Sven Guckes guckes-sig-improved@math.fu-berlin.de ©1995-2002

Latest change: Sat May 17 12:00:00 CEST 2003

Signatures Improved - Four Lines Suffice!

Here are some of the signatures I edited to get them "McQ" (4x80).

The "improvement" to these signatures were done to maintain just that standard of "informal" signatures (as opposed to "digital signatures").

The improvement usually just consists of removing the superfluous stuff, and simply keeping the info.

All improvements represent my suggestions and not necessarily the view of the signature's owner. ;-)

000301: I was told that this page helped someone at some company (which shall remain nameless for now) to show the management that big signatures actually look bad; they have now changed their policy to give their employees standard signatues of only four lines. :-)

Remember: "Four lines suffice!"

The Basics

Here are the main features for an informal signature again:
maximum of four lines
This allows to view them even with limted screen real estate.

maximum of 80 characters per line
This allows to view signatures on standard terminals

name and address first
Without your name and address it could be anyone's signature. After all, it's supposed to be a *signature*, right?

keep it to a miminum
all fancy stuff that does not fit into 4x80 should not be used at all.

ASCII only - but no TABs or control characters
High-bit characters depend on the current font. Tabs will make the signature a subject to the expansion; this usually screws up the view of aligned information. Control characters may be interpreted by some mailers.

And, of course, please prepend "sigdashes" to your signatures, so they can be recognized by programs as such. Thankyou!

For a more explicit description of signatures and sigdashes please see the

AFW (alt.fan.warlord) FAQ (frequently asked questions)

The Good, the Bad, and the Downright Monstrous

INDEX: Abd Abrahams Newton X X X X X X X
Bad signatures are in red and improved signatures are in blue.

Abd 
	
Dr Imad Abd
Reverse Engineering Ltd
Blackfriars House, 4th Floor
St. Mary's Parsonage
Manchester M3 2JA
U.K.
Tel: (Int: 44 161) 0161 828 5399
Fax: (Int: 44 161) 0161 828 5398
email:  abdi@relman.demon.co.uk

	
Dr Imad Abd                   Reverse Engineering Ltd
abdi@relman.demon.co.uk       Blackfriars House, 4th Floor
Tel: (+44 161) 828 5399       St. Mary's Parsonage
Fax: (+44 161) 828 5398       Manchester M3 2JA -- UK

Abrahams 

	
  Marc Abrahams  marca@improbable.com      subscriptions:
  Editor    http://www.improbable.com      air@improbable.com
  Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)      TEL: +1-617-491-4437
  PO Box 380853, Cambridge MA 02238, USA   FAX: +1-617-661-0927

Newton

BAD: No sigdashes, but border lines; no name given at start. 
	
--------------------------------------------------------------
Datenrevision GmbH & Co. OHG
a gedas company
Cuxhavener Straße 36, D-21149 Hamburg
Telefon/phone   +49-40-797 007-37
Telefax/telefax +49-40-797 007-10
mailto:Philip.Newton@datenrevision.de
http://www.datenrevision.de
--------------------------------------------------------------

The four line version looks like a business card again: 
	
Philip Newton                   Philip.Newton@datenrevision.de
Datenrevision GmbH & Co. OHG       http://www.datenrevision.de
a gedas company                          TEL +49-40-797 007-37
Cuxhavener Straße 36, D-21149 Hamburg    FAX +49-40-797 007-10

XXX

Some companies force their employees to add an "office signature" to all their emails. They are usually big and ugly and, worse, uninformative.

The following signature is informative, however, it is also quite typical as it is made to look like a standard letter. (Hey, this is email, folks!)

Yet another typical sign of an office signature: The name of the sender is *outside* the signature. BAD! 

	
Volker *****
Technischer Projektleiter
--
livingNet Medien AG
Bleibtreustrasse 17      | Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrates | Sitz: Berlin
10623 Berlin             | Dr. Peter Nussbaum              | Registergericht
Tel.: (030) 88 44 01-*** | Vorstand                        | Berlin-Chbrg
Fax : (030) 88 44 01-*** | Marc A. Ullrich                 | HRB: 73516
http://www.living-net.de
Info on executives and on the court. Jeez! Such info is hopefully not required for every email.

Remember: The signature of a message sent by a person should be a personal signature. Use your company signature for official announcements! And remember: "Four lines suffice!" 

	
Volker *****@livingnet.de    www.living-net.de    Sitz: Berlin
Technischer Projektleiter   livingNet Medien AG   Registergericht
Tel: +49 30  88 44 01-***   Bleibtreustrasse 17   Berlin-Chbrg
Fax: +49 30  88 44 01-***   D-10623 Berlin        HRB: 73516

Still, I think the court info is superfluous - unless you sue everybody you send email to... 000620: I was told that the "Handelsgesetz" requires this information with every letter (§ 37a HGB). But is every email from a company a letter that *needs* a signature including such info?

If the company's policy is to append non-personal data then it should do so *after* the personal signature: 

	
Volker *****@livingnet.de    www.living-net.de
Technischer Projektleiter   livingNet Medien AG
Tel: +49 30  88 44 01-***   Bleibtreustrasse 17
Fax: +49 30  88 44 01-***   D-10623 Berlin

Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrates: Dr. Peter Nussbaum
Vorstand: Marc A. Ullrich
Sitz: Berlin, Registergericht, Berlin-Chbrg, HRB: 73516

X

Just a little over four lines - and way too many dashes. 

	
Hemant Shah, LIDP Inc.
E-mail: shah@xnet.com
 Voice: +1 630 829 7064
   Fax: +1 630 960 0717
-----------------[DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED BULK E-MAIL]------------------
Above opinions are mine only.  Others can have their own.

Name+Address first, dashes removed, and request moved into first line. The diclaimer can stay in the last line unchanged: 

	
Hemant Shah   shah@xnet.com    [DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED BULK E-MAIL]
LIDP Inc                       TEL: +1 630 829 7064
                               FAX: +1 630 960 0717
Above opinions are mine only.  Others can have their own.

990503

Way to f*cking BIG! 

	
.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   If all else fails, offer maps.
.
.    HCL Barz
.      Interface Design
.
.    MetaDesign Berlin
.      Bergmannstrasse 102
.      D-10965 Berlin
.
.    hcl@metadesign.de
.      030 - 695 79 242
.      Fax 030 - 695 79 315
.
.    http://www.metadesign.com
.
.    Privat
.      xxxx@xxx.xxxxxxxxx.xx
.      030 - XXX XX XX

Condesing the data even leaves a line for the dotted border: 

	
.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .
. HCL Barz            hcl@metadesign.de     MetaDesign Berlin
. Interface Design    Bergmannstrasse 102   TEL ++49-30 695 79 242
. www.metadesign.com  D-10965 Berlin        FAX ++49-30 695 79 315

I could not resists making a little fun of it, too: 

	
.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .
. HCL Barz            home@hcl.in-berlin.de "Home sweet home"
. Signature Design    Barz Street 123       TEL ++49-30 785 88 76
. NOT!                D-19999 Berlin        "If sig fails, offer help."

010820: signature from Pohl removed
990225 Border lines, empty line, 
	
***************************************************************
                SIEMENS AG, Muenchen Balanstr.73
                          GERMANY
***************************************************************
Thomas Lynch      Tel.  (49) 89 - 636-28765
                  FAX   (49) 89 - 636-23147
           email:   lynch@hl.siemens.de

***************************************************************


	
Thomas Lynch  lynch@hl.siemens.de
SIEMENS AG, Balanstr.73, Muenchen 
TEL  +49-89-636-28765
FAX  +49-89-636-23147

990223 Yet another case of "borderism": 

	
+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Dipl.-Ing. Alfred Schmidt  alfred@hs-bremerhaven.de |
| Hochschule Bremerhaven                              |
| Labor fuer Wirtschaftsinformatik                    |
| fon +49 471 4823-518  fax -285                      |
|             German VI-Lovers Homepage:              |
|      linux.hs-bremerhaven.de/~alfred/vi.html        |
+-----------------------------------------------------+

Removing borders and whitespace yields: 

	
Dipl.-Ing. Alfred Schmidt  alfred@hs-bremerhaven.de
TEL +49 471 4823-518       Hochschule Bremerhaven
FAX +49 471 4823-285       Labor fuer Wirtschaftsinformatik
German VI-Lovers Homepage: linux.hs-bremerhaven.de/~alfred/vi.html

The Tech Univ of Braunschweig (Brunswick) just has "tu-bs", so why wouldn't the Hochschule Bremerhaven have "hs-bh"? German URLs - longer than an English webpage!

990206 Border lines, ASCII graphics, two addresses, snail mail and phone numbers: 
	
========================================================================
           \__   ____      \__  |Name   : Ranganathan Ramanathan
 /__  /  / /  \ /___/ /  / /  \ |S-Mail : ASEL, AI DuPont Institute
/    /__/ /   / ___/ /__/ /   / |         PO Box 269, Wilmington
ramanath@asel.udel.edu          |         DE 19899
sg92di9e@dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu   |Phone  : 1-215-895-4918;1-302-651-6868
WWW Home Page : http://www.asel.udel.edu/~ramanath/index.html
========================================================================

Oh, well, let's keep the ASCII graphis and the snail mail then: 

	
           \__   ____      \__  Ranganathan Ramanathan ramanath@asel.udel.edu
 /__  /  / /  \ /___/ /  / /  \ http://www.asel.udel.edu/~ramanath/
/    /__/ /   / ___/ /__/ /   / TEL  1-215-895-4918;1-302-651-6868
Snail mail: ASEL, AI DuPont Institute // PO Box 269, Wilmington // DE 19899

990205 No sigdashes, border line, typo ("konzpte"), empty lines, tab damage, snail mail, and a URL longer than an English sentence. (Can you say "buraeucracy"? I knew you could.) 

	
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dipl.-Ing. Ingo Pietsch
Institut f|r Werzeugmaschinen und Fertigungstechnik
Abteilung Fertigungsautomatisierung und Handhabungstechnik
Gruppe Neue Maschinenkonzpte

Postanschrift:                          Fax:    +49-531-391-9701
Langer Kamp 19b                 Telefon:+49-531-391-9707
38106 Braunschweig                      Email:  i.pietsch@tu-bs.de

http://www.tu-bs.de/institute/ifh/institut/mitarbeiter/ip.html

Cutting down on that URL sure gives enough room to keep the extra long names of the institute and the department: 
	
Ingo Pietsch    Dipl.-Ing.    i.pietsch@tu-bs.de       http://i.am/pietsch
Inst. für Werzeugmaschinen und Fertigungstechnik       TEL: +49-531-391-9707
Abt.  Fertigungsautomatisierung und Handhabungstechnik FAX: +49-531-391-9701
Gruppe Neue Maschinenkonzepte        Langer Kamp 19b - 38106 Braunschweig

Thanks to Kerstin for sending me that signature! :-)

990118 Captaion Whitespace is back! And he seems to enjoy the "center" tag! 

	
        --      --      --      --      --      --      --      --
                              Alvaro A. Novo
                         2116 S. Orchard St., #304
                             Urbana, IL 61801

                              novo@uiuc.edu
                         anovo@ragnar.econ.uiuc.edu
               http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~novo/Alvaro.htm
                               217-337-4893
        --      --      --      --      --      --      --      --

There - all the info (sans one address) in four lines, complete with that border: 

	
--     --     --     --     --     --     --     --     --     --     --
Alvaro A. Novo  novo@uiuc.edu  http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~novo/Alvaro.htm
2116 S. Orchard St., #304   -- Urbana, IL 61801  --     TEL 217-337-4893
--     --     --     --     --     --     --     --     --     --     --

990114 Ah - another "Kilroy fan". And the info filled ith lots of whitespace. And borders, of course: 

	
                                   \|||/
                                   (o o)
|------------------------------oOO--(_)--OOo------------------------------|
                         TRIANTAFYLLIDIS PETROS  ©
  Aristotle Univ. of Thessaloniki     phone: +30-31-998527
  Geophysical Laboratory                fax: +30-31-998528
  P.O.Box 111                        e-mail: trian@lemnos.geo.auth.gr
  54006 Thessaloniki                         trian@geosun0.univ.trieste.it
  GREECE                             URL: http://lemnos.geo.auth.gr/~trian 
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|


	
Triantafyllidis Petros trian@lemnos.geo.auth.gr
http://lemnos.geo.auth.gr/~trian                                   \|||/
Aristotle Univ.  - Geophysical Laboratory  TEL: +30-31-998527      (o o)
P.O.Box 111 - 54006 Thessaloniki - GREECE  FAX: +30-31-998528  oOO--(_)--OOo

This signature might also be used easily without the TEL and FAX numbers - just deleted its block. Should I mention that this is easy with Vim's commands for visual block mode? Naah.

But usually the Kilroy is *onto* something, and here it should probably, too: 

	
Triantafyllidis Petros trian@lemnos.geo.auth.gr     \|||/    
http://lemnos.geo.auth.gr/~trian                    (o o)
Aristotle Univ.  - Geophysical Laboratory       oOO--(_)--OOo
P.O.Box 111 - 54006 Thessaloniki - GREECE  TEL: +30-31-998527

There - "the Kilroy on the phone number".

990101 Incomplete name, address not after name, and a line with just a dot in it: 

	
Cheers:  Hal  from Five Forks, WV. {pop 70}  :^) - Elm/Linux/AX25  
email:           haltec@wvadventures.net 
ax25: w8mch@n8tjd.wv.usa.na   tcp/ip: w8mch@marion.n8tjd.ampr.org 
.

Name and address first (as usual), and with alignes addresses: 

	
Hal MacArgle       haltec@wvadventures.net
ax25:              w8mch@n8tjd.wv.usa.na
tcp/ip:            w8mch@marion.n8tjd.ampr.org 
Five Forks, WV. {pop 70}  :^) - Elm/Linux/AX25

981204 Empty line, border lines, trailing whitespace, and quite heavy on the left side: 

	
------------------------------------------------------------------------

\|||/
 @ @   100% Chemical and proud of it.
  *
http://anal.chem.uva.nl/persons/phd/jellema/default.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------
R.H. Jellema (Renger)
University of Amsterdam
Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry
Nieuwe Achtergracht 166
1018 WV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Renger@its.chem.uva.nl
tel: +31 (0)205256991
fax: +31 (0)205256638
ICQ: 1475521
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everything but the fancy face: 

	
Renger Jellema   renger@its.chem.uva.nl    ICQ: 1475521  TEL: +31-205256991
http://anal.chem.uva.nl/persons/phd/jellema/default.htm  FAX: +31-205256638
University of Amsterdam -- Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry
Nieuwe Achtergracht 166 -- 1018 WV Amsterdam - The Netherlands

Everything but the snailmail address: 

	
Renger Jellema   renger@its.chem.uva.nl    ICQ: 1475521   \|||/
http://anal.chem.uva.nl/persons/phd/jellema/default.htm    @ @
TEL: +31-205256991  Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry     *
FAX: +31-205256638       100% Chemical and proud of it!


	
                  __       _                               _
Peter            /o \     (_)  ' =B0  O   O  O o .  /\    (_)    __
                 \ o/                           L/[]\           /'.\
           .|,    ||          \|/               \|HF|           \. /
 _\|/__http://www.IN-Berlin.de/User/pooh/peter___|_L|_____\||/___||__

Actually, a nice sig. But it was missing the sigdashes. When I told Peter, he suggested to use the sigdashes as part of the tree. Here is a first result of a few changes: 

	
__ 
o \ Peter J. Weyers peter@xxxx.in-berlin.de    L/[]\.. o 0 0   /'.\ (_)
 o/ http://www.IN-Berlin.de/User/pooh/peter    \|HF|           \. /
||_____\//______________.|/_____\.,./___________|_L|_____\||/___||__

Hey - only *three* lines! :-) 

	
__ 
o \ Peter J. Weyers peter@xxxx.in-berlin.de    . o 0 0  =B0     __  - (_) -
 o/ http://www.IN-Berlin.de/User/pooh/peter    L/[]\           /'.\   / \
||   \  //                                     \|HF|           \. /    
||____\//_______________.|/_____\.,./___________|_L|_____\||/___||_________

980918 
	
CU/2 sagt Hartwin.
 _________________________________________________________________________
|               |                                                         |
| Hartwin Rohde |   Tel.: (030) 3303 - 7507     [ intern (9915) 7507 ]    |
|_______________|_________________________________________________________|
|                                       |                                 |
| Dienst                                | Privat                          |
|---------------------------------------|---------------------------------|
| E-Mail                                |                                 |
| mailto:rohde@ba-spd.verwalt-berlin.de | mailto:harko@harko.in-berlin.de |
|---------------------------------------|---------------------------------|
| Projekt:                              |                                 |
| http://www.ba-spd.verwalt-berlin.de   | http://www.pseudonym.org/harko/ |
|_______________________________________|_________________________________|

Can you say "borders"? I knew you could. Count them: 14 lines!

Here's the same info within a McQ sig: 

	
| official:        Hartwin Rohde       | private:                         |
| rohde@ba-spd.verwalt-berlin.de       | harko@harko.in-berlin.de         |
| http://www.ba-spd.verwalt-berlin.de  | http://www.pseudonym.org/harko/  |
| FON:  +49-30-9915-7507               | FON: +49-30-3303-7507            |

And here's the same thing for "border fans": 

	
._________________________________________________________________________.
| offcial:         Hartwin Rohde       | private:                         |
| rohde@ba-spd.verwalt-berlin.de       | harko@harko.in-berlin.de         |
| http://www.ba-spd.verwalt-berlin.de  | http://www.pseudonym.org/harko/  |
| FON:  +49-30-9915-7507               | FON: +49-30-3303-7507            |
`-------------------------------------------------------------------------'

980915 
	
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shanmugam Ganeshkumar
STAR Program

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SMail   : Mail Box 398, PO Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, THAILAND
Phone	: +66 2 5247654(Room)
Fax  	: +66 2 5245597(Office)
Email	: stb87175@ait.ac.th  
URL	: http://www.tamil.net/people/ganeshkumar [under construction]
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you ever wonder why there is a shortage on exclamation marks in Thailand? I don't. 

	
Shanmugam Ganeshkumar stb87175@ait.ac.th
http://www.tamil.net/people/ganeshkumar
STAR Program, Mail Box 398, PO Box 4,      FON +66 2 5247654 (Room)  
Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, THAILAND   FAX +66 2 5245597 (Office)

980915 
	
=========================================================================
Gerhard Maierhoefer     |               |Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum
Berlin(ZIB)|
Rechenzentrum           |               |                              
|
                        |               |Takustr. 7                    
|
mail:maierhoefer@zib.de |               |D14195 Berlin                 
|
Tel :+49 30 84185225    |               |Germany                       
|
Fax :+49 30 84185125    |               |                              
|
=========================================================================

"X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.05 [de] (WinNT; I)" - nuff said.

Let's try this with a width of 60 characters, trying to keep the style, ie personal info to the left and the official info at the right: 

	
| Gerhard Maierhoefer  |     | Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum (ZIB) |
| maierhoefer@zib.de   |     | Rechenzentrum       (IRZ) |
| Tel: +49 30 84185225 |     | Takustr.7, D-14195 Berlin |
| Fax: +49 30 84185125 |     |     http://www.zib.de/    |

Here's the "minimal version": 

	
Gerhard Maierhoefer maierhoefer@zib.de
Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum Berlin (ZIB)
Tel: +4930 84185225 Takustr. 7
Fax: +4930 84185125 D-14195 Berlin

980911 
	
Michael Bogan, President
WanderingMan - Java Software and Consulting
7742 Spalding Drive #377
Norcross GA 30092
phone - (678)291-0303
fax   - (770)242-5872
mbogan@wandering-man.com
www.wandering-man.com

Not much to complain here - except the length. 

	
Michael Bogan                  mbogan@wandering-man.com   FON (678)291-0303
President of WanderingMan         www.wandering-man.com   FAX (770)242-5872
Java Software and Consulting - 7742 Spalding Drive #377 - Norcross GA 30092

980905 
	
WWW: http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~cbebber
PGP: 1024/E1907705  A0 DE A2 12 13 98 14 B3  E5 E0 AE 8C 68 B6 30 5C

If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it's still a foolish thing.
                -- Bertrand Russell

Just a spurious empty line - it just takes a little rearranging: 

	
Charlie Bebber cbebber@ecst.csuchico.edu           PGP: 1024/E1907705     
WWW:        http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~cbebber  A0 DE A2 12 13 98 14 B3
If fifty million people say a foolish thing,       E5 E0 AE 8C 68 B6 30 5C
it's still a foolish thing.  -- Bertrand Russell

980827 
	
Regards,

Ernst

=======================================================================
Ernst Winter                                          " Nec scire fas
Ph#: 49-89-9920-9000                                      est omnia"
                       E-mail: ewinter@lobo.muc.de          Horaz
=======================================================================

        FreeBSD gives me a "Gates-Free PC"!!! :-)

Empty lines and way too much whitespace! 

	
Ernst Winter  ewinter@lobo.muc.de
FreeBSD gives a "Gates-free PC".
"Nec scire fas est omnia" --Horaz
TEL: +49-89-9920-9000

980811
This sig is just long and thus wastes lines on screen: 

	
Jeffrey J. Bachovchin
Associate Director, Advanced Technology
Development Information Services
University of Pennsylvania
512 Franklin Building
3451 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Voice: 215 898-3644
Fax: 215 898-6864
Email: bachovch@dev.upenn.edu

Of course it fits into four lines: 

	
Jeffrey J. Bachovchin bachovch@dev.upenn.edu
Associate Director,  Advanced Technology Development Information Services
University of Pennsylvania // 512 Franklin Building // 3451 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104 -- TEL 215 898-3644 --  FAX 215 898-6864

Then again, maybe the function should be one the same line as the name: 

	
Jeffrey J. Bachovchin bachovch@dev.upenn.edu              Associate Director
Advanced Technology Development Information Services // Univ of Pennsylvania
512 Franklin Building // 3451 Walnut Street // Philadelphia, PA 19104
TEL 215 898-3644 --  FAX 215 898-6864

980806 
	
       __  __      _____       .--------------------------.
       \ \ \ \    / ___/       |  Gerfried "Alfie" Fuchs  |
      __\ \ \ \__/_/__         |  alfie @ innocent . com  |
     / /_\ \ \_______/         |   http://come.to/alfie   |
    /_______\  /_/             '-currently^not^available!-'

 () Free Speech in  |  I feel more alive dead
 /\  the Internet   |  than when I was alive  (Clawfinger)

Empty line! Bad! 

	
Gerfried "Alfie" Fuchs     \ \ \ \    / ___/ I feel more alive dead
alfie @ innocent . com    __\ \ \ \__/_/__   than when I was alive (Clawfinger)
http://come.to/alfie     / /_\ \ \_______/   () Free Speech in
currently^not^available /_______\  /_/       /\  the Internet

980806 
	
gburnore@databasix.com                              gburnore@netcom dot com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     How you look depends on where you go.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gary L. Burnore                       | ||  ||| || ||| |||| || ||| ||| | || 
DataBasix                             | ||  ||| || ||| |||| || ||| ||| | || 
Raleigh, NC                           | ||  ||| || ||| |||| || ||| ||| | ||
                                      | ||  3 4 1 4 2  |||| 6 9 0 6 9  | ||
http://www.databasix.com              | || Official Proof of Purchase  | ||
===========================================================================

Borders, trailing spaces, multiple addresses. 
	
Gary L. Burnore gburnore@databasix.com  http://www.databasix.com
DataBasix       | ||  ||| || ||| |||| || ||| ||| | ||  How you look depends
Raleigh, NC     | ||  3 4 1 4 2  |||| 6 9 0 6 9  | ||  on where you go.
                | || Official Proof of Purchase  | ||

There - the same info, only now a McQ sig!

980803 
	
Guenter Partosch			Tel.  +49 (641) 99 13055
Hochschulrechenzentrum der		Secr. +49 (641) 99 13001
Justus-Liebig-Universitaet Giessen      Fax   +49 (641) 99 13009
Heinrich-Buff-Ring 44
35392 Giessen

Internet: Guenter.Partosch@hrz.uni-giessen.de
WWW     : http://www.uni-giessen.de/~g029/

No empty lines or tabs in signatures! 
	
Guenter.Partosch@hrz.uni-giessen.de       http://www.uni-giessen.de/~g029/
Hochschulrechenzentrum der                TEL +49-641-99-13055
Justus-Liebig-Universitaet Giessen        TEL +49-641-99-13001
Heinrich-Buff-Ring 44 // D-35392 Giessen  FAX +49-641-99-13009

980710 
	
 +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
 | Nathan T. B. Stone                          STAR Group              |
 | email: NTBStone@BNL.GOV                     Building 510A           |
 |    ph: (516) 344-3250                       Physics Department, BNL |
 |   fax: (516) 344-4206                       PO Box 5000             |
 |  http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/~stone/            Upton, NY  11973-5000   |
 +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+


	
 +-=-= Nathan T. B. Stone  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ntbstone@bnl.gov   =-=-=-=+
 |     STAR Group / Building 510A     http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/~stone/  |
 |     Physics Department, BNL               FON (516) 344-3250        |
 +-=-= PO Box 5000 / Upton, NY  11973-5000   FAX (516) 344-4206 =-=-=-=+

Alright, so there is not enough space within these four lines to put a border around it - but why do people have to have the snail address in their sig when posting on Usenet? Are they expecting readers to send their followups to the PO box? Anyway, here is the sig with a complete fence: 

	
 +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
 | Nathan T. B. Stone  ntbstone@bnl.gov    http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/~stone/ |
 | FON (516) 344-3250  FAX (516) 344-4206                                  |
 +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+

Singing: "Don't fence me in..."

980710 
	
------------------------------
|   Dr. Phillip "Ty" Young   |
|           Cellist          |
|              *             |
|      Support Services      |
|      Computing Center      |
|  University of North Texas |
|       Denton, Texas        |
|   people.unt.edu/~tyoung   |
------------------------------

The sig is no so bad as such - it is simply unnecessarily long. It *does* fit into four lines - even with a box around it: 

	
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Dr. Phillip "Ty" Young      people.unt.edu/~tyoung                  Cellist |
| Support Services, Computing Center University of North Texas, Denton, Texas |
`-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'

Doesn't the box look nicer with these kind of "corners"?

980709 
	
Darren Pifer
I-NET                                   phone: 757-864-7415
MS 157B                                 fax  : 757-864-7676
NASA Langley Research Center            email: d.g.pifer@larc.nasa.gov
Hampton VA 23681

Use low-nicotine filters on .sigs


	
Darren Pifer                  d.g.pifer@larc.nasa.gov
I-NET  MS 157B                FON 757-864-7415
NASA Langley Research Center  FAX 757-864-7676
Hampton VA 23681              Use low-nicotine filters on .sigs

980709 
	
Matt Aylward
Dept of Geography (GIS), UWA
email: maylward@sunny.geog.uwa.edu.au
      Linux Lover and GIS Geek
..............LINUX.....................
   OS for the people by the people

The dotted line is probably a kewl thing that no Linux user realy understands. 
	
Matt Aylward                  maylward@sunny.geog.uwa.edu.au
Dept of Geography (GIS), UWA  Linux Lover and GIS Geek -
                              OS for the people by the people

Remember: If there is more than one ot in your address then you almost certainly need a shorter address. So get one with "iname.com": 

	
Matt Aylward maylward@iname.com 
Linux Lover and GIS Geek - OS
for the people by the people
Dept of Geography (GIS), UWA

980708 
	
---
Ralf *******
IBM Deutschland Informationssysteme GmbH
Lyoner Str. 13, 60528 Frankfurt (Main)
Tel: +49-(0)69-6645-3208 Fax: +49-(0)69-6645-3224
eMail: *******@de.ibm.com

Removed: Redundant "eMail:", "(0)" in phone numbers, and empty line at end.
Changes: Put addres with name, matching the address to a nice block. Put phone and fax numbers aside for easy removal. (and anonymized on request on 2003-05-17) 

	
Ralf *******          *******@de.ibm.com
IBM Deutschland Informationssysteme GmbH  TEL +49-69-6645-3208
Lyoner Str. 13 // 60528 Frankfurt (Main)  FAX +49-69-6645-3224

980707 
	
austin ziegler * fantome(AT)vnet(DOT)net   * http://fantome.vnet.net/
---------------* aziegler(AT)vcela(DOT)com * ------------------------
And if I don't see you, good afternoon,    * change the (CAPITALISED)
good evening, and good night -- Truman     * words to symbols
             our lives are ova before they begin

Please just use *one* address - but make it a valid one! 
	
Austin Ziegler *     fantome@vnet.net   * http://fantome.vnet.net/
---------------*                        * ------------------------
And if I don't see you, good afternoon, * our lives are ova
good evening, and good night -- Truman  * before they begin


	
                              Peter J. King

      |               http://users.ox.ac.uk/~worc0337               |
      |              Philosophy resources, plus a good              |
      |          deal more - both serious and recreational          |

Well, if it wasn't for that empty line in the sig it would be ok. Then again, why waste space on whitespace? 

	
Peter J. King    shil0124@ermine.ox.ac.uk
     http://users.ox.ac.uk/~worc0337
    Philosophy resources, plus a good
deal more - both serious and recreational


	
-- 
Eun-Mok Lee / GMD FOKUS
Research Institute for Open Communication Systems
German National Research Centre for Information Technology
Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee 31   Phone  : ++49 / (0)30 / 34 63 - 7189
D-10589 Berlin, Germany     Fax    : ++49 / (0)30 / 34 63 - 8189
                            E-Mail : lee@fokus.gmd.de

Looks like the text slopes down to the right. Weird. My suggestions: 

	
Eun-Mok Lee lee@fokus.gmd.de  -   http://www.fokus.gmd.de/
German National Research Centre for Information Technology
TEL +49 30 3463-7189             Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee 31
FAX +49 30 3463-8189             D-10589 Berlin -- Germany


	
Eun-Mok Lee lee@fokus.gmd.de - http://www.gmd.de/
German Research Centre for Information Technology
TEL +49 30 3463-7189    Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee 31
FAX +49 30 3463-8189    D-10589 Berlin -- Germany


	
-- jan

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
               Jan Prikryl 
         http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/staff/JanPrikryl.html
         Institute of Computer Graphics and Visualisation
             Vienna University of Technology, Austria
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Simple conversion: Remove the borders and leading whitespace. Add sigdashes. 

	
-- 
Jan Prikryl prikryl@cg.tuwien.ac.at
http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/staff/JanPrikryl.html
Institute of Computer Graphics and Visualisation
Vienna University of Technology, Austria

There - a good signature!

Links

Cute Signatures
http://www.math.fu-berlin.de/~guckes/sig/cute.html
Are there only BAD signatures out there? no - there are some very nice ones, too!
Sven Guckes

Nifty Signatures
http://www.cis.udel.edu/~totten/sig/
Author: William Totten totten@pobox.com [990310] 

URL:         http://www.math.fu-berlin.de/~guckes/sig/improved.html
Created:     Mon Jul 06 16:16:16 CEST 1998
Send feedback on this page to
Sven Guckes guckes-signatures-improved@math.fu-berlin.de