Comment Signatures – Yay or Nay?

I say no to comment signatures for blogs. If they want to view your site they can. They don't need to be able to do it twice, with the second way in their face.

No signatures in the comments- let's keep it "real", as they say.. or... what?

Like, trafficbandit, I don't mind comment signature granted that the poster is not just posting useless spam. I like seeing how other people promote there sites as well through the language they use. Allowing something simple like a comment signature to a valuable contributor could possibly result in them asking you to do a guest writing on the blog which in turn would be a chance to publicize your blog.

You guys might get a kick out of this article I wrote, entitled "Top 5 Reasons Why Bloggers Have Become Whores". It's about the comment issue. It's on Digg, too, if anyone is interested.

DevDad

the problem is not the signature. if someone is writing a comment just to get his link out (aka SPAM) that's the problem. if someone is writing a "good" comment i don't mind the signature. someone writing just a meaningless one-liner is always worse

My vote is for Nay

I get job offers for writing solid comments on web development/design blogs. Then they hit my website and portfolio and "BANG" the sell is complete, because the like the comment and love what they see on my portfolio. So, I say "YAY" on comments.

"One Man. One Year. $100,000 online. Ambitious AND successful.
http://www.oneyear888.com"

i want to kick this guys ass, for more then a month now been seeing this shit from him.

I finally got to the bottom!

I don't like the tag line on a post as much as I hate seeing no name/website included.

Well guess what, John can start making extra cash from this too. Those who want their siggy appear should pay some cash. Those who don't, can just sit quietly okay and comment as much as you like. :twisted:

Cheers!
Sha

There's something about comment signatures that screams spam to me. Imagine the quality of comments you'd get if you ran a "dofollow" plugin? I'd love to read some insightful comments from "Forex Trading Online".

One Man. One Year. One Xbox360. Ambitious AND successful.
http://www.swollenpickles.com

I agree to have one not many. The one signature link must relevant to that particular post.

Comment signatures aren't needed, especially because the name is linked so I vote nay

Comment signatures make a person who comments look desperate and detract from any point the author may be making.

OK, since everyone is having so much fun shouting "Nay, Dammit!". Tell me...honestly...you don't find THIS just a bit spammy and cluttery...talking to people named:

Stay At Home Dad, Geek Style
SEO Optimization
a video a day
Blogging Experiment
Cash Quests
OneYearGoal.com - $100,000 in one year
Simon's Money Notes
Search Engine Marketing
Free Chinese Daily Horoscopes
Harry Potter 7
High Return Investing with Dax
GET Free Stuff for a Link
Hawaii SEO

Planning to name your kids that as well, are ya? :lol:

C'mon folks. Stop drinking the Koolaid and admit that there must be a better way than having to identify yourselves that way.

I was half-joking about wanting to include sigs (we all hate clutter)...but only because I didn't know of a better option (until Matthew shared about the cool solution at SelfMadeMinds).

It's time to inject some reality here...and defending the status quo when you call yourself by those kinds of names...sorry, that's just flat disingenuous. If the point of comments is dialogue and not self-promotion...then turn off the promo machine and become a normal human being again. Or at least, admit that the way things are pretty much sucks for functionality.

I don't think it's necessary to have that if you can provide the link in the name. It's overkill..

I'm also a no - it's seems excessive when, as you said it your post, the commentators name is already a link.

i say nay!

It is a clear cut simple case, you are allowed your site URL in your comments name, placing it within the text of your comments as well is just blatant spam and should be deleted.

I agree, not needed when the commentors name is alreay a link to their site.

I'm gonna go with a "NO" to signatures in the comments. The link in our names should be enough. Otherwise I'm afraid it will get too spammy.

The comment signatures don't bother me, as long as the actual comment is longer than the signature!

But, when you see comments that are very short with a promotional signature, it leaves the impression that the commentator is nothing more than a blog spammer.

Mind you, long comments are not always necessary. Sometimes I think it's helpful just to apply with agreement, just to give the blogger some measure of feedback. A "forced" comment isn't necessarily much better than a short "right on!" comment.

To those that believe that a signature is necessary to inform people about your blog, leave more substantial comments. I know that I am more likely to check out the blog of someone who posts a reasonable comment than someone that posts:

You suck!

Please visit my super duper blog on making more money than you can dream of at dreamonsuperduperblog.dom.

Allow spamming I mean signatures ? No way

Sorry, I meant *comment signatures. lol :lol:

John, comments really depend on the type of site that you have. Even if it's a blog associated site. My site for example, I'd prefer to have no comments and all concerns/questions be forwarded to my e-mail.

Moneyquill.com - Your online guide to the hottest deals on the net!

Quite a good idea, but i think you would have to offer member signups.

Hello John,
First i would like to congratulate with you for breaking the milestone on the RSS readers, i knew you were going to break within this month (if you remember I even mentioned that).

Anyway, back to the topic and this blog post. I could write a 10 lines long comment in regards, but why, when I can answer with a simple answer "NAY" and i mean "NAY DAMN IT NAY". I personally for those few comments i get, i won't actually publish the comment if they place a text and play like it is a signature or i will actually remove their signature. Ok you might think, it is their comment so should remain intact, and okey i answer it is my blog and should remain clean.

Having your website already linked within your name (which in most cases is used with the site name or even keywords for your site) is more than enough, why should someone want to spoil others blog and stuff their comment with signature links here and there, if the blogger wanted his commentators to have a signature he would of hire someone to write a plugin to do that (if there is not one yet out there).

Heck, anyway i wrote 10 lines (or a little bit more).

Definitely nay. It just comes off sounding spammy and it serves no purpose, because the person's name already links to their site. What's more, unlike a forum signature, the commentator has to make a distinct effort to include their signature IN EVERY COMMENT. It's not automatic.

John I bought you 3 bottles of beer :twisted:

Yes, if you moderate them much better than you are now and get a new blog design

Otherwise, no

Well, the only 'signature' I use is when I add my real name to the bottom of my comments. I used to find this really annoying when people would do it on message boards and other blogs then it just sort of grew on me. ;)

Steve

wow, so many comments today

I vote yay.

Shouldn't we be encouraging comments? Just allow a maximum of one link in a comment and let the commentator decide what link they use, if any.

The problem on this site isn't the signatures, it's the meaningless comments from people trying to get on the Top Commentators list. They reply to every comment as if they own the blog!

If I were you John, I'd scrap the Top Commentators list, and install an 'incoming links' plugin instead. You'd cut out the spammy comments and be flooded with backlinks.

Nay vote from me!