible and what isn’t?
I seem to recall this question being asked a while back, and the answer was that it should adhere to the same guidelines as links within ordinary posts (i.e., not spam, 2-click rule as applicable, etc.) This may have changed, but it’s my understanding of it and I find it to be entirely sensible.
How is tada, <random inanity> pushing what envelope? How is it different from “Enjoy” or “coitus interruptus” or “regards”? It might be tacky and ridiculous but there is no accounting for taste.
tada, les enfants
Sapo
There’s a difference between having a sincere signoff and simply using one to mock those who do. My NSHO, of course; the staff may see it differently.
Meh, I figure either have signoffs of whatever or don’t have signoffs at all. If Sapo gets roundly mocked for it then he’ll stop. I think it’s funny.
As I understand this then, it’s now okay for Shodan, who admits to intending some of his signatures outside of the Pit to be connoting “Fuck You!”, to continue using it as before. Does this also mean that simply having “Fuck You!” as a sig would also be allowed? If your position is, as I suspect it will be, “Shut up already,” then should we require **Shodan **at least to tell us when his sig means “Fuck you” and when it just means “kthxbye”?
P.S. I’ve got a goodie retort for you, Shodan: “For you, PRR, it always means ‘Fuck You’.” Use it in good health.
kthxbye
Yes, I agree- if there are sigs, then we should be able to turn them off. I don’t get the “why” of this *"I like to sign my name at the end of each of my posts. Is that OK?
You can do a simple signoff of the form:
[complimentary close - optional]
[your name]
… at the end of each post. By “complimentary close” we mean some brief valedictory such as “regards,” “peace,” etc. Please don’t push the envelope. *"
I think even one single letter is too much. We all have our name at the top of our post. There’s not need to “sign off”, when you can have a “sig”. I have no problem with a sig- I just turn them off. Use them or not, fine.
And, “don’t push the envelope” means that someone will push the envelope. Why not just say NO?
But that is not true for several of us that sign off with our actual first names as opposed to our user names. I can think of at least three of us that do so, though I do it less often than I used to.
Additionally signatures change and are displayed for every post the poster ever made with the signature marked on. The sign-off at the end of the post harkens to a style that I guess is getting rare for message boards and even Emails. However it is tied to the post only and thus remains relevant to that post. I actually have no signature currently and only use the signature feature occasionally. The sign-off is a matter of style and choice.
As to your one single letter is too much statement, are you serious? How does this affect you so badly? Is it strictly aesthetics, hyperbole or some odd form of OCD? 
Then get your username changed to reflect your first name, if you so choose.
It’s because we allow sigs, and we also allow sig blocking- both are choices. Using a sig is thus perfectly OK (it’s your choice), but using a sig that can’t be blocked is taking* my choice of sig blocking away*, and is thus being a Jerk.
You get your choice, why can’t I?
But a sig and a sign-off are not equal in this case as I explained. I am clearly not being a jerk, if fact I was being respectful of you here by not signing, not even as a dumb joke. Besides if it really comes to it, you have several options to not see the various sign-offs. You can manually ignore the posters, you can use the ignore feature or you could train yourself to glance over the repetitive sign-offs that annoy you like Shodan’s and others.
Obviously they’re not necessary. For me (and I think this is how some of the other mods saw it, too), the question was if a rule against them was necessary. Most of us said it wasn’t. Not everybody needs to post the same way.
Common sense is enough of a guide for most people here. We try to let the rules reflect that.
I disagree. These things really annoy some people but I can’t see them as jerkish.
You do get your choice. You choose not to sign your posts. So do I.
But you didn’t answer the question. Why should this bother you so much? Why on earth do you get upset, or care at all, about a freaking two-word sign-off?
It is not the two words, it is the 3 lines. One blank, one with the cute line, one with the name. Plus they break the flow of the conversation. Next time you talk to someone on the telephone, try saying Goodbye every time you finish a sentence. It is silly.
tada, kleine huhn
Sapo.
Are you also unable to mentally skip over all the button and link text that appears on every page?
As somebody who really cares about communication, I go crazy over the argument that posting on a message board is like sending a letter. It’s as wrong as Creationism.
Whether the three lines bother you or not (and I’ve never expressed any opinion one way or the other), the fact that the reason they give for doing it is such sheer nonsense ought to bother people on a site that fights ignorance.
What “flow”? We’re not conversing in real time. My response to you does not directly follow your comment–it may not even appear on the same page–which is why it’s necessary for me to include a quote box, which disrupts any visual “flow” there might otherwise be far more than putting
Toodle-pip,
Precious Poster
at the end of my message would.