I am actually a supporter of your suggestion, but how would you determine the right price for the different member ranks?
If it's relatively low in price to buy yourself a certain signature size, then people will treat it as some sort of an investment that will start being profitable after posting for a month or so to get their initial 'investment' back.
Well that is to be discussed but I think it should be reasonable but not so cheap people can still afford to have dozens or hundreds of accounts but maybe a couple at the most. I think it should be roughly based on whatever sold accounts are going for right now (though I have no idea of that). If people are still buying accounts (which they are) then this suggestion would take away money from shitposting account farmers and account hackers and that money goes directly to the forum instead (which must easily lose out tens of thousands in ad revenue to signature campaigns (which cause a massive strain and stress on mods who have to attempt to clean it all up)). I think I initially proposed something like $50 for a Senior-sized signature and $100 for Hero or something. Maybe some sort of "premium" rank would also be a good idea with higher perks such as the ability to have an image banner in your signature and be able to change your name for example (which is requested a lot). The price should also be pegged to fiat as well as to avoid what happened to the current donator rank so it would always be $50 or $100 in bitcoin no matter what.
If it's too high, people will refrain from buying themselves signature space, and thus they won't be able to advertise their own stuff (e.g. services that they offer, goods, links to help out others, statements, and the list goes on).
What I actually suggested was everyone can have some sort of basic signature like Juniors can ie small text and url then everyone can still advertise their own threads etc, however if you wanted a bigger, flashy one then you would have to pay to upgrade.