Okay, so I was reading the "PNG vs. GIF" topic, and I found seolady's sig, and it is great. I wouldn't have thought such minor formatting would make a difference, but I thought it was an add, and double took, and actually read it. I almost clicked on it, bur decided not to because I wasn't interested in her product. Still, I never take the time to read sigs on here unless the person said something I like.

Anyway, I think I am going to steal her idea learn from her example and format my sig better. I think we could all benefit from this. I didn't think anything except images could help bring attention to a sig.

Only problem i find with that is the way it cheapens the forums,, surely in your industry you visit many gaming forums? the sigs are these huge images and all they really do is make the page load slower and make it confusing when trying to read through pages of posts. I like the fact that SR is free from the flickering bling bling sigs that are unfortunately plaguing many good forums

But, thats just my opinion, if everyone joins in with giant text im sure it wont be long before i end up trying one out... my reality may be a lil warped at that point but i can handle it

Only problem i find with that is the way it cheapens the forums,,

totaly agree I think people should ask why they use a forum.This one does  have wealth of help and advice without self promotion.

Any gain from having a link is already here without flashy images etc

There are plenty of other forums that are out there for the huge egos that persist in this industry. If i can help anyone here I will and always apreciate the help I receive

As they say " dont fix whats not broke "

Keep up the good work

Not only the self promotion but the fact that people see all the big sigs and are inclined to "just have one" even if its just a picture of their computer case or favorite comic character. At least the majority i see are pretty pointless, no purpose other than drawing attention to oneself even if they havent any business to advertise.

I like the "sigs" just the way they are thank you.  I'm more interested in the actual message part then the sig and if that becomes the focal point then it is too distracting.

I'm actually quite disappointed at how quickly this got off topic just because I said "Images" once in my post. I am saying that text links don't need to be dull, and we can make them look better and make more people want to click them. I agree that a lot of the time image sigs don't work anymore, but I am talking about making text sigs look good.

PERSONALLY i FIND IT A BIT LIKE SHOUTING


Much better a polite introduction in my mind

SoraCross wrote:

I'm actually quite disappointed at how quickly this got off topic just because I said "Images" once in my post. I am saying that text links don't need to be dull, and we can make them look better and make more people want to click them. I agree that a lot of the time image sigs don't work anymore, but I am talking about making text sigs look good.

Sorry SC, didnt mean for it to go in that direction perhaps mattes point is more on topic though, flashy=cheap - subtle=professional in my opinion. Like you said, you dont read the sigs unless you are interested in what the people are saying, wouldnt you rather keep it that way rather than being distracted by bling text after every post?

Please dont feel that we are ganging up on you, this is a great topic and im glad you came up with it because this is something im sure many people have in the back of their minds when starting forums

Ryan_steyn wrote:

Sorry SC, didnt mean for it to go in that direction perhaps mattes point is more on topic though, flashy=cheap - subtle=professional in my opinion. Like you said, you dont read the sigs unless you are interested in what the people are saying, wouldnt you rather keep it that way rather than being distracted by bling text after every post?

Please dont feel that we are ganging up on you, this is a great topic and im glad you came up with it because this is something im sure many people have in the back of their minds when starting forums

It's okay, but I was hoping to get a lot more discussion on how much textual formatting can make a difference in sig links. I do agree 85% with "flashy = crappy. professional = subdue" though.

Think "Targeted Traffic."

Okay, I changed my sig to reflect what I am talking about. Doesn't it look better now?

it was:
My website: Sora Cross.
Click here to review my website

no, I think  it looks crass and amateurish

It looks like you are developing a big ego and very distracting from the content in the message box.

As one who is, at least, tying for last place on crappy sigs for this forum, (I don't even bother putting them into descriptive language, instead of raw links), gotta agree with your first point, Sora --

Still, I never take the time to read sigs on here unless the person said something I like.

Yup, despite my sig, I still get a surprising number of visits from this forum. Then again, if I'm writing to bring in more visitors, I wouldn't be on this forum at all!

Fortunately for me, I see lots of stuff I like, so I've visited quite a collection of inspiring sites -- everything from territorial images you can't find anywhere in the USA (and some you can, but from the other side of the country), to fishing equipment, to all things Beatles, to articles on a slew of subjects, to a classy selection of Hawaiian Shirts not from HI, to gift baskets, to caracatures, to fan sites, and even on SEO. Come to think of it, I used to go only to sites from folks, who interest me, until I discovered some sites making big bucks on subjects not interesting to me. BUT, my imagination tends to pick up ideas on how I want my sites to look eventually, so I've gotten to the point of visiting other sites on here, even if they have no sigs -- just merely a "website" button under their names. What if I miss a site?

As for going fancy with the sig -- I might some day, if I ever have a reason to on this site. I already have a semi-fancy sig on my favorite game forum -- those folks already enjoy a good fantasy world, so might enjoy mine. (No sig at all for my subject-matter forum, but they can find my links and sites through the member selection, if interested. They know me already.) Since some of the plainest sigs on this board are also some of the best links, I've learned long ago to not judge a book by its cover.

Good topic

Sora

I think that your sig looks ok - as it is one of the only ones here like that it stands out  -  if everyone did the same it would be just one of many....... baaaabaaa

I like this forum as it has less bling bling and to be honest the guys here are way more proffesional than in other forums

Do your own thing !