# Signatures



## FaRuvius (Nov 21, 2001)

One of the staple "mac" things seems to be to have your current computing machinery listed(in detail) within one's signature.  The numbers of people doing this here are growing.

I have nothing against these signatures, but some of them are getting out of hand.  Its a little ridiculous when there is post that is 2 lines of commentary, followed by 25 lines of signature.  When such people post 10 times in the same thread, this adds a significant amount of repeated text.

I say this because these large signatures are just adding _junk text_, which adds to size of each thread, which adds to the diskspace needed to store the thread, and adds to the bandwidth required to load the page.  This in turn *increases macosx.com's costs* to serve the page.  It decreases the profit gained from ad-driven page views.

One way to combat this is by limiting the length of a signature.

I'm not saying that you need to do anything, but just brought it up as a consideration for keeping your operating costs down.  Do some calculations.  Average page size with and without long signatures, and multiply by the number of monthly page views.  See how much the difference is and if you could save money on bandwidth.  This may be a moot point.

I just want to see a Great Thing continue.

FaRuvius


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## AdmiralAK (Nov 21, 2001)

I believe you can turn off signatures so you dont have to see them.

I dont like large signatures either.


Admiral


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## FaRuvius (Nov 21, 2001)

> _Originally posted by AdmiralAK _
> *I believe you can turn off signatures so you dont have to see them.
> 
> I dont like large signatures either.
> ...



This is true, but I like being able to see people's signatures.  It allows for clever and witty comments, also to see who posted if you missed looking to the left, or it was a long post and their name/avatar is off the screen.

I just think it is silly when the signatures are longer than the posts themselves.

I am leaving my signatures 'on'.

FaRuvius


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## AdmiralAK (Nov 21, 2001)

in that case...
can we have some signature etiquette please ???


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## Pascal (Dec 11, 2001)

> _Originally posted by FaRuvius _
> *I say this because these large signatures are just adding junk text, which adds to size of each thread, which adds to the diskspace needed to store the thread, and adds to the bandwidth required to load the page.  This in turn increases macosx.com's costs to serve the page.  It decreases the profit gained from ad-driven page views.*


This is false : you will notice that if you change your signature, it will change in every posts you ever made. That means that the sigs are added on the fly, as the forum page you asked to read is build and sent to your browser.

This means that the size of the signature is not important for the hard drive the forum is saved on... But it does lengthen the download time for each page. That's why I usually turn of my signature unless it is needed. I doubt, however, that this is the most costly element, bandwidth wise (I would think the avatar require much more bandwidth).


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## themacko (Dec 11, 2001)

I wonder who this is directed towards...

Anyhow, it doesn't take much bandwidth to download people's text sigs.  Images on the page, refreshing headers/footers and mySQL hits are what slows things down.

(I toned down my sig, just for you.  )


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## edX (Dec 12, 2001)

ok, so i know i am relatively new here, but i must be one of the worse bandwidth wasters here outside of the Admiral, who makes up with number of posts  I mean i have a poorly organized signiture that just sort of trails down the sheet. I have been making multiple posts to several threads today as i had some extra time - didn't really feel like working. so my signiture must be driving some folks nuts! considering how simple and fast loading these pages are on my lowly imac, i never thought it would even get a blink out of all the G4 users out there. and look at my posts. 60% of them read like books and the other's are practically one liners. must be terrible to have to read about my grape imac and zoom camera that doesn't work every time you see one.  But will it really save bandwidth if i move it to less lines? would it cost less if i quoted hemingway or john lennon? is that why there aren't any avatars already made for me to choose from, even though it implies there should be, because putting a pic next to my already wasteful use of text would be more than the site can afford.   the admiral must be sending this site into bankruptcy 
know what really takes so long to load - the buttons. text links would solve that. maybe you should be asking for that option.
now i was planning on working on shortening my signiture soon by making it fit on less lines - for purely aesthetical reasons. It may be changed by the time you read this. i'll get to it when i get to it. 
FaRuvius -  you can't just have it your way. i like tech specs and you like wit. (well, i like wit too but...) either way having it appear over and over is redundant. some signitures we like, others don't do much for us. I mean i love simx's signiture. something about windows and vacuum cleaners. but i don't need to see it every time he posts. maybe the site could eventually be set to display signiture with first post of thread and hidden or placed in a link for future posts to same thread. I know this sounds complicated, but i'll bet some of the great minds around here could do it.  cause i know you don't need to see my grape imac over and over either, but idon't want to have to type out this info everytime someone wants to know what rig i've got to help solve a problem. or have to ask them the same(insert zipper mouth smilie here)


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## edX (Dec 12, 2001)

btw -

*what ad driven page views?*

where are the ads? if there are ads, other than the certification which belongs to the site, then they aren't very good because i've never seen them in any browser!!!!  the advertisers are definitly not getting their money's worth


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## AdmiralAK (Dec 12, 2001)

Sometimes it gets so bad that I want to disable signatures 
1-2-3 maybe even 4 lines of signature are fine, more than that....it just makes me what to strangle peope, especially if the post more than once in the same thread


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## Captain Code (Dec 12, 2001)

> _Originally posted by AdmiralAK _
> *Sometimes it gets so bad that I want to disable signatures
> 1-2-3 maybe even 4 lines of signature are fine, more than that....it just makes me what to strangle peope, especially if the post more than once in the same thread  *




Do you strangle yourself??   Your sig is 8 lines!


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## AdmiralAK (Dec 12, 2001)

well....yes true  I will edit it now 
What I dont like are signatures that are LOOONG but they dont cover the whole length of the message are they are fragmented like so:

xxxxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxxxxx
xxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxx
xxxx
xxxxxxxx
xxxx



that is the most annoying thing


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## Captain Code (Dec 12, 2001)

> _Originally posted by AdmiralAK _
> *well....yes true  I will edit it now
> What I dont like are signatures that are LOOONG but they dont cover the whole length of the message are they are fragmented like so:
> 
> ...



I guess that could be annoying for some people, but to me it doesn't really matter at all.  I was just bugging you about your own sig because what you said about other people's.


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## edX (Dec 12, 2001)

so i assume you're talking about me. 
(compare diagram to ed's signiture > computer reports 90% match > probable suspect)

alright, i confess, i did it. i made a signiture designed to test the limits of your restraint 

like i said, i'll get to it
btw, Ak i liked yours w/the tecch info in

i still say look at simX's for a good looking, informative, and witty signiture. he has the prototype we should all aim for in my opinion. (alomost everyone's will end up shorter than his because how many people have got that _much_ stuff?

I still don't see any ads. except on top right corner of browser (using opera right now)


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## AdmiralAK (Dec 12, 2001)

I've eliminated the tech info in my signature lol -- its been more than a year with the same specs  most people know em by now


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## edX (Dec 12, 2001)

well, i certainly didn't memorize them. and what about newcomers? or are low level operatives strictly on a need to know basis?


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## edX (Dec 12, 2001)

there. you happy? did this solve the point of this entire post? entire threads have probably shrunk by a page or two 

wow, now i've got enough space left to go out and buy more stuff


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## AdmiralAK (Dec 12, 2001)

I think that information has been classified like other things in my profile  he he   New comers can PM me for questions 

So tell me what do you guys do for a past time ? what do you do for kicks ? 



Admiral


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## edX (Dec 12, 2001)

well, most of that info is in my profile, but today i'm heading down to the beach and the tidepools. it is an exceptionally low tide today and there should be lots of starfish to be seen. now ask me sometime what idid for kicks when i was your age and that's a much more interesting story 

'band on the run, 
band on the run..."
-PM & Wings
( i think paul was in another band before this, but i'm not sure)


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## Matrix Agent (Dec 12, 2001)

My signiture has become my battle cry.


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## sithious (Dec 12, 2001)

*lol*... extremely amusing thread ...
to me the whole point of signatures is the tech specs, so when i have  a problem and post i don't have to post my specs every time... if i'm answering someone's question and they've got their specs in the signature, that might help me find out what's wrong...

i can't imagine signatures use up enough bandwidth for anyone with more than a 16k modem to notice, and about the ads, ed is right ... what ads?


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## Captain Code (Dec 12, 2001)

> _Originally posted by AdmiralAK _
> *I think that information has been classified like other things in my profile he he   New comers can PM me for questions
> 
> So tell me what do you guys do for a past time ? what do you do for kicks ?
> ...



Free time?  What's that?


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## edX (Dec 12, 2001)

free time = time you ae not being paid for.  all i have is free time right now. this is obviously part of what i do with it.  i probably shold use more of it sleeping though 
btw, the tide pools were fantastic today. Went out farther than i ever have before. discovered huge beds of bright purple sea urchins and saw so many starfish of many different colors. counted over 30 seals altogether. we actually had a sunset. kind of day makes you feel f**king great to be alive!!!! (purple sea urchins would look good sitting next to my grape imac, but you knew that cause you could see i have a grape imac in my signature)

"it's f**king great to be alive.."
-Frank Zappa


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## Captain Code (Dec 12, 2001)

> _Originally posted by Ed Spruiell _
> *free time = time you ae not being paid for.  all i have is free time right now. this is obviously part of what i do with it.  i probably shold use more of it sleeping though
> btw, the tide pools were fantastic today. Went out farther than i ever have before. discovered huge beds of bright purple sea urchins and saw so many starfish of many different colors. counted over 30 seals altogether. we actually had a sunset. kind of day makes you feel f**king great to be alive!!!! (purple sea urchins would look good sitting next to my grape imac, but you knew that cause you could see i have a grape imac in my signature)
> 
> ...



Well of course I know what free time really is.  I was being sarcastic.  Still, I haven't had much free time the last 2 months because of school work.  

I'm so happy that school is now over(with the exception of one more exam), so I can take a break.


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## AdmiralAK (Dec 12, 2001)

ok ok ;let met define free time (for me)

1) When I am not at work
2) When I am not in class
3) When I am not doing homework
4) When I am not goind chores
5) When I am free to do what I want, where I want, the way I want and  in a manner that I want 


Admiral


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## Captain Code (Dec 12, 2001)

> _Originally posted by AdmiralAK _
> *ok ok ;let met define free time (for me)
> 
> 1) When I am not at work
> ...



Sounds about right for me.  BTW, I'm studying for my OpenGL exam as I write this .  So I guess I make my own free time.


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## AdmiralAK (Dec 12, 2001)

I post on here during work , and sometimes when I take breaks from studying....ok now back to studying for my german final tomorrow


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