Wikipedia talk:Signatures

Forging signatures

Shouldn’t we add a small section on that you shouldn’t forge signatures. It could start like “In addition to using your own signatures, you are not permitted to use someone else’s signatures”. Also what about cases where someone has bad grammar and you need to fix the talk page, does that require a signature? WikiGrower1 (talk) 00:12, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

I don't recall ever seeing a forged signature, and it would take a number of them to justify expansion of the guideline. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And we don't "fix" others' bad grammar; see WP:TPO. ―Mandruss ☎ 2¢. IMO. 00:19, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

Here is my concern, although signature forgery isn’t common, it is serious as it violates integrity and potentially be used to impersonate someone. Is this more of a Wikipedia commons thing? WikiGrower1 (talk) 01:44, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. End. I don't know much about Commons. ―Mandruss ☎ 2¢. IMO. 13:21, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

@WikiGrower1: We already have a section on this, it's at WP:SIGFORGE and is policy. The action to take is to replace the forged signature with a valid one per WP:SIGCLEAN, and serve a warning for repeat offences. I've seen several instances where a signature has been forged, and which I've fixed per policy. I don't see what Commons has to do with it. --Redrose64 🦌 (talk) 14:29, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

Isn’t it more common in Wikipedia commons? That’s what I mean by Wikipedia commons. WikiGrower1 (talk) 14:52, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

You don't give any examples. Also, Wikimedia Commons (note, media not pedia) is outside our jurisdiction; if there is a behaviour problem there, you should report it there. I see that c:Commons:Signatures#Rules on customized signatures states: Forging signatures or deliberately concealing one's own identity will not be accepted. --Redrose64 🦌 (talk) 17:50, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

Simple

Should I add {{simple|Wikipedia:Signature tutorial}} to help newbies get a general sense of what signatures are? This pages is chock full of details that are surely confusing for new users. FaviFake (talk) 23:46, 16 January 2026 (UTC)

I have added WP:4TILDES and an example to what Help:Preferences#Signature has to say. CapnZapp (talk) 12:20, 10 May 2026 (UTC)

Customizing your signature

I've expanded (and corrected) the examples. I do not know how to replicate the icon (white exclamation mark inside a red octagonal) that precedes the red text; if anyone knows how to display <span class="oo-ui-iconElement-icon oo-ui-icon-error oo-ui-image-error"> using wiki markup, feel free to improve. CapnZapp (talk) 12:18, 10 May 2026 (UTC)

manually sign with a pseudonym or tag?

The guideline states Unregistered users, or users not logged in, may choose to manually sign with a pseudonym or tag (e.g. anon.), as their temporary account identifier will be stored in the page history. If you choose to sign your posts in such a way, you must still finish your signature with four tildes (such as Anonymous editing as ~~~~) to help aid others with reading the thread easily, and with communicating back with you.

What does this even try to say? My guess it is a holdover from IP editing days, with only "their temporary account identifier will be stored" presumably being updated from "their ip address will be stored". Perhaps once in the distant past "manually sign with a pseudonym or tag" meant something? Maybe even before WP:4TILDES became standard?

I believe it would be much more direct messaging to say "everybody needs to sign using ~~~~" but 1) we don't need to say this here, in the Customizing signature section, and 2) the software is better and better at autosigning comments anyway.

I am tentatively removing the entire paragraph. If you do restore it, I would appreciate if you explained what information it imparts that remains current and important today. Regards CapnZapp (talk) 12:31, 10 May 2026 (UTC)

"Manually sign with a pseudonym or tag" still means something: it means to put something at the end of your post that indicates who you are. Someone who hops IPs or TAs frequently might usefully include something manual before the ~~~~ to help continuity of discussion (although creating an account would probably be better).

It looks like text about signing with a pseudonym goes way back to 2003, before the MediaWiki software even existed in its current form and when (according to that diff) ~~~~ only worked for registered users, not IPs. The bit about the IP still showing in the page history seems to have originated in the change removing the by-then-obsolete "for this to work you must be logged in" note, and reads to me like it's countering a claim that manually signing with a pseudonym was "more anonymous" because it didn't show the IP address in the page. The intent seems to have been mangled over the years as various people edited things. Anomie⚔ 13:25, 10 May 2026 (UTC)

Excellent sleuthing! Do you feel any of this needs to be mentioned in this section (about custom signatures)? To me, some kind of advice might belong, but probably on WP:TEMP, and only if we make it clear you absolutely do not have to link various TAs together (as discussed at WP:SOCK). Regards, CapnZapp (talk) 13:29, 10 May 2026 (UTC)

I don't see any particular need to say anything about it here. If we did say anything, I'd refocus it to something like "If you change temporary accounts frequently (and refuse to just create an account), you might consider including a pseudonym before the ~~~~ to better indicate continuity in discussions". Anomie⚔ 13:35, 10 May 2026 (UTC)

I don't see any particular need to say anything about it here. Agreed. If we did say anything, I'd refocus it to something like... Something like that yes. It's possible to argue such a "manual" signature merits a mention here, but I'm inclined to first discuss it over at WP:TEMP and then maybe section link directly to that discussion from here. CapnZapp (talk) 13:51, 10 May 2026 (UTC)