Editing Encyclopedia:Signatures (section)

=== Customizing how everyone sees your signature ===
{{Shortcut|WP:FANCYSIG}}{{Anchor|CustomSig}}
<!-- obsolete image [[File:Raw signature.png|250px|thumb|Screenshot of the [[Special:Preferences]] page, containing the section '''''Raw Signature'''''.]]-->

Registered users can customize their signatures by going to [[Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-personal-signature|Special:Preferences]] and changing the field "Signature". This changes the signature that is left when you enter <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code> into discussions. It can be used to sign your posts with a nickname, or with custom formatting, or both.

This technique only applies where you have left your signature onto a page while logged into your account. It also doesn't affect how your username appears in your watchlist, in any logs or page histories, or where someone else has added a link to your user page in a discussion. Modifying your signature in [[Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-personal-signature|your user preferences]] will only apply to the ''future'' signatures that you leave ''moving forward''. Since adding <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code> to discussions simply results in those characters being ''replaced'' by your signature before the edit is saved, any existing signatures that you've left on previous or existing discussions will not be automatically updated or changed.

==== Treat as wiki markup ====
If you do not check the "Treat the above as wiki markup" box, the exact content you enter will be used as your signature. For example, if [[User:Example]] had set their signature to read <code><nowiki><span style="color:orange;">'''EXAMPLE'''</span></nowiki></code>, thereafter the signature (generated when they mark a post with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>) would be:

<blockquote>
[[User:Example|<nowiki><span style="color:orange;">'''EXAMPLE'''</span></nowiki>]] ([[User talk:Example|talk]]) {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)
</blockquote>

If you do check the "Treat the above as wiki markup" box, you can describe your signature using "raw" wikitext (such as <nowiki><span> and wiki-markup</nowiki>) which will be substituted unchanged when you sign your posts. If [[User:Example]] had set their signature to read <code><nowiki>[[User:Example|<span style="color:orange;">'''EXAMPLE'''</span>]] ([[User talk:Example|talk]])</nowiki></code>, the signature generated by <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code> would be:

<blockquote>
[[User:Example|<span style="color:orange;">'''EXAMPLE'''</span>]] ([[User talk:Example|talk]]) {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)
</blockquote>
In this case, you are responsible yourself for linking to your user page (e.g. [[User:Example]]).

To visibly include the pipe (<code>|</code>) or equals (<code>=</code>) characters in your signature, you must [[Escape character|escape]] them, or they will break templates unexpectedly when your signature is present. To escape the <code>|</code> symbol, use the following special code: <code>&amp;#124;</code> (including everything from the ampersand to the semi-colon). To escape the <code>=</code> character, use <code>&amp;#61;</code>.

Putting two or more exclamation points (<code>!!</code>) in a row in your signature can break tables in which your signature appears. Use <code>&amp;#33;&amp;#33;</code> as a substitute in order to avoid having two exclamation points in a row.