It reminds you not to implement signatures on the base featureset 
[quote=ājcolebrand, post:39, topic:1127, full:trueā]Just kindly take it in the spirit it was intended, and Iām all for it :D[/quote] It is. 
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While weāre on the subject of unnecessary clutter, Iām finding ā6 people liked this. Like it too.ā and all of its numeric variants to be a waste of space and somewhat mind-numbing to look at. If that number is so important, put it up there on the heart or something.
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Likes reduce clutter by stopping people posting messages saying how much they like a post. I do think you have a point though about putting the number of likes next to the heart
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Best thread on Meta. You all win one Internet.
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I like the idea of putting it in that unused āicon barā space. However, I expect thatās because itās literally an extensible bar that may be populated by other things later.
It could go to the right, depending on how full that space gets ā¦
I think the likes as implemented are a bit less evil, since theyāre in the negative space, so they arenāt as easily confused with part of the conversation to begin with (unlike a typical signature).
Signatures seem to be a badly-thought out solution to a problem which is perhaps no longer relevant. Yes they serve the same purpose as an āabout meā page for the most part. In some forums, they are a useful way to provide relevant information. For example, on the plexapp forums, I have my plex configuration and hardware in my signature, as thatās the first thing someone will ask for when I post a question. An about me or site-specific custom field would solve this problem.
The new problem being of course, that no-one would bother to check your about me page to see if youāve provided the information, and would ask anyway. I quite like the hovercards idea someone mentioned.
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Personally I think signatures are not useful. If you want to share a message or details, you can do so in the āAbout Meā section of the profile. There it will also be red by relevant people. Adding it in every single post forces others to read itā¦ which I do not like.
There are only a few forums that I really use signatures on. Otherwise they are usually a small graphic or one line of text (usually a link) to something that I may find cool or interesting. They donāt really contribute to the conversation and many times when Iām browsing a forum I find myself kinda annoyed to the point of sometimes just leaving when signatures are getting out of hand.
The example here was perfect in that signatures get in the way and are distracting. Many communities has rules on exactly what you can have in the signatures. My belief, is that they are causing a problem and not really providing a solution the majority of the time. Itās a feature that is there to look good on paper and not good in principle.
The solution to this could be having a contact summary when you mouse over a memberās avatar. This can allow you to send a private message, email, or contact them in some other way. But what this is exactly solving is minus a click to the userās profile page. Perhaps nothing to really worry about āfixingā because itās not broken at all.
There are tones and tones of forums that allow signatures, not to mention every huge SEO/IM forums with 50.000+ online. it has become like a default setting for forum alongside with polls.
- Allow signitures
- Allow to turn on/off images in signitures (from admin cp)
- Allow to control length of the signature
- ??
- Profit
What if we had some kind of just-in-time reminder that you can customize the text on the usercard? Thatās what pops up when I click the picture or name on the left.
This fulfils the traditional use of āI want to know more about this person and why I should trust or believe themā or āI want to know what this person doesā, and I think it will be a fitting replacement for the signature.
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What @riking said.
Even if a signature is ājust a linkā, itās noise that distracts from the conversation. If I have a favourite quote or link, it can go in my profile where people can see it if they want to know more about me. Why do people need to read it more than once? And in every post that I make?
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Just because it is a feature in all the other forum packages doesnāt mean that it is appropriate for Discourse. @rikingās idea for user cards would be much more appropriate but I donāt think signatures should just be placed at the end of the post in a static context. Then that means putting in additional user settings to totally remove them or not. Of course, guests and users that arenāt signed in are cut out of this preference.
User cards such as @ricking has suggested is a better way to solve the signature issues. They donāt block the post unless your wanting to look at them and they arenāt repeated a dozen times over and over again as you read the page. Sometimes when I browse random forums I find myself scrolling between one or two lines of actual post compared to several lines that a signature takes up.
Blindly adding in a feature because it is widely popular in other forums is a big failure to see the entire point for why the feature was created in the first place. Look at the problem that the specific feature is trying to handle then see if there is a better way to implement that. Simply coping what everyone else is doing is not a very brilliant way to create a superior product. While you might be able to implement every feature better, you are not being a unique product compared to others.
It has also been brought up by others that perhaps the reason for why the signature should be there is no longer valid due to profile pages and the like.
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[quote=āIdes, post:55, topic:1127ā]@rikingās idea for user cards would be much more appropriate
[/quote]
(emphasis mine)
Iām sorry, I wasnāt clear on this the first time - what I posted already works.
Also, Iām not ārickingā anybody
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Removing widely popular feature that is already part of userās perception and behavior just because āNot to be like othersā is not a way to become an unique product. we are talking about thousands of users who are already used to this option, use it and obviously like it. I hope we are talking about discourse as an alternative, faster, better in terms of user experience platform for already established communities and we should be thinking about UPGRADING the features, making them easier to use, more fun or more convenient, not REMOVING them entirely. As for user cards - the point of signature is to be displayed in the post directly available to all users, while user cardsā¦how many of you actually clicked on another user just to read user info?
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If you want signatures so much, build a plugin. Nothing is stopping you.
Signatures are not going to ship in core, sorry.
Sam Saffron, co-founder
I love unicorns, unicorns are best. Come play with my unicorns.
Blog: http://samsaffron.com
Twitter: @samsaffron
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TL;DR: Write or commission a plug-in for it.
My understanding is that Discourse is meant to be disruptive and turn the world of forum software on its headānot to be a mild, transparent upgrade that matches features on a one-for-one basis with every other forum application. That disruption includes thinking critically about each and every feature, and being ruthless in culling the ones that distract from the main goal of the software: discussion. How do signatures aid or facilitate discussion?
Secondly, I disagree with your presumption that signatures are āwidely popular.ā Just because something exists doesnāt mean itās popular or even good (::cough::Vegemite::cough:: ). Let me explain my personal experience with signatures. I fill in the signature box on every forum I register at. Then I categorically ignore every single signature I see on the topic pages. Which is more indicative of my real use of the signature feature? That I put some text into a box, or that I ignore everybody elseās text? I would assert that itās the latter.
So to the question I posed above: How do signatures aid or facilitate discussion? My opinionāgiven my experience and perceptionāis that they donāt. They exist for the self, not for the community. They facilitate ego and narcissism, not civilized discourse.
Please think about your users, and think about the sane defaults that are already in place. I guarantee you @codinghorror and the rest of the team have put a lot of thought and analysis into every decision theyāve made for Discourse. But if you really want signatures, or if you think your users really want them, Iāll reiterate what I said at the top: Write or commission a plugin for it.
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HOW DARE YOU! Vegemite is best!
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I see it is futile to argue about this, iāll write a plugin
/but what others will do?