Hydra's signing posts

[F-16_Fighting_Falcon]

Do you or don't you sign posts in hydra's? Why?

Personally I'm undecided. Sometimes I sign since I want everyone to know which posts are mine. Sometimes I just don't feel like it so I don't.

The thing that interests me the most is that some players make it a point to refuse to sign posts even when asked. I've never asked anyone to sign their posts but I've seen some people do which leaves me very curious about people's refusal to sign their posts. Can someone that normally adamantly refuses to sign posts explain why you do it?

I mean, it's gotta be more than just because you think signing is cumbersome because it really isn't that big a deal. I can't help but think there are hidden motivations for it which I won't talk about at this point considering what it would say about the people who refuse to sign. I'd just like to hear it straight from them and not make any assumptions.

[fferyllt]

I feel like my posting style is generally distinctive enough to make signing moot. When I think authorship isn't obvious, I usually do something to make sure other players can tell.

Even so, ometimes players do mix me up with my partner. That happened several times in a recent game where I was hydraing with Kazekirimaru iirc. I found the reactions to stuff people were misattributing was helpful in reading them.

One of my favorite things about hydraing is the ubiquity of the following interaction when my hydra is town.

"Did ffery make that post?"

"Yes"

"

Vote fferyhydra

"

[F-16_Fighting_Falcon]

That it helps you get reads is a much, much better reason than what I had in mind so I'm impressed. But why prefer "doing something to make sure other players can tell" over signing? And you used to sign posts in the past. Was there a moment of clarity where you decided "screw this. I will never sign a post again?"

[Nexus]

If you don't sign your posts, you're a monster.

I am also a hypocrite.

[fferyllt]

That it helps you get reads is a much, much better reason than what I had in mind so I'm impressed. But why prefer "doing something to make sure other players can tell" over signing? And you used to sign posts in the past. Was there a moment of clarity where you decided "screw this. I will never sign a post again?"

It was a game where about 95-98% of the hydra posts were mine. That was the "screw this" moment.

When I think authorship is ambiguous, I prefer to weave the "signature" into the text, I guess.

[borkjerfkin]

i feel like i am one of the very few people who both

1) signs my posts
2) signs them with my actual ms name and not something silly related to the hydra flavor

[Faraday]

Do you or don't you sign posts in hydra's? Why?

Never. If you can't tell the difference from the content then you knowing probably isn't that important or useful to you.

[Faraday]

I think my partners usually sign posts anyway, so it's kind of irrelevant although it does lead to me pretending to be them for my own amusement.

[Natirasha]

I always sign my posts jokingly when people complain about me not signing.

Or, if I'm with zmuffin, but that's because we have that annoying habit of alt slipping each other.

[Wisdom]

I always sign and would love if everyone did it. Trying to figure out which head posts what is not part of a player's job description

[chamber]

If it matters you are hydraing wrong.

[Xayzeck]

I always sign and would love if everyone did it. Trying to figure out which head posts what is not part of a player's job description

This guy knows what's up, he signs outside of hydras too

[Majiffy]

You probably should. That said, I can't be fucked to ever remember.

Not that it usually matters in my hydras, it had always been relatively obvious who was who. Especially when I played with Mollie.

[Majiffy]

hi guyz wots goin on

[Fenchurch]

Trying to pull meta from a game with hydras who don't sign their posts is an absolute nightmare. Sure it might be easy enough to tell which head is which in the midst of a game, from the context; but for somebody else later going back to try and understand a particular moment (e.g. because it gets referenced in a future game), it can be nearly impossible.

(solution: don't meta)

[ChannelDelibird]

If it matters you are hydraing wrong.

This. Hydras should be on message with each other, and it is infuriating when one head says "well, no, it wasn't me who said that, it was my other head". If you want to play together as one slot, you should act like one player.

[xRECKONERx]

What CDB said. A hydra playing as two separate players is fucked up.

[Fenchurch]

This. Hydras should be on message with each other, and it is infuriating when one head says "well, no, it wasn't me who said that, it was my other head". If you want to play together as one slot, you should act like one player.

Yeah, no, I disagree with this entirely. Two people are just never gonna act and think like a single person, no matter how much they confer and plan and compromise or whatever.

I don't have a problem with hydras as a concept, but personally I'd much rather it be treated like what it is (two players with a shared alignment and vote) rather than trying to be something that it can't.

Edit: This might partly be my bias based on my own hydraing experiences¹, but having read and played with other hydras I still prefer the latter approach. And that's not to say I think the heads shouldn't be trying to work together; I just think trying to act as if they are one person is not a worthwhile goal. A hydra is a different from a single player, and there's nothing wrong with that.

¹ Edit 2: No I just checked, and I've always felt this way.

[ChannelDelibird]

I understand completely your point there, and I agree with it to some extent - honestly, it's for that reason that my head says I'd rather not play with hydras at all because they're unlikely to reach the kind of cohesion that wouldn't add confusion. However, it is fun to be

in

a hydra so I go on tolerating. It's only the ones who have serious head dissonance that really affect my enjoyment.

I do think that signing posts is a somewhat saddening admission of failure to strive for hydra cohesion, though. It's just... I know we don't really indulge in the full flavour implications of this game we play here, but it doesn't feel very thematic.

[SleepyKrew]

Signing posts is against my religion.

Also because hydras should present a unified front. In the instances where I disagree with my partner and the disagreement makes it into the thread, I clarify that I am SleepyKrew and I am the one with whatever opinion is being expressed, but I usually identify myself in the body of the post rather than by signing. The reason I don't sign in those cases is because I think it's annoying.

[N]

That's not how apostrophes work, Mr aeroplane

[BROseidon]

Or, if I'm with zmuffin, but that's because we have that annoying habit of alt slipping each other.

This is legitimately really fucking annoying :/

[fferyllt]

It always makes me laugh when they do that.

[BROseidon]

Also, I tried signing for a while, but I can never remember.

You should be able to tell posters apart if the content is deep enough for it to matter. The only time people ever mix up me and my hydra partner is when I'm hydraing with AP, but we message back and forth enough when we hydra that it really doesn't matter who posts what because we agree on most things.

[BROseidon]

It always makes me laugh when they do that.

The issue I have with it is that it makes it really fucking annoying to have to figure out how to approach the slot since they're two players that I interact with and read in very different