Why can't I have more than 3 lines in my signature?

[max384]

Okay, I know that the number of lines in a sig depend on one's subscription status, but I was trying to change my signature and I was unable to because it was too long. The system message told me that I was limited to 3 lines.

This got me thinking. I knew I had seen much longer sigs than the one I was trying to use by forum users with no subscription. I did a bit of searching and I found one user with seven lines in his sig with no subscription. How can this be?

[kadar]

I think when your subscription ends the forum software does not remove your sig until you edit it.
It has to do with the permissions at the time of edit.

[ithinkimamedic]

Kadar is correct. For those of us that have been around since before the restrictions were placed if ones sig was not edited it has remained as it was.

[General Geoff]

Yep, haven't changed my sig since before the restrictions were in place. A grandfather clause, if you will.

[danp]

The underlying reasoning is that if signatures get too long it can make threads pretty unreadable. Slightly extended signatures are one of the perks we extend to subscribers who help keep the site hosted.

Everyone elses' analysis is correct though, if you had a long sig before changes were made or before your sig expired, it will stay that way until you change it. The software doesn't retroactively cut it off.

[Maquis]

The underlying reasoning is that if signatures get too long it can make threads pretty unreadable. Slightly extended signatures are one of the perks we extend to subscribers who help keep the site hosted.

Everyone elses' analysis is correct though, if you had a long sig before changes were made or before your sig expired, it will stay that way until you change it. The software doesn't retroactively cut it off.

I'm on some sites that don't control the sig size and it gets ridiculous how long they can be..this is a nice set up here.