Editing Encyclopedia:Signatures (section)

=== 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.