Help:FAQ/Questions about contributions/What do you mean "sign your post"?

What do you mean "sign your post"?

"I entered a comment on one of the talk pages, and I was told: "Please sign your post." What does that mean?"

The talk pages are where discussion is held of matters arising from the entry to which it is attached.

As these pages are for discussion, it is useful to have a record of who said what, and when they said it, and to be able to follow the conversation.

So, whenever you enter a post on a talk page (not one of the main pages: definition or proof), you are required to sign your post. This is done by pressing the button at the top of the edit pane which contains a logo that looks like a squiggle. It should be the third icon from the left, and if you hover over it, it will say "Signature and timestamp". What this will do is enter two hyphens followed by four tildes: --~~~~. When you save that page, it will replace the four tildes with your user "signature" and the date at which it was posted, like you see at the end of this paragraph. --prime mover (talk) 17:38, 27 December 2012 (UTC)