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TGS, have you taken to following me around in order to try to give me a hard time about things?
No, recluse, I was not referring to your signature. I was referring to someone's entire posts, which were borderline unreadable. As I said, I'm pretty sure it wasn't this board, because I don't think anyone here is so tasteless as to post an entire post in MS Comic Sans. Bold. Possibly italic (it's hard to tell with Comic Sans). And pale green.
As for why I said that kind of post (and related ways of drawing attention to one's posts or self) was "self-aggrandizing", it's simple: the overwhelming majority of people on any forum (especially MR) think their words are worth reading, just as much or as little as anyone else's words. They think if they have something important to say, people will read it. Occasionally you get someone who doesn't think they should let their words speak for them, like every other poster, and instead finds some way to call extra attention to their posts. They know everyone else isn't doing it, but they need more attention than other posters because they're special. Being an ordinary poster isn't good enough for them; they have to stand out.
When someone doesn't believe in the worth of their own words, I'm inclined to agree with them. If they think their words aren't good enough to speak for them, they're probably right. So instead of giving them the special attention they want, I generally just skip over their posts; they're advertising that they're not worth my time.
And again, MobileRead does not often have this type of poster. I'm grateful for that, as is, I suspect, anyone with eyes. For some reason, that style is a favorite of tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorists and the kind of person you just know drew little hearts all over her papers in school. Come to think of it, neither one generally has anything to say that's worth reading, which may explain why they want to draw attention to their unconventional formatting instead.
As for the whole signature thing, I figure it's more important that everyone can read my .sig than having it look good to me. Admittedly, mine is deadly dull. One quote, and it's not even famous. One link, so I don't have to keep explaining something. Neither one, I suspect, of much interest to most people. But if they're interested, there's no barriers to reading them. I won't sacrifice function for form; as they say, that's how I roll.
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