When signing posts on Wikipedia wiki talk pages using a signature is recommended. The policy defines when and how signatures should be used, not that signatures must be used. Unsigned comments are assigned the same value as signed comments. The policy also sets limits to custom signatures made by users for themselves.
Signing your posts on talk pages and other Wikipedia Wiki discourse (but not on articles) is not only good etiquette; it also facilitates discussion by helping other users to identify the author of a particular comment, to navigate talk pages, and to address specific comments to the relevant user(s), among other things. Discussion is an important part of collaborative editing as it helps other users to understand the progress and evolution of a work.
The purpose of signatures on Wikipedia wiki
editSignatures on Wikipedia Wiki
- Identify you as a user, and your contributions to Wikipedia Wiki.
- Enable other editors to recognise the user name (or IP address) of the person who made a given statement, and the date and time at which it was made
- Encourage civility in discussions by identifying the author of a particular comment.
When signatures should be used
editAny post made to
- User talk pages
- Article talk pages
- Other discussion pages
should be signed.
On the other hand, signatures on Wikipedia Wiki are not intended to indicate ownership or authorship of any article. Edits to articles should not be signed.
How to sign
editThere are two ways to sign your posts:
1. At the end of your comments, simply type four tildes ( ~~~~ ).
2. If you are using the edit toolbar option click the signature icon 
to add the four tildes.
Your signature will appear after you have saved the changes.
The end result is the same in both cases. Typing four tildes will result in the following:
| Wikimarkup | Resulting code | Resulting display |
|---|---|---|
~~~~ |
[[User:Example|Example]] 20:48, November 3 2024 (UTC)
|
Example 20:48, November 3 2024 (UTC) |
Since typing four tildes adds the time and date to your resulting signature, this is the recommended option for signing your posts in discussions.
Typing three tildes results in the following:
| Wikimarkup | Resulting code | Resulting display |
|---|---|---|
~~~ |
[[User:Example|Example]]
|
Example |
Since this does not timestamp your signature, you may wish to sign this way when leaving general notices on your user page or user talk page. This is also a convenient shortcut (rather than typing out the full code) when you want to provide a link to your user page.
Typing five tildes will convert to a date stamp with the current date and time, without adding your user name:
| Wikimarkup | Resulting code | Resulting display |
|---|---|---|
~~~~~ |
20:48, November 3 2024 (UTC)
|
20:48, November 3 2024 (UTC) |
Note that if you choose to contribute to Wikipedia Wiki without logging in, you should still sign your posts. In this case your IP address will take the place of your username.
Your IP address might look something like this: 192.0.2.58. Some users prefer to use their IP address instead of a user name because they think that an IP provides them with more anonymity. In fact, a pseudonymous account (that is, a registered user name) actually provides you with more protection of your identity.
Note also that signing manually with a pseudonym or tag such as --anon does not give you more anonymity or privacy protection, since your IP address will still be stored in the page history. This also makes it more difficult for other users to communicate with you.
Customizing your signature
editRegistered users can customize their signature by going to Special:Preferences and changing the field "Nickname". The text entered will show up in the users signature instead of the users user name. Using a nickname which hides your true user name or suggest that you are another user are seen as disruptive and are not allowed.
If you want to use a more complex signature (for instance, including your own Wiki markup and HTML markup), you can choose the "Raw signatures (without automatic link)" checkbox in your preferences. Just fill the "Nickname" field with your desired signature, exactly as you want it to be substituted. Be aware that even the raw signatures option treats markup very strictly, and some markup which works in normal pages will not work in signatures.
| Wikimarkup | Resulting code | Resulting display |
|---|---|---|
~~~ |
[[User:Example|'''Lead By Example''']] <small>[[User talk:Example|''talk'']]</small>
|
Lead By Example talk |
~~~~ |
[[User:Example|'''Lead By Example''']] <small>[[User talk:Example|''talk'']]</small> 20:48, November 3 2024 (UTC)
|
Lead By Example talk 20:48, November 3 2024 (UTC) |
Important considerations
editA distracting, confusing or otherwise unsuitable signature adversely affects other users. It can be disruptive to discourse on talk pages, or when working in the edit window. In particular, signatures that contain a lot of code ("markup") are often very long, making it difficult to read talk pages while editing (see below).
When customizing your signature, please follow these guidelines:
Links
editDo not include links to anything else than your user page, user talk page or user contributions page.
You must include a link to your user page and/or your user talk page and you may include a link to your user contributions page. Beyond that, internal and external links are not allowed. If you find a particular Wikipedia wiki page useful, put it in your browser bookmarks, favorites list, or on your userpage — not in your signature. Posting a link to an external website with each comment you make on a talk page is usually viewed as linkspamming. If you want to tell other Wikipedia wikians about a good website that you are associated with, you may do so on your user page.
Appearance and color
editYour signature should clearly identify the user, and not be disruptive to the talk pages.
- User signatures must have a link to the user page or the user talk page of the user.
- Signatures may show a shortened version of your user name. In order to do this you must register that shortened version as a user account and make the user page of the new account a redirect to your user page. The shorter version must be an easily recognized variation of your name.
- Advertising and inappropriate content in signatures is not allowed.
- Markup such as
<big>,<sup>, and<sub>tags (which produce big, sup, and sub text), are not allowed, as they disrupt the normal spacing between rows of text. Note that<small>is allowed. - Line breaks (
<br />tags) are not allowed as they disrupt the flow of text by artificially lengthening the display space for signatures. - Do not make your signature so small that it is difficult to read.
- Do not use text animations as it causes visual disruption of the text page.
- You are allowed to use one color for each of your links. Using bright and disturbing colors is not allowed. Please ensure that the result will be readable by people with color blindness.
- Do not use color and bold formatting on the same text.
- Do not use a background color in your signature.
Images
editImages should be used sparingly and not be large enough to disrupt normal text spacing.
Images should meet the following guidelines:
- The users signature may include one small icon.
- The image file must be unique to the user signature. The image file should not be larger than 19 pixels wide and 19 pixels tall.
- The image file must redirect to the users user page or talk page.
- No animated images are permitted due to the visual disruption they cause within text pages.
- Using bright and disturbing colors in your signature icon is not allowed.
- Even though it is not required, it is usually a good idea to name the image file Image:User <user name> sig.<file extension>, for example Image:User Example sig.png for the signature image of User:Example.
Length
editKeep signatures short, both in display and markup.
Long signatures with a lot of HTML/wiki markup make page editing more difficult. A 200 character signature, for instance, is likely to be larger than many of the comments to which it is appended, making discussion more difficult.
- Signatures consisting of more than 150 characters clutter the edit window.
- Signatures consisting of more than 30 characters when viewed on talk pages make it harder to distinguish posts from signatures.
Transclusion/template
editDo not use transclusion, templates or parser functions in signatures.
Transclusions and parser functions in signatures are avoidable drains on server resources. Transcluded signatures require extra processing. Whenever you change your signature source, all talk pages you have posted on must be re-cached.
Signature templates are also vandalism targets, and will be forever, even if the user stops contributing. Simple text signatures, which are stored along with the page content use no more resources than the comments themselves and avoid these problems.
- User signatures should not be stored on a separate page. Your signature must be in the "Nickname" text box in your preferences.
Dealing with unsigned comments
editThe template Template:Unsigned can be used at the end of an unsigned comment to attach the username or IP to the comment.
| Wikimarkup | Resulting code | Resulting display |
|---|---|---|
| {{subst:unsigned|user name or ip}} | {{subst:unsigned|Example}} | --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:Example . |