The Vent and Rant Thread

[Cinisajoy]

I heard somewhere doctor signatures are illegible so they can't be easily forged.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I heard somewhere doctor signatures are illegible so they can't be easily forged.

Unlikely. Bad handwriting overall on the part of doctors is a common source of jokes. It isn't just their signature that's illegible.

But I certainly can't point fingers. I never put in the practice long ago, so my longhand starts as questionable and becomes illegible in the space of a page. If I need to hand write something, I block print so the others who will see it will have a hope of reading it.

And I've spent decades in front of computers, so any writing I need to do these days usually involves a keyboard, an editor, and saving to a file.

I've simply lost my hand with pencil and paper.

My signature is also an illegible scrawl, but my proper name appears elsewhere in places it might be used, and it's simply a glyph identifiable as one I produced.
______
Dennis

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Unlikely. Bad handwriting overall on the part of doctors is a common source of jokes. It isn't just their signature that's illegible.

But I certainly can't point fingers. I never put in the practice long ago, so my longhand starts as questionable and becomes illegible in the space of a page. If I need to hand write something, I block print so the others who will see it will have a hope of reading it.

And I've spent decades in front of computers, so any writing I need to do these days usually involves a keyboard, and editor, and saving to a file.

I've simply lost my hand with pencil and paper.

My signature is also an illegible scrawl, but my proper name appears elsewhere in places it might be used, and it's simply a glyph identifiable as one I produced.
______
Dennis

I had beautiful handwriting in high school. And the smaller I wrote the prettier it became.
Now, I don't handwrite anything I have to read later. It has gotten bad but then how often do we write anymore.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I had beautiful handwriting in high school. And the smaller I wrote the prettier it became.
Now, I don't handwrite anything I have to read later. It has gotten bad but then how often do we write anymore.

Very little, and it's a skill that degrades if not practiced.

I've seen impassioned debates elsewhere about the desirability of still teaching penmanship in school in an age where very few people have to hand write anything. I think I'm in favor of continuing to teach it simply so that folks can do it in a pinch, but only folks getting paid to do it, like calligraphers, are likely to acquire and maintain what was once considered a basic level of a necessary skill.
______
Dennis

[wodin]

A long time ago in a lifetime far away, I was working at a job that required a lot of quality assurance inspection of large mechanical systems. I soon learned that if they couldn't read the signature, they didn't know who to blame.

[badgoodDeb]

I've finally started fluffing my signature on grocery store credit machines. They don't really need to read it. I write half of it and then obscure the rest.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by wodin

A long time ago in a lifetime far away, I was working at a job that required a lot of quality assurance inspection of large mechanical systems. I soon learned that if they couldn't read the signature, they didn't know who to blame.

Was it necessary to actually read it, or to simply recognize who it belonged to?
______
Dennis

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

I've finally started fluffing my signature on grocery store credit machines. They don't really need to read it. I write half of it and then obscure the rest.

My first really large Hotel job necessitated my signature on hundreds, even thousands of documents. That was '85. '84 was the last year my signature was remotely legible. Since then, it consists of the first letter of my first name, the first letter of my last name, and a line. With a peak for a "t," and that's it. Otherwise, you'll go insane.

PLUS, the good thing is, it's relatively easy to decipher. (Mr. H notes that it wouldn't be hard to forge. I can't argue with that. Fortunately, there's very little reason that anyone would want to, these days.)

Hitch

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

My first really large Hotel job necessitated my signature on hundreds, even thousands of documents. That was '85. '84 was the last year my signature was remotely legible. Since then, it consists of the first letter of my first name, the first letter of my last name, and a line. With a peak for a "t," and that's it. Otherwise, you'll go insane.

Mine is roughly equivalent.

PLUS, the good thing is, it's relatively easy to decipher. (Mr. H notes that it wouldn't be hard to forge. I can't argue with that. Fortunately, there's very little reason that anyone would want to, these days.)

And if you are going to forge someone's writing, you likely need to forge more than just a signature. That's increasingly unlikely to be needed. Who writes anything extensive in long hand?

And as far as being decipherable, how much does anyone care? The key is that the signature is a glyph recognizable as being produced by you. Whether it can be recognized as some variant of your legal name isn't relevant - only the fact that you signed it is.

My current signature is an illegible scrawl - a stylized cursive capital D and a squiggle stretching into a line. It's accepted when I need to sign things like checks or CC receipts. No one else will have my checks to forge a signature on, and CC charges have other defenses.

The sort of paperwork you had to sign when doing construction management isn't something I've had to deal with in a long time, and should I have to again, there will likely be a witness when I do sign things, which a forgery will lack.

Today's hi-tech equivalent of forgery is identity theft, but that's a different order of threat with different safeguards.
______
Dennis

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Mine is roughly equivalent.


And if you are going to forge someone's writing, you likely need to forge more than just a signature. That's increasingly unlikely to be needed. Who writes anything extensive in long hand?

True. Although I scrawl on tons of notepads around my office, serious notetaking is on the keyboard.

And as far as being decipherable, how much does anyone care? The key is that the signature is a glyph recognizable as being produced by you. Whether it can be recognized as some variant of your legal name isn't relevant - only the fact that you signed it is.

My current signature is an illegible scrawl - a stylized cursive capital D and a squiggle stretching into a line. It's accepted when I need to sign things like checks or CC receipts. No one else will have my checks to forge a signature on, and CC charges have other defenses.

The sort of paperwork you had to sign when doing construction management isn't something I;ve had to deal with in a long time, and should I have to again, there will likely be a witness when I do sign things, which a forgery will lack.

Today's hi-tech equivalent of forgery is identity theft, but that's a different order of threat with different safeguards.
______
Dennis

My last construction project was finishing up just prior to the crash. And obviously, nobody was going bonkers to build the type of stuff I'd work on, once the banks, JVC guys, etc., couldn't get dough. {shrug}. So, 2007 was the last time I was flinging signatures. And now? I pretty much use certified sigs, which are computer-generated, anyway, with some levels of security/encryption so that I'm the only idiot that can authorize the signatures. AND, it's easier on my hands/wrists.

Hitch

[Rumpelteazer]

I'm starting to have a cold. I have a sore throat and I'm sneezing regularly. When I go out to get lunch later I'll also visit the drugstore to get throat tablets and stock up on Kleenex. Hopefully it will hold off until 5pm when we close the store; I'm expecting another extremely busy Saturday again.

[John K]

.
.
.
This discussion of signatures calls to mind past times when illiteracy was common. An X was an acceptable signature as long as it was your X.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by John K

This discussion of signatures calls to mind past times when illiteracy was common. An X was an acceptable signature as long as it was your X.

I recently did have a signing session. I'm the chap who deals with the hotel for a group putting on a convention. I got there a day early, and left a day late as is my custom. One of the things I had to do when I got there was sign and date a batch of printed Banquet Order Entry forms that specified what the hotel was providing in terms of function room setups, food services and the like.

My signature was my normal illegible scrawl, but it was known to be my signature as representative of the group because I had signed it on site in their presence.

It was an X, but it was my X.
______
Dennis

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by John K

.
.
.
This discussion of signatures calls to mind past times when illiteracy was common. An X was an acceptable signature as long as it was your X.

I'd say that there are escrow agents, bankers, and teams of lawyers all over the country that know my "x," as my sig is pretty much just that. Or, really, like..."XY______l_____," with a bit more loop/swash on the line. lol.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I recently did have a signing session. I'm the chap who deals with the hotel for a group putting on a convention. I got there a day early, and left a day late as is my custom. One of the things I had to do when I got there was sign and date a batch of printed Banquet Order Entry forms that specified what the hotel was providing in terms of function room setups, food services and the like.

My signature was my normal illegible scrawl, but it was known to be my signature as representative of the group because I had signed it on site in their presence.

It was an X, but it was my X.
______
Dennis

(This is why God invented signing stamps).

I will say that one of the happiest days of my life, which says that my life is pathetic, is when I got an actual business STAMP to execute (sign) checks with, to endorse them. I confess, for the biz, now, I still really like being able to just stamp the hell out of them, instead of trying to scribble in wee lines, and put "for deposit only, acct. xxxxxxxxx," on the back.

I know, I know. It's bizarre, the things we get lazy about, ain't it?

Hitch

[wodin]

In my current lifetime as a federal bureaucrat for the Department of Defense we have a thing called the Common Access Card, or CAC. It basically functions as an ID card on steroids, with a memory chip inside like the ones you see on newer credit cards.

Along with some vital statistics, it contains several PKI tokens that are unique to each individual, and can among other things digitally sign documents and emails.

So, the days of the illegible signature are nearly over. :sigh: