Former posts don't show my signature

[ubu-for]

Two days ago I've added a signature to my account, but only my new posts get the signature. I've checked my former posts and recognized that "Show your signature" is not selected.

Do I really have to edit every former post?

THX!

[ubu-for]

Now my signature only shows up, if I'm logged in?!

[ubuntu-geek]

signatures only show to logged in users

[ubu-for]

signatures only show to logged in users

THX!

[ubu-for]

Two days ago I've added a signature to my account, but only my new posts get the signature. I've checked my former posts and recognized that "Show your signature" is not selected.

Could someone do a Forum update to turn on "Show your signature" by default, even if you don't have a signature?

Every time I post without a signature, I have to edit every former post to see my new signature.

[matthew]

I just looked and you don't have a signature in your account. Are you sure you saved it when you created it? Everything in your account settings looks fine.

UserCP->Edit Signature

Type your signature in the box, then scroll down and click "Save Signature"

[ubu-for]

Thanks matthew for your quick reply!

Every time I add a signature to my account, the signature only shows up for my new posts (and former posts with signatures), because signatures are turned off by default for my former 200 posts (and some new ones), which I've posted without a signature.

[matthew]

Odd. I see that in this thread. Don't change anything else in your account for the time being. I'll look into it as much as I can, and if I find anything I'll post here. If I don't, ubuntu-geek will probably be able to look further into the situation later.

One idea: it could just be that the database needs some time to update and the signature may turn up in your older posts after an hour or so...maybe.

[ubu-for]

THX for your help!

BTW For every post here in this thread, I don't get any "Beans"?!

[matthew]

The "beans" thing is easy--beans aren't given for posts in Forum Feedback & Help, the Cafe and the Backyard, and maybe one or two other places. Beans are definitely given in all of the technical support areas, though.

[matthew]

I'm looking here and the post from April 25th in this thread has your new signature on it, but the post from an hour ago doesn't, and again, your newest posts do.

I think we just need to wait for the automated database updates to take effect and your sig should update in all your posts...hopefully, anyway.

[ubu-for]

I don't believe that a database update would make a difference, because two months ago I've waited three days for the update without effect.

Now when I look at my former posts, the option "Show your signature" appears and it's turned off.

[matthew]

Hmm. Okay, that's just odd. Hey, ubuntu-geek! When you have a minute... :)

[kko1]

Hello.

I recently added a signature, where I previously had none, and it is not showing for my old posts either. In other words, empty signatures are not updated in messages. Is this a bug or a feature?

Instead of starting a new thread about it I decided to post in this thread because it is the same issue. I see that in this particular thread, exactly one post (post #5) does not contain a signature.

If I understand it correctly, the signature for every old post (at least in posts where the signature has existed) is supposed to be updated when the signature holder changes it. Am I correct?

If yes, I hope this would occur even for those old posts that never carried a signature. It is not a big issue, but still kind of breaks the intended use of the signature.

kko1

[popch]

Hello.

I recently added a signature, where I previously had none, and it is not showing for my old posts either. In other words, empty signatures are not updated in messages. Is this a bug or a feature?

You did remember to reload the pages with the old posts in your browser, did you not?

[kko1]

You did remember to reload the pages with the old posts in your browser, did you not?

I did indeed, and I also waited in case the change doesn't take effect immediately. (The issue of a possible delay is also discussed earlier in this thread.)

But if you will bother taking a look earlier in this thread, at post #5 (not mine), you will see that it is missing a signature, even when other posts in the thread by the same user carry one. Equally, my old posts don't carry a signature - you can check this for instance in the thread that caused me to write a signature in the first place:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=693056

kko1

[popch]

I can confirm that some of your posts carry a signature and some do not. I do not think that it is related to the age of a post. I also seem to have seen other users within threads you have posted to which also occasionally lack signatures.

The signatures are actually missing from the html page source, so it is not just a matter of 'lossy' formatting. But then, the markup looks perfectly fine near the place where the signature would be expected. It's just the content of your signature which is missing.

[kko1]

EDIT: Duplicate post, please remove.

[kko1]

I can confirm that some of your posts carry a signature and some do not.

Thank you for the confirmation. :D

I do not think that it is related to the age of a post.

No, it is not really related to the age of a post, except insofar as the posts in question are from an earlier time when I used to not have a signature at all.

Now, all I would ask would be an "official" opinion (from someone "in the know") on whether this is a bug or a feature. :KS

kko1

[kko1]

I feel like I should've gone ahead and posted this in a new thread, so my question "bug or feature" would show in the thread title. The current title isn't really what I was after, so I'm not sure this has been seen by the "people in the know". (Still, posting in an existing thread was most probably "the right thing to do", and that I did.)

Rationale:
- I'm not interested simply in my signature showing or not showing, as it were - this is, after all, a common characteristic of the forum software.
- Instead, I would be interested in knowing whether this characteristic / quirk in the forum software is expected behaviour or not.

In other words, I do realise that ubuntu-geek and other admins are most probably busy, and their time is limited. Thus, knowing their position on the issue would give me (and others wondering the same) an idea of whether to:
- expect a change in this forum characteristic (nevermind "when", only "if"), or
- accept the situation as is.

Both options are perfectly OK for me... I'd just like to know which will prevail. ;)

kko1

[matthew]

Sorry for the delay in answering. ubuntu-geek is out this week on personal business, and I just didn't see the revived thread.

I also apologize that we never got around to answering this question. I am guessing this is being caused by page caching on our local server.

If I look at an old thread that I contributed to, and then change my signature, then reload the thread, it shows my old signature for a period of time, and then eventually it changes to the new one.

If I change my signature and then look at an old thread that I contributed to, which I know has not been viewed in a very long time, my new signature appears immediately.

So, I'm going to say it is a feature, resulting from the page caching that is turned on to help reduce database queries and server loads.

Can you confirm that your signature exists correctly on old threads after a long time?

[matthew]

Um...never mind. I just looked at your oldest post, that I'm sure hasn't been viewed in a long time. Hmm, no signature there at all.

Okay, I'm now going to adjust my guess and say that mine gets updated as an admin because of some special feature in my user permissions that I can't find, but that isn't set the same for you.

When ubuntu-geek is back, I'll ask him and see if he has any other ideas on this.

Ultimately, I think it is a software feature, an expected action, but I can't give a good rationale at the moment. If I were to make something up on the spot, I would say it has something to do with database optimization/pruning of posts older than a certain age, but I'm just pulling that out of the air.

[kko1]

Matthew, thanks for your response. Also, no apology needed, I can appreciate the volume of traffic on these forums.

Um...never mind. I just looked at your oldest post, that I'm sure hasn't been viewed in a long time. Hmm, no signature there at all.

Okay, I'm now going to adjust my guess and say that...

Let me be more precise here, to help you diagnose the issue.

There are two separate cases.

1) A user has previously used a signature when posting, and then changes it.
- In this case, as far as I have seen, the existing signature is updated correctly. This may require a delay, as you have described ( = the issue of a cache).
- This has nothing to do with admin status or, as far as I can tell, any other user account specifics (as long as a signature is used).

2) And then there's what we have here. This is a case where a user has previously not used a signature at all, and then adds one.
- In this case, the user's posts that have been posted during the time when no signature was used do not get the new signature (or, to be more precise, do not get a signature at all). So, the posts that have been posted without a signature remain "unsigned".

- Further, if I understood correctly what ubu-for has posted above, and looking at post #5 (that carries no signature) in the middle of this thread, he has been able to get these "unsigned" posts also when subsequently deactivating his signature, then posting an "unsigned" message, and afterwards reactivating his signature. (I have not tried this.) His post #7 also gives some insight into the issue.

3) Oh, and a third, related, case. I don't know (have not tried) if the showing of signatures in existing messages is disabled if one disables using signatures, i.e. whether the signature is then hidden for all messages. (If not, though, almost the same could, I assume, be achieved by using a blank but activated signature.)


kko1

[matthew]

Interesting. I've sent ubuntu-geek a note. When he is back and has some time, I'm sure this will interest him.

We may concentrate more on the overall forum software upgrade that is in the works (to vBulletin 3.7) before we look at this further, to see if this issue even remains once that has occurred.