Dear members,
As of today the signatures as you have been used to here on DUG for at least 15 years are no longer.
If have a signature on your account today, then it will still be displayed, but only the 50 first characters, without any html.
Notice that all users now automatically have a signature consisting of their account display name, plus links to your website, blog, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts, if filled out in your profile.
There is only one “catch”, the signature (except the name) is only displayed on users who have been online within the last 3 months.
There are many reasons for implementing this change. First off all then the general trend on the internet is signatures either goes away, or disappears all together. One of the issues with the old signatures, is that they mostly have turned into an advertisement for the user. A way to link to their blogs and websites etc.
DUG has no problem with our active members wanna promote their own website/blog, so that’s why the links are still there. Same with the links to your social network accounts, they serve to allow the other members to contact or follow you in other places than just here on DUG. Remember that everything you share on your profile, basically still is public. So don’t put anything in there, you don’t want others to see.
Also recently the signatures have started creating “security warnings” in your browser. If you have noticed, then there is a little green lock icon in the browser address bar (some variations for different browsers and devices) telling you the DUG is using SLL, which means that we are using the secure HTTPS protocol, instead on the un-secure HTTP. But on some pages you may find a broken lock. The most common reason for this is (was) images in the signature, where the actual image was external in a regular HTTP server.
Finally the new signatures, should give the site a more calm look. Sometimes the old signatures took up 2-3 times has much space as the actual question and/or reply.
Let me know what you think?
And please remember to update your signature, if you have one today or not.