Help:Signatures - MediaWiki
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Note:
When you edit this page, you agree to release your contribution under the
CC0
. See
Public Domain Help Pages
for more info.
Users can easily
sign
their posts at the end of a comment. Signing is normally done on
talk pages
only, not on conjointly written articles.
Default signature options
edit
There are three default options.
Four tildes are standard (full signature).
Typing three tildes results in a username-only signature (without timestamp).
Typing five tildes results in a pure timestamp (without username).
Function
Wiki markup (replaced when saving)
Resulting wiki code
Resulting display
Signature plus timestamp
~~~~
[[User:Username|Username]] ([[User talk:Username|talk]]) 12:01, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
Username
talk
12:01, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
reply
Signature alone
~~~
[[User:Username|Username]] ([[User talk:Username|talk]])
Username
talk
Timestamp alone
~~~~~
12:01, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
12:01, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
If you edit without logging in, the name of your
temporary account
will take the place of a username.
Usernames and temporary account names are also stored in
page histories
as a record of who wrote what, so others can always verify signatures.
The common format to type a signature – two hyphens (or a long dash) followed by four tildes (
--
~~~~
) – is derived from the computer network Usenet, where two hyphens mark a signature block.
Note that the two hyphens are not inserted automatically and have to be entered manually (unless you customize your signature to include them, an example of this can be seen in the next section).
Clicking on the signature button will also add two hyphens alongside the signature (--~~~~).
The actual signature string, the tildes, automatically get substituted with username (linked to the appropriate user page) and timestamp (time/date), when you save a signed edit.
This helps other users to follow the chronological order of discussions, and to identify the author of a particular comment.
The username part is controlled by the message
MediaWiki:Signature
, or
MediaWiki:Signature-anon
for users not logged-in.
$1
on those messages get substituted by the user name editing the page, and
$2
with either the user name, or a custom signature as specified in
Help:Preferences
If the user enables Wikitext signatures in preferences, the contents of the custom signature is used directly.
If you don't find the tilde on your keyboard, you can use the signature button
of the default edit toolbar as a typing aid.
Signatures do not work in edit summaries (they do not translate from
~~~~
there), but of course there would be no need to use this in an edit summary. The date and your user name are recorded and displayed against edits anyway.
Note that timestamps are currently formatted by default and saved according to the default locale conventions (language, script, date and time format) used on each wiki, and
not
according to the conventions of your current preferred language.
Customized signatures
edit
Registered users can customize their signature (the part between the two hyphens and the timestamp, that is, the text displayed on the link pointing to your username) by changing the field
New signature:
in their
preferences
By default, anything you enter there will be wrapped with
[[ ]]
To use a special linking (without this automatic link), you have to enable
Treat as wikitext
. Then you can add Wiki markup and also HTML (as far as allowed on the wiki) as you like, but the maximum length is 255 characters.
Please note that striking signatures are often disliked by other users.
Note that if you customize your signature, you should avoid displaying the identity of another unrelated user account, unless you also own this account or are explicitly authorized by this user: the link should unambiguously point to
your
effective user page or talk page on the local wiki.
However, changing your signature will
not
override the username that is recorded in page histories.
Some wikis may also have defined a restricting policy about the usage of external links or images in signatures.
Look at the policies documented and on enforced your local wiki about user accounts and identities.
If you enable
Treat as wikitext
but don't add any customized signature string, you'll sign with your unlinked username.
The most common
Treat as wikitext
customizations are the following:
Purpose
Wikitext signature
Resulting signature display (generated by four tildes)
Embedding the dashes in the signature
-- [[User:Username|Username]]
--
Username
12:01, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
reply
Adapting the displayed username to your convenience
[[User:Username|Preferred User Name]]
Preferred User Name
12:01, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
reply
Adding a talk page link
[[User:Username|Username]] ([[User talk:Username|talk]])
Username
talk
12:01, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
reply
DiscussionTools
edit
Messages left using
DiscussionTools
or deprecated
Flow/Structured Discussions
do not require signatures.
See also
edit
Manual:User signatures
Retrieved from "
Category
Help
Help
Signatures
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