Last modified: 2005-09-26 00:55:18 UTC
A user's default nickname is currently [[User:Username|Username]]. It should be [[User:Username|]], which is easier on the eyes, takes up less space in wikisource, and also suggests to the user that that kind of thing is possible.
Au contraire; some of us were discussing over at en-wiki that the default ought to be something like [[User:Username|Username]] ([[User_talk:Username|talk]]) - it's awkward getting to a user's talk page if it isn't in their signature. Space in the source code isn't much of an issue, to be honest; although I admit that the HTML and associated code for some people's fancy-arse signatures does extract the urine somewhat.
The default is blank.