Talk:Sign-off

Broadcasting is radio as well as TV
The article, as it stands, should either be moved to Sign-off (television) or rewritten to include information about radio closedown procedures. -- Picapica 14:20, 15 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Should I re-write this article with the above changed? Cepb 13:09, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
 * I think so. I suppose you could add a radio section to it as well. Big Dan 02:18, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Hmm. The article still starts off with a categoric "Sign-off (or closedown) is the term used to describe the close of operations for a television station" [my emphasis]. As the introduction ought to present an overview of the scope of the article, I think this remains misleading. Also, the appended section on radio is highly US-centric without making that fact explicit.

Yes, I know that I should be doing something about these complaints! (I'm posting these comments here now in large part as a reminder to myself...) -- Picapica 19:39, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

Other definitions of 'sign off'
In UK English "Sign off" has many uses some of which pre-date  wireless transmission by generations. Sailors have been signing on and off to work ships since goodness knows when. Sick people who have recovered sign off the sick pay scheme, unemployed who get jobs sign off the unemployement register etc. Virtually all radio communication stations, not just public broadcsaters, sign off by identifying themselves and announcing end of transmission or closing down or whatever, as the law requires.

Recently, US and now some UK politicans and journalists have been using "sign off" to mean endorse or certify legislation where in earlier times they would simply have said "sign".

I usually let sinebot sign my contributions but it may think its signing off so this this time :- 77.97.161.230 (talk) 21:02, 8 December 2007 (UTC)mikeL


 * mikeL: Thank you for your comments. Are you aware of Wiktionary, where some of these dictionary definitions may be listed? The reason I ask is because I think you may be confusing Wikipedia (which contains encyclopedia-type articles) with Wiktionary (which provides dictionary-type definitions). If some of your definitions can be expanded into an article of several paragraphs and can be backed by verifiable sources, then by all means, visit the Help:Starting a new page article (for tips on creating an article) and then create a new article. Briguy52748 (talk) 23:32, 14 December 2007 (UTC)]]


 * Sign-off is also a term used in Integrated Circuit (IC) engineering, and is the last step in the design flow before the design files are sent off to the fab plant. It can involve a large number of checks and iterations. I'm not entirely sure if Wikipedia is knowledgeable enough to convert that into an entire article, since it is such a specific and technical field. Fire (talk) 23:35, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

"Inappropriate tone" tag
I see several tags attached to this article. I can perhaps understand a couple of them, but my concern is on the one claiming this article's tone is inappropriate. Could the person making this claim explain his/her rhetoric so that an editor can address the issues relating to the tag? Thank you. Briguy52748 (talk) 23:32, 14 December 2007 (UTC)]]

Article scope - major cleanout
I came here in response to the copyedit tag, but find that this article has totally lost it's purpose. This should just be telling us about what sign-off is, not listing a billion and one examples of it. Given that it nearly entirely violates WP:NOR and tends to be WP:UNENC, as well as much of it being poorly written and frankly tedious, I would say 80% of it needs to be deleted. I'm sure someone started in good faith long ago adding a couple of examples, and I'm sure the later additions have also been in good faith, but these examples have now swelled to compose the bulk of the article. At best this info should be summarised and put in a list called something like "List of sign-off procedures", but I'm not convinced we need that either. If you want to discuss, please do so below, otherwise I'm probably going to go through in the next day or so with a very big broom. --jjron (talk) 05:36, 24 May 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree completely with your plans. The existing text is very repetitive and has all the weaknesses you listed above; basic definitions and a few generic summaries of practice around the world are needed instead of all the transient specifics -- please go ahead with your intention. But more than a broom you need scissors so that scraggly head of hair gets shaped into a proper coiffure that everyone will be happy to view, or maybe even an axe, a hedge trimmer and a lawn mower, so that one will be tempted to walk around in that beautiful garden and admire the park without having to fight one's way through all the trees and bushes! Thank you for your note; I'm delighted to stop copy editing, which at this point is like pulling out a few weeds in advance of the earth mover.Remotelysensed (talk) 07:39, 24 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Cheers. Job done. Feel free to go through and tidy up anything you think needs improving or tweaking. And let's avoid this happening again please folks. --jjron (talk) 15:08, 25 May 2011 (UTC)