It depends what 'make' of forum it is.

Some vBulletin ones I've seen have no signatures.

Invision allow things like 100 characters, or 5000, or 10000.

I don't know about PHPBB though.

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And I believe that map shows where people live, maybe off a forum? If it was Zelaron for instance and showed the regular posters and members you associate with Zel you'd see a lot in America, and the odd few in Europe, Asia and Australia.