Thanks GoldFlyer:
I did a little research and it appears that you were contacted by the Moderator regarding your signature with this note:
"Your signature was drawn to my attention on the SYD do thread on CommunityBuzz! We do actually have some guidelines on formatting of signatures to try and ensure that they are not too intrusive for other FTers - you might like to take a look at these at
http://www.flyertalk.com/help/rules.php#q79"
The key to your signature removal was not the idea of a political signature as you seem to refer to, but rather "Use the normal posting font size." It seems that your signature was something like this:
Kevin '07
which as one can visually see, violates the general advice we have (so we don't have members get into signature wars). As some of our other members may not be aware, a number of posters in the Qantas Forum started to add political signatures in reference to a n upcoming national election in Australia that (initially) were innocuous. Then the ante was "upped" when one poster decided that another line was warranted and within about 2 days we had a "signature war" and the RBPs started coming in. Had you followed the posted guidelines and limited your signature to the suggested normal posting font size, there would be no question that your signature would be allowed. As well, other members involved in the "signature wars" and all were asked to remove their signatures, not just you
As for signatures in general, i've asked the Moderators to not go looking for exceptions but if they come across them to contact the member and try to reason with them on what the general advice is for signatures. As a Moderator myself, i don't do a 21-point inspection of every post i come across and try not to be that picky in the hopes that our members are the best part of our Moderating efforts.
I hope this clears this up, we do not have a ban on political signatures, but we do have general policies for how they should appear. As well, we do not have signature police and only try to enforce these exceptions if and when they are brought to our attention.
Thanks for understanding.
Originally Posted by
GoldFlyer
I was recently asked by a number of mods to remove a "Kevin 07" signature. Kevin Rudd is the Labor leader hoping to win the forthcoming Australian Federal election. I did as I was told but I've received a number of PM's noting that a large number of FT members have political statements as part or encompassing their signature. I also know that is the case.
My signature was simply thus and in no way directed via link or other association to the Australian Labor Party - I could also argue that I posted it as a jibe!
I would like greater clarification on this for both us members and moderators so that a clearer and definite policy is made aware to all. I think it is unfair to be singled out for possible suspension whilst so many over members have had their political statements "overlooked" for so long.
If the T&C's are to be revised, and currently I do not believe they exclude such as I had been requested to delete, then I believe it should be advised to all members and thus, any signatures outside of the re-defined or clarified T&C's should be withdrawn.