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  • Let's talk about signatures.

  • General discussion about the RAILROAD.NET site, forums, or content ONLY. Please do not post your general railroading questions, please choose an appropriate forum. For help using the site, please post in the Help Using RAILROAD.NET Forum.
General discussion about the RAILROAD.NET site, forums, or content ONLY. Please do not post your general railroading questions, please choose an appropriate forum. For help using the site, please post in the Help Using RAILROAD.NET Forum.

Moderator: Jeff Smith

 #256691  by benltrain
 
Looks like a 3 line limit has been placed somewhat recently?

 #256696  by Otto Vondrak
 
I dont surf every forum, so I dont see every sig. When I see an obnoxious one, I alert the user. If they dont change it, I change it for them!

-otto-

 #256742  by Reddy Rocker
 
Otto Vondrak wrote:I dont surf every forum, so I dont see every sig. When I see an obnoxious one, I alert the user. If they dont change it, I change it for them!

-otto-
Let me guess, a sig wipe? In other words, the sig gets cleaned and emptied?

And how's my sig right now?

 #256745  by benltrain
 
I accidently entered a 4 line sig, and it said its too long for the first time.

 #256773  by Otto Vondrak
 
Reddy- your sig is fine.

benltrain- your sig is okay, but do you need to advertise what photos you have posted in your album every time you post? it gets cumbersome after a while. And not just you, it goes for everyone.

And don't say "click on www to go to my web site." People will go to your web site if they want to.

etc etc.

The point: the less you say, the better. We prefer you sign with your name, and nothing else. Unless you are a mod.

-otto-

 #256790  by benltrain
 
Otto Vondrak wrote:Reddy- your sig is fine.

benltrain- your sig is okay, but do you need to advertise what photos you have posted in your album every time you post? it gets cumbersome after a while. And not just you, it goes for everyone.

And don't say "click on www to go to my web site." People will go to your web site if they want to.

etc etc.

The point: the less you say, the better. We prefer you sign with your name, and nothing else. Unless you are a mod.

-otto-
For the people who note of updates in their signatures, I am in favor of that, because I know when their photo sites are updated, and whether or not I think its worth checking out. I am just going to have to respectfully disagree with you, Otto.

 #257034  by Otto Vondrak
 
...and I disagree with you. I don't really care if you've updated your gallery or not (and I'm not just talking to you, benltrain). If I visit your site, I'll see if there are updates. If I see what I like, I'll probably return to see if you have made any updates. Point is, I really don't care for these long ads at the end of every post "Come see the photos of my last trip between Dinkytown and Podunk Jct on the Podunk Junction Joint Transit Authority R2-D2 Line." No one cares. I frankly DISCOURAGE folks from putting these long messages in their sigs.

What do you all think? (benltrain, let the other folks answer first)

 #257110  by umtrr-author
 
I would be willing to push the link back to the www button but I think it's appropriate to note in my sig that I have a site that may be of interest to readers of this forum. There is enough of a flow of new members to this site that I would like to reach.

If the intent is to stop "advertising" of sites outside of Railroad.net (and we might as well call it that) I think it should be a binary thing, all yes or all no.

I belong to a board in a different hobby that explicitly bans all web links in signatures, period. I think that's more fair than a case by case basis would be and would result in fewer headache inducing debates. Apparently there is another railroad board that selectively deletes sigs if they feel the links are "competitive" in nature, i.e. they plug another board. (Their rules, of course, but rather silly IMHO.)

But for me not having sigs with website plugs lessens the value of this board, as I've already enjoyed clicking elsewhere to see what people have. How would I know that you have a link I'm interested in if I don't know what it is? It's not a good use of my time to randomly hit "WWW" buttons.

Thanks for the hint on unchecking the sig box, though; that makes sense for short replies.

David, I did not get links in your four posts. I have "BBCode" enabled.

 #257150  by David Benton
 
Occassionally i click on links to peoples websites , its a good idea .
but to put in that its going to be updated soon is self defeating i feel , people will get used to seeing it , and miss when its actually updated .

 #257344  by keeper1616
 
Many people use the 'www' button for their personal webpages that have nothing to do with railroads. For this reason, if I see someone has a website about a railroad that I am looking at, I am more likely to click the 'www' button.

For generally the same reason, I think it's ok to have "just updated" stuff in the sig too. I don't open each member's page each time I view a post, but if something catches my eye, I will look further. We are only expanding the knowledge that we get by clicking to other people's sites, and I probably wouldn't be clicking if I didn't see something other than 'www'

For example:
A few members have sites that may have content that I would be interested in, but right now they are "Under Construction"... I'm not going back unless I KNOW that there will be content there. (the fact that you loose future visits by posting "under construction" pages is a whole other topic though.....)

 #257415  by umtrr-author
 
Cyrus, that's a good point.

For example, my website has several different sections. The link I provide in the WWW (and I'd also prefer to keep in my sig) is directly to the section that I think is of greatest interest to model railroaders, namely, the "Unofficial Micro-Trains Release Report" which is my monthly review and commentary on their products including whatever prototype information I can dig out. I hope that makes the most sense, so far there haven't been any complaints although this board seems to be more proto than model oriented (which is perfectly OK with me).

The main irwinsjournal.com site has other sections as well, some train related, some not.

 #258106  by Otto Vondrak
 
George- do you see how David Benton included a link in his sig? Try that. I hate sigs that are like, "CHECK OUT MY AWESOME TRAIN PHOTOS HERE AT: http://reallyawesometotallycooltrainpic ... hsvcksjydf.....
Last edited by Otto Vondrak on Fri Jun 16, 2006 6:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 #258160  by ANDY117
 
That is the most random website you've made yet, Otto! I'm fine with people having a WWW tab, but "hey look at my new pictures!" does get kind of old fast with me (no offense to anyone). Speaking of which, I'll go make a www tab now.

 #258216  by GOLDEN-ARM
 
Otto, I tried to view your "mostawesomepicturesever" website, but the link goes nowhere.............. :P I agree with those, who find "site under construction", or "last updated june, 2002" to be somewhat tedious, and aggravating, when you lure people to see your stuff, and there's nothing to actually see, or the same OLD stuff we saw last 4 times. IF I am interested in seeing pictures, of the thousandth different view, of the same old subway car, I will explore your site, without prodding from the owner. If I know it's there, your soliciting my visit to it, won't change my mind, if I don't enjoy subway cars. Just a thought........