A sig file is a simple text file in your email program that is automatically added to the bottom of an email post. Some are simply a name and maybe even a favorite quote. However sometimes you run into a few that are really long.
Long sig files that use a lot of bandwidth are annoying especially on email lists (see also, "Why sig files are a bad idea for mailing lists" by John Norris). The internet is world wide. Many people in different countries have to pay for local phone calls. This means a lot of people are paying by the k for downloading. (This is also why we do not send attachments to email lists.)
Another thing to consider is that if you post to the list 5 times per day and you have the same sig file each time you post just how many times per month is everybody reading the same sig file. One should also take into consideration that most email lists have their own sig file that is at the bottom of each post.
Please note that ASCII art may look cute or admiring on your system but font changes and interpretations in others' email programs changes the allingment and what's there may not look so wonderful. Good netiquette for sig files is 5 lines or less. Spaces count as lines.
For Example: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lady Gwendalyn aka Wolfrose ICQ# 17709663
Sometimes in order to see we must close our eyes and listen.
http://www.paganlake.com | http://www.magickdream.com
http://www.blkgold.com | http://users.drak.net/wolfrose101
This is my personal sig file and contains useful information but I still only post this about once a month.
We on the PWA list have found a great way to make use of a sig file when doing site critiques. In this case more than 5 lines would be permissible as you are including information about your PC or Mac, OS, and browser information.
For Example: Gwendalyn surfin on an etower 400id Pentium celeron running
Win98 6.4Megs 56k flex hooked up @ 53000bps viewing your
pages with IE 5 and Netscape 4.73 in trillions of colors (32 bit)
on a 15" SVGA monitor set @ 1024x768 pixels with little fluffy
purr beasts hunting flies in the window... hey they're being useful.
A Few More Examples: 1: (name omited)
--
PC, Win98, IE5,
17" monitor, 1024x768, 16.7m colours
2: (name omited)
1024x768 (unless I specify otherwise - I do play with QuickRes
when the situation calls for it), True Color, 28.8 connection
on a messed-up 56.6 modem, Netscape 4.51 (and once in awhile IE 4.0), Cyrix 200.
3: (name omited)
PC Win 95 - IE 5, 800x600, million colors, 17" NEC monitor
ISDN, 32 mg RAM, 150mz processor generic PC
# 9 video card, Altec Lansing speakers
4: (name omited)
Win95 PC Mozilla 4.6 800x600 (HiColor) 56K@47.3k
5: (name omited)
System: Compaq 686 - 233MHz PC
48 megs SDRAM, Win95
56k modem (44k connection)
15" Sony Trinitron SVGA monitor, 800x600
Browser: Netscape 4.07
Laptop: Tabitha
6: (name omited)
Mac OS 8.6 Net Commi 4.5 millions and 256 colors 1024 by 768
and 640 by 480 resolution PC and Mac gamma.
7: (name omited)
core ----------- : Intel PII350 @ 392MHz w/ 128MB RAM
operating system : Debian GNU/Linux potato w/ 2.0.36 kernel
window system -- : XFree86 3.3.3.1-10 w/ WindowMaker 0.60.0-4
browser -------- : Mozilla 4.6-9 & Lynx 2.8.2rel.1
display -------- : 17" @ 1152x864x32bpp
connection ----- : LAN @ 100Mbps w/ 34Mbps gateway
8: (name omited)
Using: Netscape 3.0, PowerMac, 640x480, 15" monitor,
thousands of colors, 28.8 connection
This is a great way to utilize the sig file and provides the webcrafter with information about how their site looks on different systems.