Editing Encyclopedia:Signatures (section)

== How to sign your posts ==
{{shortcut|WP:~|WP:SIGHOW|WP:TILDE}}
When using the [[mw:Talk pages project/Replying|reply tool]] or [[mw:Talk pages project/New discussion|new topic tool]], the software will automatically sign your post. (If you type a signature anyways, it will remove the duplicate.)
=== Preferred option ===
==== Standard signature ====
{{anchor|Using four tildes}}{{Shortcut|WP:4TILDES}}

There are three ways to sign your posts manually:

# At the end of your comments simply type four [[tilde]]s (~), like this: <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>.
# If you are using the [[Help:Edit toolbar|edit toolbar]] option (by default, it appears above the edit box), click the signature icon<ref group="Note">If your browser is set to not show pictures, the button will be called "Your signature with timestamp".  If the browser's settings don't allow JavaScript, the buttons will not appear.</ref> <span style="background-color:white;padding:0 0.1rem">[[File:OOjs UI icon signature-ltr.svg|22px]]</span> to add two hyphens and four tildes like this: <code>{{nobr|<nowiki>--~~~~</nowiki>}}</code>.
# Use the [[WP:REPLYTOOL|reply tool]] or [[WP:NEWDISCUSSIONTOOL|new discussion tool]]. Both of these features will automatically insert a signature, without needing to add any wikicode.

The four tildes will be automatically replaced with your signature after you have published the changes, as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Wikimarkup !! Resulting code !! Resulting display
|-
| <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>[[User:Example|Example]] ([[User talk:Example|talk]])</nowiki> {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)</code><ref group="Note"> The actual code is slightly more complicated, turning the talk page link into a link to the top of one's talk page when used at one's talk page itself. It can be found at [[MediaWiki:Signature]].</ref>
| [[User:Example|Example]] ([[User talk:Example|talk]]) {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC) __NOTALK__
|}

Since typing four tildes adds the time and date to your resulting signature, this is the preferred option for signing your posts in discussions. In most talk pages, the timestamp will automatically be rendered as a [[mw:Help:DiscussionTools#Talk pages permalinking|link to the specific comment]] it is part of.<ref group="Note">If the link to the specific comment breaks, you can use [[Special:FindComment]] and [[Special:GoToComment]] as described at [[mw:Extension:DiscussionTools/How it works#Permanent links]].</ref>

Note that if you choose to [[Wikipedia:IPs are human too|contribute without logging in]], regardless of whether you have [[Wikipedia:Why create an account?|an account]], you ''must'' still sign your posts. In this case, your [[IP address]] will take the place of a username, and will link to your contributions history. Your IP address will look like something similar to {{samp|192.0.2.213}} or {{samp|2001:DB8:CEEE:21B:DB60:07FE:4277:63FF}}.

If, for some reason, you are not getting the above results when signing, see the [[User talk:SineBot|SineBot Frequently Asked Questions]] for tips.

=== Other options ===
==== Using three tildes ====
{{Shortcut|WP:3TILDES}}
Typing three tildes results in the following:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Wikimarkup !! Resulting code !! Resulting display
|-
|<code><nowiki>~~~</nowiki></code>
|<code><nowiki>[[User:Example|Example]] ([[User talk:Example|talk]])</nowiki></code>
| [[User:Example|Example]] ([[User talk:Example|talk]])
|}

This form of signature omits the timestamp. The [[WP:REPLYTOOL|reply tool]], which identifies comments using those timestamps, will not work with this form of signature. Because of this, you should not sign this way when other editors' replies can be reasonably expected.

This is also a convenient shortcut (rather than typing out the full code) when you want to provide a link to your user page.

==== Using five tildes ====
{{Shortcut|WP:5TILDES}}
Typing five tildes will convert to a date stamp with the current date and time, without adding your signature, like this:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Wikimarkup !! Resulting code !! Resulting display
|-
|<code><nowiki>~~~~~</nowiki></code>
| <code>{{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)</code>
| {{CURRENTTIME}}, {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} (UTC)
|}

In general, when communicating with others, you should use one of the previous options and not only a timestamp.  There are exceptions to this: such as when requesting assistance from the [[WP:3O|Third Opinion project]], the requested format for signing is the five tilde signature, to slightly help improve neutrality from the responding volunteer. A timestamp may also be used when updating one of your submitted posts on a talk page by appending <code><nowiki>(updated ~~~~~)</nowiki></code> to your already existing signature.

In some [[Help:Template|templates]], this is the preferred way to add the date.