Editing Help:Signatures (section)

== When to sign ==
Any comment on talk pages should be signed, regardless of the namespace. This includes comments made by unregistered/logged-out users as well as registered ones. Elsewhere (e.g. articles), they needn't be used, since edits are automatically logged and attributed in page histories.

=== Anonymity ===
While an editor is not logged in, the [[wikipedia:IP address|IP address]] (e.g. 192.0.2.58) will be used for identification purposes instead. Some users prefer to use their IP address instead of a user name because of a misconception that the IP address provides more anonymity. In truth, a [[Wikipedia:Pseudonymous|pseudonymous]] account name (that is, a registered user name) actually provides ''more'' protection.

Signing manually with a pseudonym or tag such as ''-- anon'' does not provide more anonymity or privacy protection, since the IP address is logged directly into the page history. Similarly, the {{tl|unsigned}} template will be used to sign these comments subsequently.