A “Signature” is a space reserved usually below the post section and in a members profile. Signatures are used for many purpose, depending on who is utilizing the signature feature and who is not, and also for what reason they are using the signature space for. The content that is placed in a members signature can sometimes depend on what the forum subject or theme is about. If the forum is about promoting or advertising, then members will more likely than not, use their signature space as a means of promoting or advertising a service or product. If the forum is about animals, such as dogs for example, a members signature might have an image of their pet dog or cat.
Many forum owners will set permission limitations on a per group or per member basis. Guests, usually will not have any permissions other than just viewing the content of the forum, let alone having the ability to create a signature. The Member group usually has the ability to create content in the signature space. Permission limitations can include anything from a certain amount of lines, images, and file upload size that is able to be generated within the given signature usage area.
Signatures can be a way to convey a particular personality of a member. Similar to that of an Avatar, a Signature will usually not only have the ability to just insert pictures, but also actual paragraphical content, such as letters and numbers formulated into meaningful text that other members can read and understand. If a member is registered on a gaming type forum about MineCraft or RuneGear, then they might have the current status of any servers that they own listed in their signature space.
Members can also reserve, sell, and auction of advertising space in their own signatures for other members. For example, if a member has tens of thousands of posts on a forum, then they might charge another member one dollar a day for thirty days to advertise a link to that members own personal website or forum. Rumors have it that for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes, advertising in signature spaces may or may not be a good idea, depending on the search engine bot, crawler, or spider may not be able to read external links in signature spaces. Rewarding active members of a forum by giving them additional signature usage abilities can offer them to be even more active for even more group membership perks, only available to active member participants.
Forum owners may offer additional signature permission usage in exchange for more posts or topics on the forum. A forum owner might set new group signature permission features in member groups who participate more actively than non-participating members. Additional group signature permission features may include additional lines, more images, or larger file size for uploadable images in a members signature space. Then again, there can be several downsides for large signature spaces in members profiles on forums. Some downsides include slower page load times. If a webpage has many images to render, then that webpage may take a longer amount of time to render and process all those images in members profiles, greatly reducing the webpage load time. Having huge signature spaces for members, can cause confusion for guests and other members reading the content on a particular webpage in the forum, if half of the content on the webpage is from signature spaces in members profiles underneath of the posts. Members and Guests may get confused as to when the content of a post ends, and when the content of a signature begins.
Discussion Topic: Are Member SIGNATURES Really Necessary?
