# Vox? Valete? Globos meos lambe

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103>\
**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:** 6

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**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/101 "2008-12-21T12:13:49Z")

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> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#):
>
> But we are only allowed to post the sig (which everyone can ignore) once per thread.

Why in the fire of the nine hells do you think anyone need to see your signature three times in a row? The same one? At least change it since you are already typing it.

I think you do it just because you can.

When come back, bring pie,  
CrazyChop

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**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/102 "2008-12-21T13:25:28Z")

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And to add insult to injury I notice that **Vox** is now using a signature AND doing his little thing in his posts. Urgh.

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**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/103 "2008-12-21T13:57:31Z")

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> [@bucketybuck](#):
>
> - What if more people started using similar sigs? What if rather than three or four people using them, fifty or a hundred regular posters all signed off in the same fashion?

If everyone signed off with simply their name (or a one-two-word phrase and their name), I’d consider that a good thing. My eyes tend to slide over all aspects of the messageboard that aren’t in the font I’m reading–post titles, usernames, ads, etc. By including the name in the body of the message, the poster makes it easier for me to keep track of who’s posting.

Claiming that I do it as an attention grab just makes you look dumb. Ain’t so.

Trying a reductio ad absurdam argument is similarly stupid. There’s a difference between the brief name-based signoff and an animated gif, or the brief name-based signoff and a long cutesy quote about your 43rd-level elven fighter princess.

As I see it, it’s a useful thing to include the name at the end. If the mods officially tell me to stop doing it, I’ll make an effort to do so, knowing that I’m certain to forget–but I’ll think it’s a dumb ruling. People getting all in a dither about it are incomprehensible to me.

Daniel

edit: shit, see what I mean? I’m trying not to post my name in this thread, and I still did it.

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/104 "2008-12-21T13:58:09Z")

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> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Moderator Note]As has already been noted [before](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10599417&postcount=27), what you are doing is considered a signature. Please use said signature once per thread. Thank you.[/Moderator Note]

Could you please clarify this a bit for more than just **Vox**?

I sign off as ‘Jim’ far more often than not outside of the Game Room. Quite off I add a side thought, clarifying thought or perhaps a weak bit of humer after the ‘Jim’ in ( ).

Am I in violation of the rules. I was not trying to get around the rule you quoted and I am clearly not cutting and pasting.

Now I have not had complaints about what I do and I don’t under the complaints against \*\*Vox \*\*or the frequent ones to **Shodan**.

I like when people use their actual names in their posts. Daniel and Steven being prime examples.

BTW: I almost always sign off my Emails. Email is just another form of sending a letter or note and from what I was taught, you should sign off letters, notes and Emails. It is just a polite habit. And for the record, I am not annoyed by the lack of such signatures or sign offs. I recognize different people do different things and it is not worth getting worked up about.

Jim (This is what I mean by the fact I often add a little side note or something.)

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**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/105 "2008-12-21T14:15:13Z")

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> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#):
>
> I have read how this signoff has made you feel. I have no idea why you feel that way, though.

Guess what – it doesn’t matter that you don’t understand (although that also has been spelled out a dozen times). All that matter is that you do understand that a) it annoys the hell out of (some) people, and b) it’s against the rules. Beyond that your lack of comprehension is your own problem – and a symptom of the immaturity that led to the behavior that’s gotten you pitted.

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**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/106 "2008-12-21T14:36:22Z")

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> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> Could you please clarify this a bit for more than just **Vox**?

If you’re using the same text to end each post regardless of the content of the post (whether it’s your name, a brief quote, a smiley, etc…) it’s a signature. You may not have it recorded in the signature field of your user profile, but it serves the same purpose and needs to follow the same rules as other signatures. You’re welcome to use it once per thread, and no more than that.

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**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 21, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/107 "2008-12-21T14:43:39Z")

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So… We’re not getting avatars anytime soon then?

d&r  
More seriously, on the [iPhone board](http://www.everythingicafe.com/forum/iphone-3g)I frequent, they’re running the same version of vBulletin we do, but it looks a lot shinier (except for the avatars). Would it hurt to make this board look a little more like something from this century?

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/108 "2008-12-21T14:45:29Z")

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> [@SkipMagic](#):
>
> If you’re using the same text to end each post regardless of the content of the post (whether it’s your name, a brief quote, a smiley, etc…) it’s a signature. You may not have it recorded in the signature field of your user profile, but it serves the same purpose and needs to follow the same rules as other signatures. You’re welcome to use it once per thread, and no more than that.

It sounds like I am still in the clear with what I do but you did not quite answer it. My sign-off is variable and either just ‘Jim’ or directly related to the thread and post.

I hate to nudge, but the board has never enforced this rule before and \*\*Shodan \*\*and others have been doing it for a very long time.

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**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/109 "2008-12-21T14:51:02Z")

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> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> I hate to nudge, but the board has never enforced this rule before and \*\*Shodan \*\*and others have been doing it for a very long time.

Indeed. I’ve been doing it on this board for what, 9 years now? It seems bizarre and unnecessary to suddenly forbid it.

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**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/110 "2008-12-21T15:02:13Z")

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> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> Indeed. I’ve been doing it on this board for what, 9 years now? It seems bizarre and unnecessary to suddenly forbid it.

I think it’s keen. Really.

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/111 "2008-12-21T15:30:17Z")

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> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> If everyone signed off with simply their name (or a one-two-word phrase and their name), I’d consider that a good thing.

You are wrong. Dead wrong, as our loony little leprechaun so eloquently conveyed in his OP.

Hugs and kisses,

Enola Gay

(my final post in this thread since I’ve now reached my annoying sig quota)

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**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/112 "2008-12-21T15:31:51Z")

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Peachy, in fact.

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**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/113 "2008-12-21T15:58:59Z")

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> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> As noted not all of us use our names in the email address and if so it might be a full name, rather than your normal address. For example my first name is Nikola, but I usually sign “Nick” or “Nick _last name_” because that is what I go by in all but the most formal of circumstances. I don’t always bother with close friends anymore, but I always sign my name if responding to strangers or quasi-strangers, like say someone e-mailing me that I only know from the SDMB and haven’t interacted with in flesh-space.
> 
> But ALSO, that’s how I was trained to end letters when I was in High School, damnit! I’ve finally abandoned signing my posts on this board as I slowly inch into the 21rst century, simply because it seems to drive people bugfuck and I’m nothing if not accomodating. Mr. Accomodation they call me. But for the longest time I thought that is what you were _supposed_ to do. Seems to me it was rather more common when I first got on the net back in the Dark Ages ( mid to late '90’s ). Gradually it has appeared to have become obsolete. But forgive some of us lagging behind the pack.
> 
> I only got my first cell phone two years ago. Finally moving to HDTV this Chirstmas. And I have yet to embrace 5.1 or larger - it’s still two-channel stereo for at least another year! 🙂

Ha! As an apprentice Old Fogie myself, I understand completely where you’re coming from.

My main email address until recently was [firstname] dot [lastname] dot [comcast.net](http://comcast.net) so signing an email would be superfluous to say the least, and any tendency to do so died out rapidly.

Recently I’ve added a Verizon account (while keeping the Comcast one – belt and suspenders for my home-based business) and that addy is [businessname] dot [lastname] dot [verizon.net](http://verizon.net). It now makes sense to sign my name to an email if I’m dealing with someone new to me and/or that particular address, but I still normally don’t sign emails to anyone who knows me and would recognize whichever address I happen to use.

To me, email seems somewhat closer to a conversation, albeit in fits and starts, than to a written letter; certainly in many circumstances it has a more informal air to it. But of course YMMV for a host of valid reasons.

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**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/114 "2008-12-21T16:13:35Z")

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> [@Enola\_Gay](#):
>
> You are wrong. Dead wrong, as our loony little leprechaun so eloquently conveyed in his OP.

Whether it’s good or not is, of course, a matter of opinion. Whether it’s good etiquette? I did some searching around, and while there’s no end to netiquette guides, I failed to find a single one that suggested signing a post on a messageboard was bad etiquette.

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**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/115 "2008-12-21T16:34:05Z")

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> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#):
>
> I don’t know why it bugs people; I always thought the posters using it looked much classier.
> 
> Valete,  
> Vox Imperatoris

Many epithets suggest themselves (_annoying_, _tiresome_, _pretentious_, for example.)

_Classy_ is definitely not one of them.

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**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/116 "2008-12-21T16:36:41Z")

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> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> It sounds like I am still in the clear with what I do but you did not quite answer it. My sign-off is variable and either just ‘Jim’ or directly related to the thread and post.

I’m not seeing where the confusion is. Could you provide some examples of what you mean?

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**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/117 "2008-12-21T16:47:33Z")

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> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> Whether it’s good or not is, of course, a matter of opinion. Whether it’s good etiquette? I did some searching around, and while there’s no end to netiquette guides, I failed to find a single one that suggested signing a post on a messageboard was bad etiquette.

Would you agree that violating the Terms of Agreement and apparently intentionally getting on the nerves of many fellow posters\* is bad etiquette?  
_Personally I could give a shit whether people do it or not, it just makes me think they are a bit goofy or in some cases pretentious assholes_\*. But all the whining about why you should be allowed to do it when many posters and the powers that be have expressed a desire that you stop is …entertaining.  
\*\*not you Lefty, but some people…

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**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/118 "2008-12-21T16:52:28Z")

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**sailor** , I most definitely did not open this thread. \*\*Buckeye \*\*here just got his panties in a twist.

**IP** , I’ve only been using it \*and \*posting the signature in the first post of a thread. And then only because the stupid board software can’t handle a 4-line signature when it claims it can.

\*\*LHoD \*\*and **What Exit**?, I agree.

And while I will abide by the mods’ ruling, I still say that those of you who can’t handle two lines of text at the bottom of a post are being \*far \*more petty and immature.

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**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/119 "2008-12-21T16:53:56Z")

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> [@askeptic](#):
>
> Would you agree that violating the Terms of Agreement and apparently intentionally getting on the nerves of many fellow posters\* is bad etiquette?

It looks as if this has been defined into the ToA as of last night. As i said, “signatures” on messageboards generally refer to sig files, which are generally much longer than a single word; until last night, I never heard a signoff referred to as a signature in messageboard context. Two different definitions of “signature.” So I don’t agree that it’s reasonable to consider a signoff to be a violation of the ToA–except inasmuch as the folks that make the rules get to interpret the rules. Note that, as I said, I’ve been doing this for some nine years, and prior to this thread, I’ve never seen **anyone** complain about my signoff, much less had any of the mods with whom I’ve corresponded suggest that it’s a problem.

As for getting on folks’ nerves, I think that’s a continuum. If you’re getting on folks’ nerves for no other reason than to irritate them (typing every post in white on a white background), that’s bad etiquette. If you’re getting on folks nerves for doing something totally innocuous (using “they” as a gender-indeterminate single pronoun), then the folks complaining are the folks showing bad etiquette. Other things are in between.

I maintain that in this case, the signoff is much closer to the innocuous end of the spectrum, and the folks complaining are the ones showing poor form.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vox-valete-globos-meos-lambe/478103/120 "2008-12-21T17:05:34Z")

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> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> It looks as if this has been defined into the ToA as of last night.

Let me assure you that’s not the case. We’ve made no recent amendments to the rule since:

[QUOTE=rules]  
Last edited by C K Dexter Haven; 09-04-2006 at 07:51 AM.  
[/QUOTE]

You are correct, however, that we’ve not enforced it.

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