Wikipedia:How to fix your signature

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Shortcut: WP:SIGHELP

Changes made in November 2005 on the version of the MediaWiki software running Wikipedia altered the way signatures work. If your signature is not working now (but was working previously), you will need to make some changes to your "my preferences" page.

1 You are not using "raw signatures"
2 You are using "raw signatures"
3 Wikilink behavior
4 A note on long signatures

[edit] You are not using "raw signatures"

MediaWiki makes the creation of simple, straightforward signatures relatively easy. For example, if User:Example wants a signature that displays as Example, he would simply have to enter Example in the Nickname field in my preferences. The software automatically places [[User:Example| in front of and ]] behind the entry, to form [[User:Example|Example]]; this escapes as Example. Wiki markup and HTML markup do not function in the Nickname field, unless the Raw signatures option is checked in preferences.

For example, placing the following in the default Nickname field

Example]] | [[User talk:Example|

will result in a signature that looks like

Example | [[User_talk:Example|Talk]]

instead of

Example | Talk

This is because Wiki markup (and HTML markup) are now escaped as HTML entities when placed in the default Nickname field, e.g. [ instead of [. If you would like a signature that requires markup within the Nickname field, please check the Raw signatures option and enter the full signature string into the field. For instance, to produce the signature

Example | Talk

place

[[User:Example|Example]] | [[User talk:Example|Talk]]

within the Nickname field and check Raw signatures.

[edit] You are using "raw signatures"

If you have been using "raw signatures" all along but find that your signature is now not working, you may find the following message displayed in your preferences:

Invalid raw signature; check HTML tags.

This means you are using invalid markup on your signature. Some possible causes with their corresponding solutions:

Unclosed tags: If you are opening a tag without the corresponding closing tag (for instance:
[[User:Example|Example]]), you should close the tag (for instance: [[User:Example|Example]]). It's also a good idea to put the tags outside the link if possible (for instance: [[User:Example|Example]]).
Mismatched or incorrectly nested tags: If the tags are mismatched (for instance: <s>hi</s>), fix them (for instance: <s>hi</s>).
Unquoted attributes: It's also recommended to use quotes on all attributes (for instance, use  instead of
).
Unclosed entities: If you have a HTML entity which is lacking the final ;, you need to add it; if you have a bare &, it must be replaced by & (a bare & is always a mistake in either HTML or wikicode).
Unescaped special characters: If you are using one of &, <, or >, and want it shown as text, it must be escaped as &, <, or >, respectively.

[edit] Wikilink behavior

Remember that all wikilinks show up as bold black text on the page they link to, so if you are testing your signature on your userpage/talk page and the user/talk part of it doesn't show up as a link, that may be why.

[edit] A note on long signatures

The markup for your signature is visible in the edit window; if it is too long, it makes editing the page harder. Try to keep the markup length below about one line of text. Also, the signature length is, since 2007-06-13, restricted to 255 bytes (bug #8458, r22960), later changed to 255 characters (bug #10338, r23389).