# Why Do Some Posters Sign Their Posts?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 1, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280 "2003-05-01T02:16:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/1 "2003-05-01T02:16:25Z")
You know who they (you) are: **Shodan** (Regards, Shodan); **Esprix** (Esprix); **Bricker** (Rick); etc. If you don’t sign yours, feel free to offer your opinion as to why others do so. If you do sign yours, why?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/2 "2003-05-01T02:18:45Z")
I don’t here, but I used to at other sites. Just a style thing, I’d say. -Marley
😃
It was even more pointless at the other site because my handle was just “Marley.” I forget why I have the 23 over here, I’d drop it if I could and just go by my actual name.
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### Author:  [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/3 "2003-05-01T02:42:55Z")
And what about the people who don’t deign to put their signature in the actual sig box? So you still see them, even if you have sigs turned off.
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### Author:  [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/4 "2003-05-01T03:06:44Z")
My post feels naked without it.
Happy
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### Author:  [@njufoic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njufoic)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/5 "2003-05-01T03:59:03Z")
I’ve always signed posts on message boards with my real name, and I see no reason to stop now 🙂 It’s pretty much force of habit, I guess.
-Andrew L
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### Author:  [@psychomonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychomonkey)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/6 "2003-05-01T04:04:31Z")
USENET carry over, pure and simple
-PSM
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### Author:  [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/7 "2003-05-01T05:25:06Z")
Think of it as a personal signature - I signed my post _just for you_. Now don’t you feel special?
Esprix
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### Author:  [@ReBusEniGma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReBusEniGma)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/8 "2003-05-01T05:31:59Z")
I used to sign my name, but almost always with a shortened form of it. My reason was so that others would feel comfortable to shorten it to ‘enigma’. That’s what I’m usually called.
I don’t normally sign my name anymore. If people shorten it, it’s either Rebus or enigma, either way, it’s fine by me.
For the record,
~eNiGma
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/9 "2003-05-01T13:29:12Z")
Because some people post long enough messages that their names scroll off the top of the screen, and they’re afraid people won’t remember who wrote it by the time they get to the end of the post.
However, if most of your posts are one-line responses, it’s not really necessary, then, is it?
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### Author:  [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/10 "2003-05-01T14:20:14Z")
I’ve always done it, but I have a good reason.
I’m married to another Doper, and we share a computer. I’ve occasionally posted under his user name, and he’s occasionally posted under mine. Signing my posts lets people know that it was me and not Airman who posted.
Robin
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### Author:  [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/11 "2003-05-01T16:37:44Z")
A lot of my posts end with a “-B”. It just seems polite, I guess - a holdover from letter writing. After all, the letter receiver knows who sent the letter, return address & content is pretty telling, but you still sign it.
It’s also a sort of “So let it be written, so let it be done” & “Elvis has left the building” feeling, too.
-B
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### Author:  [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/12 "2003-05-01T19:46:41Z")
It’s a nice added touch, you can say so much in a sig line.
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### Author:  [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/13 "2003-05-01T20:04:50Z")
I don’t have a particularly good reason – I just find it inappropriate not to affix my “signature.” I always sign emails as well, even if they’re only a couple words. I think it’s partly because in that type of email I’m either telling someone under me what to do, and I don’t want it to be overly curt, or I’m writing a rather lengthy analysis piece to my superiors, and I want to signal the end of it.
–Cliffy
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### Author:  [@Darkrabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkrabbit)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/14 "2003-05-01T20:16:35Z")
I used to do it but have stopped in the last few months because I’ve decided that it’s ‘tired’.
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### Author:  [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2003, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/15 "2003-05-01T21:14:43Z")
I will often sign a post as it seems more polite that way. Though usually only once per thread, or when the post feels personal to me (as opposed to a simple answer or wisecrack) I also like to sign off specifically with the word cheers, which I find expresses my feeling well, and the short form of my username to give implicit permission to anyone that they can feel free to refer to me by that short form.
Cheers, Bippy
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/16 "2003-05-02T16:28:20Z")
Form & Style…
“It’s a nice added touch, you can say so much in a sig line.”
Except I have view all sigs turned off in my profile 🙂
Yours, handy
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### Author:  [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/17 "2003-05-05T02:42:28Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Esprix \*
> \*\*Think of it as a personal signature - I signed my post _just for you_. Now don’t you feel special?
>
> Esprix \*\*
Are you saying then, that you typed “Esprix” first, and then went back and added the body of your post (considering the fact that “signed” is in the past tense) ? 🙂
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### Author:  [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2003, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/18 "2003-05-05T07:16:59Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Fiddle Peghead \*
>
> Are you saying then, that you typed “Esprix” first, and then went back and added the body of your post (considering the fact that “signed” is in the past tense) ? 🙂
“Signed” as in “signed every post.”
Esprix
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### Author:  [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2003, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/19 "2003-05-05T08:03:07Z")
I usually do it… it’s just nicer that way. 🙂 Of course, it’s a shortened version of my screen name. (typing “Flamsterette\_X” all the time would get tiresome)
F\_X
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### Author:  [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-posters-sign-their-posts/172280/20 "2003-05-06T16:33:16Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by handy \*
> \*\*Form & Style…
>
> “It’s a nice added touch, you can say so much in a sig line.”
>
> Except I have view all sigs turned off in my profile 🙂
>
> Yours, handy \*\*
Sure, but I have “Fnorderator/Hide Sig From **handy** ” enabled anyway! Aha!
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