# Forum Signatures

Signatures are short blocks of text (or ASCII art) that display beneath the forum posts you write. They are a classic forum feature for expressing personality or sharing a contact.

Signatures show on forum posts only. They never appear in private messages. Your community must have forum signatures turned on for them to display.

## Creating Your Signature

1. Open your profile settings and find the **Forum Signature** field.
2. Type your signature.
3. Click **Save**.

Your signature appears automatically beneath your posts, including ones you already made.

## Formatting

Signatures support markdown plus a small set of basic formatting:

- **Bold** and *italic* text.
- Inline code.
- Email links.
- Line breaks.

To keep signatures compact and safe, external web links are removed and only email links are kept. Headings, images, and tables are not supported.

## ASCII Art

ASCII art is welcome in signatures. Keep it within the size limit below so it does not dominate the post view. A couple of examples:

```
  /\_/\
 ( o.o )
  > ^ <
```

```
 ______
< hello >
 ------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||
```

## Size Limit

| Constraint | Limit |
|-----------|-------|
| Maximum characters | 500 |

Anything past 500 characters is trimmed when you save.

## Showing or Hiding Your Signature

Use the **Show my signature on posts** checkbox in your profile settings to turn your own signature on or off. Turning it off hides your signature from your posts; it does not change whether you see other members' signatures.

## Moderation

Moderators can edit or remove a signature that breaks community guidelines (spam, offensive content, excessive self-promotion). You receive a notification explaining the action.