Forum:Making a signature Global

I was (apparantly mistakenly) under the impression that to create a Global signature we needed to create it here on Community. But I've created mine: User:DarkMoonRising/sig and it seems the MyPreferences details are copied to all wikias: but inserting my signature on any page simply inserts the text:  unless I copy and paste the source of User:DarkMoonRising/sig onto each and every wikia's w:c::User:DarkMoonRising/sig which defeats the purpose - editing the Central sig leaves every wikia sig untouched...

Is there a way to make the sig global?

Ta, http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120612094918/paradiseislandhd/images/6/67/Dollars_small.pngDarkMoonRising  €   talk   contribs  | 06:18:52, June 28, 2012.
 * If you use User:DarkMoonRising/sig, then it will load User:DarkMoonRising/sig from the specific wiki your on. To reference User:DarkMoonRising/sig from one wiki across all wikis, you will need to use a normal interwiki link. Eg . To reference here, Community Central, you can just use   instead of  . — Matthew2602 (talk) 06:29, June 28, 2012 (UTC)


 * Signatures should not ever be used as inter-wiki links. Scary transclusion, as it's coined, should be used sparingly. They cause an incredible server strain on Wikia's servers every time a page with a signature is loaded. Central admins have been known to remove signature templates that are found to be used across Wikia. In short, don't do it.


 * Your only real choice is what you stated above. Create the template on each wiki you'd use it on. This is much easier on Wikia's servers and allows you to customize the template on every wiki. Rappy 06:31, June 28, 2012 (UTC)


 * (edit conflict) So apparently interwiki template transclusions don't even work, so scratch that. — Matthew2602 (talk) 06:37, June 28, 2012 (UTC)


 * They should never ever be used on something that ends up being used in multiple pages or even multiple times on the same page. Ideally, they are only really used for shared help and User Page transclusions.. Any usage beyond that is to be avoided. The server strain they create can slow page loads dramatically. Rappy 06:42, June 28, 2012 (UTC)


 * So why are the instructions stating to create it on Central in the first place? I'll try and find that page again, but the purpose was to have a Central sig that pointed your Profile page and Talk page etc to your main wiki site rather than blank profile pages on each and every wiki you use...


 * I made my Preferences:


 * But now it says: [Template fetch failed for http://community.wikia.com/wiki/Template:User:DarkMoonRising/sig?action=raw]


 * PS. If global configs are not allowed and are to be deleted (I read that was proposed to be the case several years ago but then the wikia bosses said they fixed up that issue so it is no problem now), then why are there hundreds of (undeleted) global sigs on here? http://community.wikia.com/index.php?title=Special%3AAllPages&from=&to=&namespace=10

[Template fetch failed for http://community.wikia.com/wiki/Template:User:DarkMoonRising/sig?action=raw]


 * I understood the SUBST made it ok.

[Template fetch failed for http://community.wikia.com/wiki/Template:User:DarkMoonRising/sig?action=raw]

Just because a signature template is here on Wikia does not mean it's a global template. Subst would make it better, but it would still have to fetch the data from Central every time, which slows down Central (with all the Database accesses). Believe me, you are better off having the code on the wiki you are using it on instead. There is very little to no added strain when accessing the code from the same database compared to accessing the data from another database. This is why inter-wiki transclusion should be kept to a minimum. A signature template is by no means minimum usage. Rappy 06:59, June 28, 2012 (UTC)


 * So, maybe created the sig on the main-used wiki then and referring to that, reducing the Central-wiki load. In my case, besides signing my forum posts, I have not yet ever used my sig anywhere except w:c:ParadiseIslandHD, and use on other wiki's will be at least initially very limited. I understand the SUBST simply looks up the template once and copies the code out and then it never needs to refer back to that database again - ie. signing a sig with a global sig will place less than a tenth of a percent of the load on a database than any search query, any use of any and every Help: pages, etc, etc...


 * Still no. Wiki-to-wiki transclusions only work from Central to other wikis. Your best option is the one you have already acknowledged was needed. Rappy 07:15, June 28, 2012 (UTC)


 * "ie. signing a sig with a global sig will place less than a tenth of a percent of the load on a database than any search query, any use of any and every Help: pages, etc, etc..."
 * What you are failing to realize is that regardless of the fact you sign once and it's done... is that if you have 1,000s of people doing this because it's OK, that little bit adds up to more than just a little bit. I am not sure how many more times I should say it... It should not be done. Rappy 07:20, June 28, 2012 (UTC)


 * @Rappy: Wouldn't substituting the sig stored here, on Community, automatically "cut" all ties to Community as soon as the edit is saved, without causing any additional server strain? If I understand correctly, the substituted template would be, well.. substituted and would be retrieved from Community Central only once - the time it's posted. — Sovq 14:59, June 28, 2012 (UTC)


 * @Sovq, yes, technically. But that shouldn't give the "OK" to do so. The more users that think this is OK, the more times Central is accessed than it should be. The server strain simply compounds each time someone else thinks this is an OK route to go. I was told by Wikia staff before to not use "scary transclusion" for anything else other than user page transclusions as to cut down on the server strain because of the excess database queries. Rappy 05:19, June 29, 2012 (UTC)


 * I see, thanks for clarifying. — Sovq 05:48, June 29, 2012 (UTC)


 * Whatever the case, now I can't work out why my sig stopped passing the time (Parameter 1) through. It gets subst'd on my sigsubst, but then my sig doesn't include it
 * You can't pass arguments to templates transcended from central. --  Random Time  16:16, June 28, 2012 (UTC)

So in short, to fancify the datestamp, subst the datestamp into our sig and using we can not use "w:" in our sig preferences, and therefore anytime anyone wants to use a sig on any wikia namespace, they must copy and paste two signature templates onto each namespace. And whenever the user wishes to change their template, they must go to each and every wikia namespace and edit their template manually on every one. Either that or use "w:" and pass no datestamp parameters and have a fancy signature but plain datestamp using ~ Got it.

tags, or other page breaks. Thanks --  Random Time  15:56, July 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * This may be helpful, in the last section there is little trick that make things easier if you edit on many wikis, basically if you don't have a custom sig on a wiki, a default signature will be used, but for a custom signature you have to create it locally
 * Yes, that's the preferred way to make sure your signature works well on all wikis. Can you guys also note that signatures on central need to be on the same line as the text that's being signed, they can't have