A signature is a piece of text and wikicode which identifies you as the author of a block of text. It contains an automatic link to your user page, making it easy for others to learn more about you and communicate with you. The date contained in the signature also indicates how current the discussion is and the order in which comments were made.
On talk pages and forum pages, signing your name helps others to keep track of discussions, and to understand who holds which opinions. This is considered good "Wikiquette".
Generally, your contributions to articles, help pages, policies, and other content pages should not be signed.
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How do I add a signature?
To sign your name, type four tildes in a row:
- ~~~~
The 
button above the edit box can also be clicked to leave four tildes (unless you have turned off "show edit toolbar" in your preferences).
This shows up as:
- J. Random User 19:01, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
This example indicates that a user named "J. Random User" left the signature at the time indicated.
You can use three tildes (~~~) if you don't want a timestamp, or five (~~~~~) if you want only a timestamp.
How do I change my signature?
Your default signature will contain just your username, linked to your user page on the wiki where you signed it:
You can change this signature to point to another wiki, or to your talk page.
To get this, go to your Preferences (on any Wikia) and check the Raw signatures (without automatic link) box. Then enter
- [[User:Example|]] ([[User talk:Example|talk]])
in the Your nickname (for signatures): field. Alternatively the {{IP}} or {{user}} templates can also be used.
- Note: A link to the current page will not be displayed as a clickable hyperlink (e.g. the link to your talk page in your signature on your talk page)
Wikipedia lists various things to avoid putting in your signature, including templates, images, and blinking text.
What about anonymous users and signatures?
If you chose to edit the wiki without logging in, the tildes will be converted to your IP address. In such cases, it may make more sense to manually sign your posts with a pseudonym or tag such as --anon. (Note that choosing not to sign with tildes does not keep your IP address private, since the IP still appears in the page history.)
What about signatures in other character sets?
If your signature is in a character set not in wide usage on the wiki you are signing on, it may be easier for users there to recognize you if you add a version of your name in the character set of that wiki.
In addition to difficulties users may have in remembering and using a name in a script which is foreign to them, characters from many scripts (such as Chinese, Hindi, or Georgian) may display as boxes or mojibake (garbage characters) for users without the proper fonts installed.
In these cases, you might want to add an additional nickname to your signature that is more understandable on that wiki. For example, you could use something like [[User:快樂|快樂 (Happiness)]] or [[User:快樂|快樂 (Felicidad)]] in the Your nickname (for signatures): field.
Where can I find more help?
The English Wikipedia has various pages relating to signing comments, and to making comments in general, which may help to guide your project's development of signature and talk page policies.
Please see: