MarioWiki:Signatures

These are the rules for signatures; for a tutorial on how to create them, see Help:Signature.

Your signature is automatically created for you when you create an account. It should be used when writing comments on talk pages and proposals, and is left along with a timestamp by entering ~~~~ after your comment (which can be done by clicking the signature button on the toolbar). ~~~ leaves only your signature, while ~~~~~ leaves just a date. Signature and timestamp are strongly encouraged.

Personalized signatures are allowed, by:

1. Editing the designated field on Special:Preferences.
2. Creating a userspace subpage at Special:Mypage/sig (it must be /sig, and just one subpage), then following the instructions Help:Signature to "include" the subpage in your signature field.

However, some rules must be followed when doing so:

1. Your signature must include your username, or a shortened or altered version of it, or a nickname, as long as it is still instantly recognizable as pertaining to you.
2. Your signature must link to your user page. It can also have links to your talk page, contributions, etc., but never to other users' pages. You may have a maximum of five word links, internal or external, including the mandatory user page link.
3. Your signature must be visible on your signature subpage. Posting signature coding directly onto a page is not allowed, unless your signature is a single, basic link (i.e. [[User:Myname|Myname]]). Raw coding that is added to talk pages will be stripped down to a basic link, or removed completely and replaced with the basic {{user}} signature in the form of {{user|Myname}}).
4. You may only have one signature page. You may use signatures other than the one on your signature page, but they cannot be custom sigs (i.e. only {{User|Myname}}, [[User:Myname|Myname]], etc.). When using these signatures, users should follow them with ~~~~~ to leave a timestamp.
5. Some users also change their sigs during certain holidays. Though allowed, these sigs must also conform to all previous rules, and it is suggested to only do this a couple of times a year at most.
6. Your signature must fit inside this box:
   It can only be single-lined and limited to around 30-40 characters, including any varying text. To test your signature's size, use the {{sigbox}} template. However, please note that the size of the default text can vary from one internet browser to another. Therefore, users may be given some leniency if their signature appears slightly too long in certain browsers.
7. One or two small images may be used, both limited to 35 pixels in height. One animated GIF may be used instead of two static images, although it is strongly discouraged. If any of the images are found to be too distracting, you will be asked to remove them. If you add your own image, it counts as one of your personal files and should be tagged with {{personal-file|sig=yes}}.
8. Your signature can be one or more different colors, provided they are readable. A background color must come with a defined text color (even if it is the default, black, users with different skins will also be able to see the text by defining this). Any such background must be confined to the immediate text area. Borders or blinking (or anything else that gives undue salience to a signature) are not allowed.