[EmailNetiquettePatterns] Internet signatures in mail and news should begin with the character sequence DASH DASH SPACE EOL For example -- James Hacker , Electron Polisher, General Eclectic Corporation '''Context:''' The signature is part of the message, but also less important than the content itself. It's often the same from one message to another, and deeply-nested messages look ugly when repeated signatures are redundantly quoted. The solution must work in plain text, and feel natural to people new to email. '''Solution:''' Mark the start of the signature as described above, and follow with whatever you like within the SixLineSigLimit. '''Resulting Context:''' Smart user agents (e.g. mutt) can do nice things such as showing signatures in a different color, and more importantly truncating them when replying. The solution is so small and discreet that many people don't realize there is a convention here at all. '''References:''' RequestForComments 1855 (http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1855.html)