"signing" posts?

[JohnnyC]

I don't sign mine. People know my name if they're my friends or I do business with them. You can make up pretty much anything on the internet, so I don't put a whole lot of credence in peoples online personas anyway, so it's sort of a moot point.

 

[jonhall]

Like @TMHeimer there's no guessing on mine, but I was just trying to hurry and get signed up, therefore the lack of a creative moniker.

When I finally stopped lurking and joined SB I decided I wanted to increase my odds of being identified if incountering another SB'er somewhere in the dive community.

I found it easy to identify other SB'ers by stickers on their bags. Years ago I met maybe the Chairman, maybe another big SB'er (I've forgotten who it was), on my way to Coz. The SB group was doing one of their big trips, also to Coz, and I introduced myself as having joined SB. Whoever it was gave me a SB sticker.

BUT, now that a signature was brought up, if I go to the personal details page, there is a signature link that allows you to type in some info and save it. Is that what shows up at the bottom of some members posts?

 

[RainPilot]

Yep that’s it.

 

[Blasto]

To sign or not to sign. What has you putting your name on the bottom of posts or leaving it off?

I view it as an indicator of familiarity with the internet culture and the degree of assimilation into it. An indirect sign of age too.

Manually signing your posts feels a bit alien on the net. Your credentials are in the left column of the table, plus there's an automated sig function. If you're not comfortable using that... it's a bit like wearing national clothes in another country (because you don't yet feel at home in what's generally worn there, not for some bad reason).

Putting a letter-like signature and info into the automated sig is more modern. It's what people did back in Usenet days, when discussions were just strings of emails with no concept of user profile, and it's still needed in emails.
On forums, I just don't use a signature at all, unless there's a good reason to, like linking to my FAQ or trying to get some business.

 

[Bubblesong]

I thought people that sign their names were the “in crowd”, worked in the industry or at least met each other for beers. Thus they are all getting to know each other as people, not just streams of consciousness. My username happens to be my name because I didn’t realize how many hilarious and awesome user names were possible, (but like a nickname you choose, instead of your friends, can’t be too puffed up: ie, Nudi-nudger, Hog-wild-water, double-bubbler, and my personal favorite: smellmybubbles Etc.)