Wikipedia:Signatures

This page documents an English Wikipedia behavioral guideline. Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.

Shortcut WP:SIG

This page contains one or more sections that are English Wikipedia policies. These sections are each individually marked with {{policy section}}. Sections of this page that are not marked as such are not considered policies.

This page in a nutshell: Signatures are required on all talk pages to identify who made each comment, and should be added using four tildes (~~~~) if not automatically generated. They must be concise, readable to all, non-disruptive, not contain embedded files, and should never appear in articles.

Signing your posts on talk pages, both for the article and non-article namespaces, is required to identify the author of each comment, enabling other users to engage directly with the relevant participants. This practice is necessary for maintaining clear, collaborative discussions and understanding the progression of a work.

Signatures are automatically added when using the reply tool or new topic tool. When editing in source text mode without these tools, signatures must be added manually by typing four tildes (~~~~) or selecting the signature icon in the edit toolbar.

All comments on user talk pages, article talk pages, and other discussion pages must be properly signed. Persistent misuse of signatures in a disruptive manner may result in user blocks.

Signatures should not be used in main namespace pages (i.e., Wikipedia articles), as the content is a collective effort. Highlighting a single editor's contribution above others undermines the principle that articles are the shared product of multiple contributors.