Multiple studies have shown people are more inclined to join something when you ask for less info. Requiring a signature may push a percentage of users away from the forums for little gain in my opinion. We already ask for usernames, emails, and location of the pool. I worry about
forcing even more without a huge need. This said, we do already automatically STRONGLY hint to users to fill out a signature…..often even before a responder even sees the OP’s question.
As is we send an “alert” to a user after they make their first post if they don’t have a signature already in place. In this alert there’s a link that takes the user to
this page where there’s an example Signature shown IF a user doesn’t already have a signature in place. If you have a signature already filled out, you don’t see the example.
This all said, I do understand the need for info that’s included in a signature. I understand how frustrating it can be as a responder not to have the info and I’m slowly working on a way to capture info from a user in a way that’s easy and allows us to really organize some data. If you notice on
This page there’s options to fill out various questions such as pool size, chlorine type, and so forth as you had mentioned. For multiple reasons THIS is the direction I feel we need to push users towards. It allows us a clear way to display the info and in some ways can be made more “user friendly” to fill out. I suspect you’ll see more on this mindset in the future.
