Of course, if the sig feature was done right, it would be a separate entity in the DB, only be stored once, and not become a part of every node.

Then the css hack that allows people to not see other peoples sigs (why don't those that don't want to see them use this?), wouldn't be necessary, as sigs could be turned off as an option, then they wouldn't even consume bandwidth.

That said, I think that physiologically, it probably takes something like 1/10th of a second for the human visual cortex and brain to pattern match a recurrent sig. to it's memory.

Just as I never bother to read the monk's quip's any more (or for the last 2 3/4 years) because there is nothing new there. When the little witisisms at the top of the Other Users nodelet changed recently, my brain noticed and for a few days took in the new information. Now, I once again don't notice them.

The only time an unchanging visual (or oral) cue continues to grab my attention beyond the initial recognition period, is when it takes on a phsycological significance beyond it's content. For example, there are often tiny notes on the bottom of both print and TV ads for financial services "*Subject to status"; These bug the begeebers out of me because they invariably mean that the advert in question has just extold their virtue with words akin to "Faster, cheaper, simpler; Anyone can apply". The footnote often as not make the main content a lie.

Perhaps that's the secret behind some people's distaste for some people's sigs. They don't like the content and therefore blame the messenger? But that's life. People hold contrary opinions; value different things; prioritise in different ways. Allowing oneself to be bugged by others preferences and foibles is human, but ultimately, a waste of effort.

Examine what is said, not who speaks.
"Efficiency is intelligent laziness." -David Dunham
"Think for yourself!" - Abigail
"Memory, processor, disk in that order on the hardware side. Algorithm, algorithm, algorithm on the code side." - tachyon

In reply to Re^7: Distribution of Levels and Writeups (sig) by BrowserUk
in thread Distribution of Levels and Writeups by jZed

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.