This post will tell you how to update your signature and what information is recommended.
How To Change Your Signature, Step By Step
- In the upper left hand corner of the forum pages, click on "User Control Panel"
- On the User Control Panel page, click on the second tab, "Profile"
- On the Profile page, in the left hand column, click on "Edit signature"
- On the Edit Signature page, you can enter text, change the font size and color, preview, and then save your signature.
What makes a good signature?
A good ABS forum signature will contain your name, your USDA Zone, and your city. If you're posting a question or an answer regarding tree care, this information will come in handy. If you're in North Dakota asking about tropical bonsai care, you'll get different advice than if you were living in South Florida.
As for including your name, we recommend this to better aid in written interpersonal communications. If my forum name were "NewOrleansBonsai", responses to my posts will be easier to read and type if you simply called me Bill.
Other text can be included in your signatures. Even links to your club's web site can be included. Have a favorite quote? Include it in your signature. Signatures are meant to be personalized, so do it!
If you change your signature, it changes on all of your posts. Thus, if you have a typo in your signature, don't worry about having a history of signatures containing that typo. Just change your signature in the control panel and it will fix it everywhere at once.
What makes a bad signature?
- Rule violations. All forum rules still apply when it comes to the text in your signatures.
- Image files. Signature images may soon be against forum rules. Images are not recommended as they add to the page load time. Over time, image links tend to break which makes a signature look bad. This IS open to discussion if you think images should be allowed, feel free to open a discussion in the "Forum Feedback" forum.
- Excessive length. If your signatures are longer than your messages, your message will be lost in the confusion. Brevity is called for with good signatures.
- Huge Glaring Text. Signatures should not call attention to themselves. They should be easy to see, but should not draw attention away from your message.
