Editing Encyclopedia:Signatures (section)

===Transclusion of templates (or other pages)===
{{shortcut|WP:SIG#NoTemplates|WP:SIG#NT}}
* [[Wikipedia:Transclusion|Transclusions]] of [[Wikipedia:Template namespace|templates]], [[WP:LUA|Lua modules]], [[mw:Help:Extension:ParserFunctions|parser functions]], and [[Wikipedia:TemplateStyles|TemplateStyles]] in signatures (like those which appear as <code><nowiki>{{User:Name/sig}}</nowiki></code>, <code><nowiki>{{#invoke:...}}</nowiki></code>, <code><nowiki>{{#if:...}}</nowiki></code> or <code><nowiki><templatestyles ... /></nowiki></code>) are forbidden for the following reasons:
** Certain automated scripts (bots) are used to automatically archive particularly active talk pages. These bots read the source of the talk page, but don't transclude templates, and so don't recognize the template as a signature.
** Signature templates are vandalism targets, and will be forever, even if the user leaves the project.
** Signature templates are a small but unnecessary drain on the servers. Transcluded signatures require extra processing—whenever you change your signature source, all talk pages you have posted on must be [[Web cache|re-cached]].
** [[WP:PING|User mention notifications]] will not work if the mentioning user's signature is contained in a template.
** If you try to use a transcluded signature, it will automatically be converted to <nowiki>{{SUBST:User:Name/sig}}</nowiki>.
* [[WP:SUBST|Substitutions]] of templates in signatures is permissible but <u>discouraged</u>, as the template that is substituted may be vandalized without the user knowing.
** Users who choose to substitute their signature are {{strong|required}} to be {{strong|highly vigilant}} of their signature whenever they sign.
** Substitution must not be used to circumvent the normal restrictions on signature content, including the use of [[#Images|images]], [[#Appearance and color|obnoxious markup]], or [[#LENGTH|excessive length]].

Simple text signatures, which are stored along with the page content and use no more resources than the comments themselves, avoid these problems.
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