I’m not sure if you have noticed but over to the left of this post is a little box that will tell you stuff about the person making this post, which includes my name. When you post the box has your name in it so I know who is posting.
I don’t sign my posts because thats five extra lettes to mush down and I’m really lazy.
But some of you always sign.
And I’m just wondering why?
No particular reason.
Zev Steinhardt
I’ve never done it, yet, but I think it makes it look more like a letter with your name at the bottom.
Why sign emails? The receiver can look at the From line.
Why sign written letters? The receiver can look at the return address.
It’s polite. It’s what I do with all correspondence. It’s habit.
Haj
All the reasons listed above, plus, I like to shorten my handle. That way people don’t feel obligated to type the whole thing out if they respond to something I’ve posted…
bella
I don’t always, but sometimes I do for one of two reasons:
(1) When the post is really long, so people don’t have to scroll up to remind themselves who wrote it
(2) When I want to add something along the lines of “Scarlett, who (pithy line written in third person and added as a footnote)”
Scarlett, who really shouldn’t be here because she has too much work to do
Hmmmmm, I never though about the long post thing. Makes sense to me.
I use Quasi to let y’all know that I’m friendly and approachable, even though my nick is Quasimodem.
If it makes a difference in the speed of this MB, I’ll stop. Don’t really know that much about computers, but I know this is one of my favorite places to post, and if signing my name slows things down, then I will quit.
I always sign mine as well. Mainly because I don’t like scrolling up to find out who posted the message.
And I just frequently don’t pay attention to that side of the screen. I have no idea why but I think it may be because I just start reading down screen, paying attention to just the body of the post. I’m more likely to remember who posted what if it is at the bottom of their post rather than at the top. Having read it, if something struck me, I can better associate it with the person when I see their name immediately at the end. If I had to scroll up to see the name…well, I just probably wouldn’t do it. Sheesh, I sound lazy.
Tibs.
I find that I tend to remember posters who sign at the end of their posts. I’m considering starting to sign.
-d (just testing it out)
You’re not lazy, Tibs. Or, if you are, I am too, because I do the same thing. I hate scrolling back up to check out a name, and will usually only do so if the post is especially witty or assholish.
bella–conspicuously
No worries; keep on signing.
ultra
How’s that for a name?
I usually sign mine, because it seems more letter-like, and also because my name is different from my nickname.
I have to try to remember not to sign EVERY post in a given thread, though…sometimes I just can’t make myself NOT sign, so I go to my second alternative–the dreaded initial.
~karol
I want to publicly apologize to Esprix for (gently) criticizing him for signing his posts. I’m really beginning to appreciate it when it is a long post.
Ditto. My real name is completely different from my screen name. I’ve always signed my name to posts where ever I go.
Plus, DarkWriter is pretty ambiguous in regards to what sex I am. Signing my name eliminates confusion.
Sheri
I always sign.
Back in the day, when the board used HTML codes, I would indent my paragraphs, too. I was really sorry about the change; I have to tell you.
Why?
Just an old fashioned letter writer, I guess.
And I use phony do it yourself sig lines that you can’t set your preferences eliminate, too.
You see I always read the name of the poster first and then read the post in their ‘voice’. It does take time for me to develop a voice but I have quite a few you down pat.
BTW my voice is quite a bit like Barry White.
Well, I didn’t sign my posts before, but now I do. Why? Not because I saw a bunch of people doing it (or at least, that’s not the only reason why… ;)), but because of the “long-post” thing that’s been previously mentioned. Like bella, I stripped my username down to the barest essentials, so people can use that in responding to my posts. (makes it awfully hard to do vanity searches, though ;)) Besides, it’s just polite, like haj said.
F_X
This reasons sound pretty convincing. I might give this here a try.
Narrad
I have no problem with people signing or not signing, but in case of a long post that isn’t signed, I don’t scroll up to the top. I just put my pointer on the “profile” button and wait a second for the username to show in the little box.
While previewing, I noticed that this isn’t possible while previewing. Oh well.