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Use of a three-tilde signature breaks identification of the signature and placement of aquick reply box (if you don't have that enabled check yourpreferences) on the page. Given that is the case, can we change guidance to recommendagainst use of a three-tilde signature on talk pages?Ifly6 (talk)06:42, 16 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
As you can see there is no quick reply button (and therefore no box) at this location.Ifly6 (talk)
I know, that's why I asked whether we should change guidance to recommend against usage of three-tilde signatures on talk pages.Ifly6 (talk)17:44, 16 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Using another editor's signature may be unintentional, while forgery implies that it is intentional. The name of the section can for example be changed to 'Signature forgery and/or using another editor's signature' -Patrick (talk)20:24, 25 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The section is about deliberate action to impersonate. Since this is a policy, we should not change anything about it lightly. –Jonesey95 (talk)20:48, 25 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
What a weird off-topic remark! The only connection is that remarks of others in that discussion, such as 'it could be argued that some of the word choices in the policy are poor' support a review of the formulation of the policy. -Patrick (talk)14:35, 26 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
If you're using the Discussion Tools features that automatically add the signature, there's no need for the tildes because Discussion Tools makes sure the comment is signed. If you're adding a comment by editing the wikitext, perhaps on a page where Discussion Tools isn't working, then the tildes are required to get a signature.Anomie⚔01:14, 13 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Avoid starting or ending your signature with apostrophes for bold or italics, which could cause problems if adjacent markup has apostrophes. For example, if your signature is'''[[User:Dum1|Dum1]]''' and you sign something with'''Goodbye'''~~~, this becomes'''Goodbye''''''[[User:Dum1|Dum1]]''', which displays asGoodbye'Dum1' ... which is not what you want. Solve the problem by using<b>...</b> for bold or<i>...</i> for italics, or by moving the apostrophes inside the wikilink.
Kusma promptly reverted with edit summary "not a syntax issue, and the software does not complain if you start your signature with '''. also, only an issue if your spacebar is broken." The thing is, this is a real issue.DGG's signature is'''[[User:DGG| DGG]]''', and this user's signature often immediately follows apostrophes, sometimes in undesirable ways. I've already fixed some of them, but there are a lot more to fix. Their talk page says, "David Goodman,user:DGG,passed away Thursday April 6, 2023." This is sad news, but there could be other editors to steer away from this practice. Also, it's not just a matter of having a space before using 4 tildes. Signatures also get passed through templates, userboxes, etc., and these can easily have apostrophe markup adjacent to the signature parameter. This is a real issue, and I thinkWikipedia:Signatures should have advice something like what I inserted before. —Anomalocaris (talk)09:37, 27 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I am not dead set against having some commentary on the issue (though I still do not believe it to be a common problem), but it should not be in the section telling you what to do when the software complains about your syntax. —Kusma (talk)10:20, 27 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The problem is the missing space character. We might say something like "If you want to start your signature with ' markup, make sure to insert a space, dash, or other character before your signature." I have always thought it strange that the Wikimedia software did not insert a space as part of replacing the four tildes, but I'm not in charge. –Jonesey95 (talk)14:48, 27 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Above the edit box is a toolbar. If you use the signature button in that toolbar (in Vector-2022 it's third from the left, afterB andI), it emits two hyphens and four tildes. No problem.Like this:--Redrose64 🌹 (talk)22:57, 27 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Since we're in a new era no longer using IP addresses for anons, the section 'Dealing with unsigned comments' should probably be updated with current examples. I presume for unsigned temp user edits, we just use the temp account name (duh) but some formal guidance might be wise. cheers.anastrophe,an editor he is.04:50, 10 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I'm to provide formal guidance on this new thing on wikipedia that I had no involvement in building, deploying, setting rules and regulations, not an admin or high-mucky-muck on any form of WP bureaucracies? I think not. Formal guidance doesn't come from a random jackass on the internet (two thumbs pointing at me). cheers.anastrophe,an editor he is.05:16, 10 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]
My reluctance to be bold with changes is primarily because, to put it colloquially, I don't want to fuck up what's there, of which there's a high likelihood. I think it's better if someone more capable take it on. I'd do it myself if the likelihood of FIU was lower. cheers.anastrophe,an editor he is.06:15, 10 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I just replaced "IP" or "IP address" with "temp account". Now I belatedly see the previous changes that introduced the word "identifier"; e.g. "temporary account identifier". I don't know whether it's worth changing all of my "temp account"s to "temp account id" (or "temp acct id", or "temp acctid"). It could be argued that the temp account and the number associated with it are two different conceptual entities and should have different names. You decide. ―Mandruss☎ 2¢ IMO.05:48, 12 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Just saw your edits, thank you for doing that. I think the finer details of what the account is named are immaterial. Somewhat experienced editors are the only folks likely to be hitting up this page for assistance. cheers.anastrophe,an editor he is.05:56, 12 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Unfortunately, there is a problem with the changes - now there is no 'template' for IP accounts. That's a problem because, particularly when trying to clean up the talk pages of older articles, there are frequently unsigned messages from IP editors from back then. On the other hand, the templates are all largely the same, except for very small differences - I almost wonder if the cluster of them could be trimmed/merged into fewer, as the need for some of the very small differences in presentation seems trivial to the point of being unnecessary...? I'm probably overthinking it. cheers.anastrophe,an editor he is.20:33, 19 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]
