Wikipedia talk:Signatures

Three-tilde signatures don't get quick reply boxes

Use of a three-tilde signature breaks identification of the signature and placement of a quick reply box (if you don't have that enabled check your preferences) on the page. Given that is the case, can we change guidance to recommend against use of a three-tilde signature on talk pages? Ifly6 (talk) 06:42, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

As you can see there is no quick reply button (and therefore no box) at this location. Ifly6 (talk)

It's because the timestamp is linked, and the reply tool depends upon that link. No timestamp → no link → no reply. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 13:50, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

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)

Renaming the section 'Signature forgery'

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)

Reading the text in that section, I think Impersonation is a more accurate heading. Schazjmd (talk) 20:36, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

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)

The background is that User:Patrick Welsh completely accidentally had a signature that looked the same as that of User:Patrick. The latter raised the issue (see ANI archive) where the former agreed to change their signature. Patrick then very unwisely did some snarking (diff) and is now going for gold here. In brief, no. Johnuniq (talk) 04:32, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

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)

Benefits?

Apart from being "required", what is the benefit of adding the tildes? So far as I can tell, my posts look the same with or without. Eitherway my name and timestamp are added after my comment. 2603:8001:B300:B900:7DAF:CA30:9E9:905 (talk) 22:34, 12 October 2025 (UTC)

It would add it for the opening post of a new thread. What happens if you reply to this comment without the tildes? ―Mandruss ☎ IMO. 22:37, 12 October 2025 (UTC)

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)

Signatures that start with apostrophes

I inserted a bullet in the project page:

• 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 as Goodbye'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 think Wikipedia:Signatures should have advice something like what I inserted before. —Anomalocaris (talk) 09:37, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

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)

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)

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, after B and I), it emits two hyphens and four tildes. No problem. Like this:--Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:57, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

I moved the recommendation to Wikipedia:Signatures#Treat as wiki markup and rewrote it to match other recommendations there. —Anomalocaris (talk) 09:29, 28 October 2025 (UTC)