Feedback Adding a URL to Signature

[Jim McClain]

Since I was honored with running the next Photo Challenge, I thought I could get a little extra traffic by adding a link to that thread in my forum signature. I'm familiar with the forum software, so I was mildly surprised that the Preview Signature button was missing. But I was even more disappointed that I couldn't add a URL.

I realize that some people will try to use that as a spam tool, or just try to get traffic to their own site thinking it will improve their ranking in search engines (it won't). However, there are features and options in the forum software to limit those issues. One option I use on my own forum is to only allow signatures to members in specific user groups - one of the benefits of being a regular or special member (in my forum, it's being employed in the flooring industry). Here that could be a member who posts a certain number of times over a specified period of days, weeks or months. Or it could be someone who has upgraded their account. I searched for threads that could answer my questions about that, but found nothing.

Speaking of Account Upgrades... I thought maybe links in sigs would be one of the benefits of an account upgrade. Unfortunately, there is no description or list of benefits/additional permissions available on the Subscriptions page or anywhere else I could find. I was kinda hoping all I had to do was donate 5 bucks for the one-time, 30-day deal and then I could spam the Photo Challenge in all my posts during my tenure as the keeper of the salon. But without a description of what my donation gets me, it would be a gamble. I'm not a gambler.

So for now, all I got is a plea in my signature and no link that would make it easier to get members and potential members to visit that topic and maybe post a photo that could make them the next Challenge Winner.

 

[theoldsmithy]

I have a link in my signature, Jim. The link button in the toolbar seems to be there for editing signatures just as in posts.

 

[Jim McClain]

I have a link in my signature, Jim. The link button in the toolbar seems to be there for editing signatures just as in posts.

The link button is not there for me, but I know how to write BBCode to create a link. I think the difference between us is you are a Supporter, I'm not. And without any descriptions for the various supporter options, I don't know which (or if all) options offer that benefit. There's also no way of knowing what other benefits there are, which if known, could encourage more members to upgrade their accounts.

 

[Bobby T]

I've had a link in my signature since long before I was a supporter or a moderator. That's never been a factor in the past.

 

[Kevin]

I'll take a look this afternoon; I don't recall ever going into that particular group permission so I need to check the current settings before giving an answer.

 

[Jim McClain]

I'll take a look this afternoon; I don't recall ever going into that particular group permission so I need to check the current settings before giving an answer.

Thanks. Looking forward to hearing more about it.

 

[Kevin]

Jim, sorry for not responding earlier; it's been a bit hectic at the house this week.

Yesterday I did poke around the ACP and changed the permissions for the standard 'registered' group to allow 2 links in their sigs (it was 0). I don't recall changing that setting as part of the XF2 permissions/settings/data upgrade cleanup. Of course it doesn't mean that I didn't, just that I don't recall doing it so I honestly can't say if it was that way for some time or was changed around Feb as part of the cleanup.

Unfortunately, there is no description or list of benefits/additional permissions available on the Subscriptions page or anywhere else I could find.

It's been something I've been meaning to work on, and this thread is bumping it up on my To Do list. There really isn't a lot of differences between the registered group and the subscribers groups since the idea of 'subscriptions' is viewed more as way of donating to keep the proverbial lights on around here. There are a few items that I can think of off the top of my head that the subscribers group can do and the big things would be no ads (the affiliation links are still present but they don't see any of the Amazon or Google AdSense ads), they can use the 'Ignore Content' add-on, and they can use custom user titles.

To get the full list I need to compare the XF user group permissions side-by-side to see if there's anything else different. It'd be nice if XF offered a way of viewing the group permissions in a grid list so admins could quickly compare them but I don't think that's something they have much interest in doing. But, no problem, I just need to dedicate some time to it and then I'll update the Subscriptions page with a list to get the ball rolling.

 

[Jim McClain]

It'd be nice if XF offered a way of viewing the group permissions in a grid list so admins could quickly compare them but I don't think that's something they have much interest in doing.

Oh, you don't wanna get me started on that. It has been a major peeve of mine since I first tried to manage the permissions system of XF. What a pain in th... But hey, thanks for the updated sig feature. I appreciate it.