The
first signature in this gallery was
SonicChao
talk
contribs. In a chance encounter on #wikipedia-en on
freenode
IRC he happened to mention that peer pressure was forcing him to stop using it. At the time (November 2006), the idea of a gallery was just beginning to form in my mind—I had previously seen just a few memorable signatures, including
Elaragirl's Shrieking Harpy.
It seemed to me then, and it seems to me still, so tragic when humourless, dismissive, and possibly far less creative peers insist that signatures must be bland. It's like telling people they shouldn't wear that shirt, or that hat, or dye their hair aquamarine or fuchsia if they wish. Athænara ✉ 23:59, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
In re "humourless" and "dismissive" etc. (see above) the following guest book comment stands out: "This only encourages people to create even more garish and obnoxious signatures—something we could do without." — Athænara ✉ 04:06, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
I don't disapprove of autograph books IFF they're maintained by actively contributing editors of the encyclopedia, which is what comes first for all of us, or should. I understand (I think) the disdain some editors, including some administrators, have for them—from a certain point of view, they seem to be a waste of time generated by users who aren't actually becoming better encyclopedists.
The now-deleted category ‘Wikipedians who collect signatures of other Wikipedians’ might have survived if those who populated it had been in a position to defend their other contributions. It may be a sign of only marginal integration into the encyclopedia editing community here that they were not aware that its deletion was being discussed: in one full week, not one Keep opinion was offered.
I did not join that category myself, because (1) my gallery isn't an autograph book (all the others were) and (2) I must admit I too share the impression that the autograph collectors for the most part did not seem to be contributing a great deal to the encyclopedia. I really wish not to be unfair, and surely it can't be true of all of them, but their lack of participation in the deletion discussion does support that view. — Athænara ✉ 07:40, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
The image to the right has been made into an image map by Victuallers,
who has another one on the User:Victuallers page.
See
Category:Wikipedia image maps for more.
—
Athaenara
✉
20:20, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Some of the sections of the gallery were uploaded to Commons in January 2019 as images for Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2019-02-28/Gallery:
– Athaenara ✉ 07:50, 11 March 2019 (UTC)
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