Open Forum

This is one part of a series of blogs about maximizing your experience with our online Community, not only to help newbies get their bearings but to also help experienced users learn more and take the next steps, or help others. Today, we're going to review personal signatures. 

What is a Community signature?
A signature is what appears automatically at the bottom of every post you make in the Community. It lets others know a little more about you, like where you are located, where you work, and your title. It's completely customizable, so read on and I'll show you how to make your signature exactly what you want it to be.

As you peruse the Daily Digest, you probably notice individual signatures vary widely. They might be the standard Name, Organization, Location format, or they might have additions like job titles, websites, or quotes.

To review or update your signature, open your profile page, click on the "My Account" tab, and drop down to "Discussion Signature."

You'll see some field names in brackets, a selection of these fields should already appear in the '"Default Signature" box. These fields function similarly to merge fields and are set up to automatically pull information from your profile, so you don't need to fill them in with your own data. 

You'll notice some "Available Variables" in blue on the right. You can add these to your signature by clicking on them. Again, no need to fill them in, they will automatically pull the information from your profile.

If you don't want to use the variables, it's okay to delete all of them and just add in text. Whatever appears in this box will appear as your signature.

While advertising or promoting your own work, programming, or services is prohibited by the Code of Conduct, it is acceptable to include a website or short quote/slogan in your signature. 

When you are finished making your changes, click "save." If you mess up or want to start over, just click "use default template" to restore the original variables.

NOTE: It is extremely easy and convenient to reply by email as you read the Daily Digest. However, it is important to note that replying by email uses the signature you have set up in your email, that may be your work information or just a "sent from my iphone" message. The community signature will only be used when responding through the Community App or the website.

In previous Community Tips blogs, we've covered Participation Notifications, @mentions, Searching the Community Library and Discussions.  Stay tuned in the coming weeks for tips on many more exciting aspects of Community.

If you prefer video tutorials, you'll find them on the New to Community page.

Feel free to contact me with questions or suggestions: communityhelp@schooltheatre.org.