# Vox? Valete? Globos meos lambe **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 20, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103 "2008-12-20T19:27:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/201 "2008-12-22T12:19:11Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > To the contrary, I did not declare my dissinterest. Pay to post is over, you weren’t comped, the transaction clearly went the other way despite the ambiguous construction, it isn’t spelled like that and it’s _on_ the contrary. Unless it was a pun, in which case I might have to make it a sig. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/202 "2008-12-22T13:31:14Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Hey, I think you should keep adding in your extra bits and pieces. I bet they are always really funny, and witty, and deep and meaningful and funny and deep and witty. > > Tell the truth, you get about twenty private messages a day don’t you? From people who want to tell you how much they laughed at one of your message sign off’s, or from people who were inspired to reach that little bit further, to push that little bit harder, to dream the impossible dream, and all because in one line of text at the end of a relatively innocuous post you managed to throw everything into perspective… > > …and change a life. > > Dont stop, dont you dare stop. Sarcasm noted. But wow!! If ever there was a pompous, blowhard response to elevate the whole issue to a new level of dumb, man, you’ve accomplished it! Way to go! Good job! Here’s a coffee mug with “Worlds Greatest Boss!” on it. Congratulations you life winner! :rolleyes: Tripler My new goal: Include my sigs in just to validate Tony Little (err, I mean **bucketybuck** ). ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/203 "2008-12-22T13:42:58Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > Sarcasm noted. But wow!! If ever there was a pompous, blowhard response to elevate the whole issue to a new level of dumb, man, you’ve accomplished it! Way to go! Good job! Here’s a coffee mug with “Worlds Greatest Boss!” on it. Congratulations you life winner! > > :rolleyes: > > Tripler > My new goal: Include my sigs in just to validate Tony Little (err, I mean **bucketybuck** ). Two questions Why does the coffee mug have to say “worlds greatest boss”? and, who is Tony Little? Everything else is all good. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/204 "2008-12-22T14:06:04Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Two questions > Why does the coffee mug have to say “worlds greatest boss”? It’s something generic and loosely related to achievement, but still inappropriate to the immediate situation. Remember, it’s the thought that counts. > [@](#): > > and, who is Tony Little? Some “life coach” dude. I kind of brainfarted and wanted to invoke the spirit of the freakishly tall [Anthony Robbins, but](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Robbins) . . . [snark on] I gave all necessary attention to your post as was due, and figured I was close enough.[/snark off] Just now, I did the research to find out who it was I was looking for. > [@](#): > > Everything else is all good. Good, 'cause if it weren’t I’d give you the four famous words a Gunnery Sergeant once bequeathed to me, which have, quite honestly, help guide my life. Tripler Here’s your life-changing guidance: “ **Suck it up, Princess.** ” ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/205 "2008-12-22T14:55:37Z")
> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#): > > Yes, this is why I do it. I want to include the signoff in every post, but I am prohibited from posting my entire signature more than once per thread. I don’t know why it bugs people; I always thought the posters using it looked much classier. > > Valete, > Vox Imperatoris However, according to the site rules, > [@](#): > > How many times should I include my signature in a thread? > Once per thread should be sufficient for people to admire the pearl of wisdom included in your signature. If you post multiple times in a thread it is recommended that you only include the signature in one of your posts, doing this more than once per thread should probably get reported to a mod. Something to think about. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/206 "2008-12-22T15:25:36Z")
I guess I don’t get this whole outrage about signoffs/signatures. And I certainly don’t understand why the rules say to put it in a board-function signature, AND then only use the signature once per thread. I mean, a lot of posters say repetitive things, using the same words over and over, or use tired memes (“just once, for 20 minutes”) and we don’t seem to have a rule preventing them from so doing. Once you’ve developed reading skills you can, at a glance, pass over a signoff like Enjoy, Stephen utterly without either memorizing it or even comprehending it, really. It’s like a period at the end of a sentence – it merely signifies an ending. No one “reads” a period. It’s just something one notes at high speed while moving on to interesting stuff. IMHO I spend a lot more effort reading a formatted board signature because it’s usually more complex than the valedictory signoff we are so used to from other formats. And then there are the micro-text posters…talk about forcing your reader to work for the content. A lot more obnoxious behavior goes on on these boards that doesn’t seem to get addressed. Try bucking any popular, fiercely-defended trend like Absolute Gun Rights or Legalize Every Intoxicant, and you’ll immediately draw personal attacks regardless of the quality or content of your post. Sometimes these personal attacks will be couched cleverly enough to avoid moderator warning, but they are as repetitive, reflexive, and content-free as any signature. I don’t try to control the format of anyone else’s posts, you know (membership in the Grammar National Socialist Party aside). The fact that others are – and are apparently making some kind of issue out of it, as if it were important – is very depressing. But if Big Brother requires that we post in a certain way, Big Brother, _as always,_ wins. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/207 "2008-12-22T15:55:35Z")
> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#): > > Yes, this is why I do it. I want to include the signoff in every post, but I am prohibited from posting my entire signature more than once per thread. I don’t know why it bugs people; I always thought the posters using it looked much classier. > > Valete, > Vox Imperatoris Your signature reminds me of that smirky fucking grin on the face of G.W. Bush; the world would be better off without it and I would be happy to never have to see it again. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/208 "2008-12-22T16:17:44Z")
The think that annoys me more about his posts is not the sig line over and over and over again, it’s that he edits about half his posts. Dude. It’s called Preview. I mean, I can ignore the sig line, because I see it and think, “Okay, he’s done. Time to move on.” But then I see the edit below that and it’s like whiplash. Quit it. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/209 "2008-12-22T16:23:11Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > I guess I don’t get this whole outrage about signoffs/signatures. Speaking for myself and possibly Elucidator, I’m not outraged by the signoffs. But they are annoying in the sense that when you want to respond to a post, you have to peel them away from quoted exerpts, which, with Windows text boxes, means exercising excruciating accuracy when highlighting them because Windows seems always hell-bent on grabbing some random set of extra letters and characters just as you think you’ve finished highlighting what you wish to remove. When you’re already pissed off because you’re responding to something stupid, the spastic interface serves only to exacerbate your frustration. Therefore, instead of responding simply, “You’re wrong and here’s why…”, one tends to respond, “You’re a fucking idiot and here’s fucking why…”. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/210 "2008-12-22T16:26:16Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > :smack: Damn! I’ll NEVER be kool! Anyone who spells cool with a K is by definition, kewl. ---
**Author:** ![Wiggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/0ea827/32.png) [@Wiggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wiggie)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/211 "2008-12-22T16:33:39Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > No it’s not :). Chat/IM is the equivalent of having a conversation in a coffee shop. Well, in _my_ opinion, a chat room is the equivalent of everyone sitting around in a coffee shop and all talking at the same time so that no one hears each other! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/212 "2008-12-22T17:02:28Z")
My gosh, how petty. I have been signing my posts for the better part of six years. I was informed that some posters found it offensive. Accordingly, I stopped typing it and started using a sig. I was informed by a mod that I was to use the sig function only once per thread. I even opened a thread about whether or not to sign my posts, and the consensus was ‘meh’. So I started typing it again. Now there is a rule against typing it? Why on earth? There has been talk, over the years, about raising the tone of the boards. I think this is a step in the opposite direction. This is not like conversation to me. That would be a chat room or IM session. We do not respond in real time - it can be hours or days between a post and a response to that post. That, to me, makes it more like e-mail and less like a telephone or RL conversation. One signs e-mail and snail mail letters. Yes, the recipient could look at the return address at the top of the page, or the envelope. But you sign nevertheless, because it is a mark of what amounts to endorsement by the sender. Did you really think it was necessary for Barack Obama to waste those extra seconds at the end of his campaign ads to say “I’m Barack Obama, and I approved this message”? It’s a quirk I have developed over the years. I fail to see any significant harm to doing so, and it makes it clear (to myself, at least) that this is just a messageboard. It is **not** real life. I do not believe that two extra lines in my posts represent a significant increase on the load on the servers. I am not doing it to tick anyone off. I see absolutely no reason for this silly and arbitrary rule, and I hope the mods will reconsider. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/213 "2008-12-22T17:10:10Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Did you really think it was necessary for Barack Obama to waste those extra seconds at the end of his campaign ads to say “I’m Barack Obama, and I approved this message”? Yes, because before that we had “Committees to Reelect (Candidate)” using lies and smear tactics in their ads that if the candidates were called to task would deny responsibility for seeing as how it wasn’t \*their \*campaign that released the ad. It wasn’t a waste of seconds at all to confirm that whatever was said in the ad, Obama would take responsibility for. It’s pretty clear that around here your posts are considered your own because it’s against the rules to allow someone else to use your registration to post on your behalf. Therefore, there’s no need to endorse your own posts. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/214 "2008-12-22T17:18:57Z")
[quote=“Shodan, post:212, topic:478103”] I see absolutely no reason for this silly and arbitrary rule, and I hope the mods will reconsider.QUOTE] To my point. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/215 "2008-12-22T17:30:45Z")
I love the smell of whiney and petulant in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/216 "2008-12-22T17:48:05Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > My gosh, how petty. What’s petty is having people ask not to do something and keep doing it. I can understand why marriages so often end in divorce if every time one spouse asks for something they are then asked to provide substantial reasons justifying why it should be done. > [@](#): > > It’s a quirk I have developed over the years. I fail to see any significant harm to doing so, People have told you they prefer you do not do it. Why don’t you try to develop the opposite quirk? > [@](#): > > I am not doing it to tick anyone off. But you _are_, in fact ticking people off and they are telling you. Some people are annoyed by people slurping their soup or making noises while they eat. You may consider that it is stupid to be annoyed by that but if someone tells you they are annoyed do you stop doing it or do you start an argument? > [@](#): > > Regards, > Shodan Fuck off. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/217 "2008-12-22T17:54:54Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > It’s like a period at the end of a sentence – it merely signifies an ending. Sorry, dude, but your sign off is by _far_ the most annoying of all. To me, anyway. “Enjoy, Stephen” or “Regards, Shodan” are at least obviously sign-offs. And “Daniel” isn’t so bad 'cause it’s a name. But yours, my friend, is a noun. A noun that is not ever used as a name. You can argue that posts are like emails, and thus can reasonably be signed, but people sign them with names, not nouns that are not names. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read a post of yours and ended up scratching my head and saying “what does a sailboat have to do with anything?” Yours doesn’t “signify an ending.” Yours signifies content. So if you must sign your posts, and signing your posts is allowed, I beg of you–at least sign it with Sincerely, Sailboat"or something like that. Please? And you know, I find it funny that so many people are accusing others of being “outraged” by the sign-offs. I’m not outraged. I find most of them somewhat annoying only because they clutter up the place. But the part that IS really irksome is that so many of the post-signers insist on doing it even though it annoys others. Really, what are you trying to prove? That you’re a rebel or something? p.s. I do love it when **Sailboat** and **sailor** show up in the same thread. It’s just so gosh-darn cute! I just need to get someone to sign up with the username **Casserole** so I can have a buddy too. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/218 "2008-12-22T18:07:32Z")
> [@Orbifold](#): > > One the one hand, I can’t stand the fetishization of civility. Civility is not an end. It’s a means. The end is _decency_. When you fetishize civility and treat it as an end in and of itself, when you pay more weight to the empty gestures and rituals than to the decency from which they’re supposed to flow, you get…well, the internet, where civility is a club to hit people with and the moral high ground is just a better vantage point from which to throw mud. > > So, yeah. Reflexive signatures? Please, no. When I see “Regards” at the end of every single post, including flames and snide insults, I begin to suspect that you don’t actually hold us in any kind of regard at all. > [@Shodan](#): > > My gosh, how petty. > [snip] > Regards, > Shodan It’s annoying for the exact reason \*\*Orbifold \*\*says. If you just signed “Shodan” or changed the greating according to topic and tone, it wouldn’t be grating. But when you’re in the middle of a conservative/liberal flamefest and end a post with Regards, Shodan it looks really smug and condescending. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/219 "2008-12-22T18:27:32Z")
[quote=“Liberal, post:214, topic:478103”] > [@Shodan](#): > > I see absolutely no reason for this silly and arbitrary rule, and I hope the mods will reconsider.QUOTE] > > To my point. Well, no offense, but it does not seem to me that the two extra lines involved in typing “Regards, Shodan” should give any greater problems that any other two lines. Less, in fact, because they are separate from the main body of the post. I don’t see any drawback to your leaving them in, if they are that difficult to highlight > [@sailor](#): > > What’s petty is having people ask not to do something and keep doing it. Depends on what is requested. If you ask me to stop doing something that doesn’t harm you in any way, then yes, that is a petty request and not worthy of honoring. > [@](#): > > People have told you they prefer you do not do it. No, actually ISTM that you are mistaken. Most people don’t care, as has been expressed in this thread and the others in which it was discussed. > [@](#): > > Some people are annoyed by people slurping their soup or making noises while they eat. You may consider that it is stupid to be annoyed by that but if someone tells you they are annoyed do you stop doing it or do you start an argument? Your user name should be capitalized. Please have it changed at once. IYSWIM. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/220 "2008-12-22T18:41:26Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > [QUOI don’t see any drawback to your leaving them in, if they are that difficult to highlight. It’s a matter of continuity. Leaving them in means you’re responding to a salutation or other non sequitur. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103.md?page=12)