Andy R

Please erase this from your mailbox:

The reason that a signature exists is that it tells other members of a forum who you are and what's important to you, and it does so in a short, concise, almost telegraphic way.

An entry that you make into a thread is completely different. It is narrowly focused on a specific topic and reveals very little about the people making the entry: it mostly reflects biases, temprament, knowledge, or lack thereof.

A cruising forum community is made up of people who are multidimensional, and signatures are one of the most important ways that you interact and learn about members of that community. It reveals who you are in an important way and gives weight and balance to any comments that you make.

Signatures aren't trivial. They are the face of the people who inhabit your forum. To the extent that signatures are supressed, you erase the faces of your most important asset: people.

People come to your forum to get ideas and to meet other people. You get ideas from reading threads, and you meet other people and find out who they are through the signatures.

My signature has always reflected who I am and what's important to me. My threads reflect my knowledge and experience. I don't have a financial interest in anything on my nine websites. I have five books that I have written, but I don't sell them. People from more than 120 countries read my stuff for free - it's my way of giving back.
I have more than 200 podcasts out there - all for free. I make my money as an eye surgeon, and I do my web work to help other people live their dreams.

I believe that the definition of a commercial enterprise is that you benefit financially from the activity. I do not benefit in any way financially from my signature on Cruisers Forum. That's not who I am or how I spend my time.

So for the time being, my signature is now Maxingout.com. My face has been erased and the forum is diminished because I am now the invisible man.

I think that might be exactly what old sailors had in mind..............