Help:Signatures


When leaving a comment on a talk page or other discussion, users need to 'sign' their comments by adding their 'signature' to the end. This automatically adds the user's name, a link to their page, and the date/time of the comment.

Adding signatures is important as it makes it clear who is contributing to a discussion. Even though the page history can prove who made each edit, a signature is a much quicker and simpler method for all users.

Important: Signatures should never be added to articles - they are for discussions only. That is because even if you created an article, the article is the work of the whole community, not just yourself.


Your signature can be edited in Special:Preferences - but it should always include your username, link to your user page, and not be excessively long, large or distracting. Images or flashing colours are generally not permitted.

Signatures of staff members will show up in a different colour with the badge for their rank. This should never be imitated by other users - keep your signature simple.


Signing your posts

The standard method of adding your signature is to add four tildes ~~~~, right after your comment, on the last line. Just like at the end of this sentence. ~~~

When you save the page, this will automatically change into putting your username and the date. If you have customised your signature in Special:Preferences, this will show instead of the username.

You can quickly add your signature by pressing the signature button in the toolbar (4th button along). On an Apple Mac computer, the tilde is accessed by Alt+N.

To display without the date, you can use three tildes. To display just the date, use filve tildes. These are only used in specific situations - a talk page comment would always use the standard signature.


Signature Code Output
4 tildes
Full signature
~~~~ Montario (talk) 21:18, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
3 tildes
Username only
~~~ Montario (talk)
5 tildes
Date/time only
~~~~~ 21:18, 30 January 2012 (UTC)