What about a very simple solution such as not allowing signature space until an account is 1 year old. If you put a time limit on it rather than an activity limit, then there would be no incentive to spam (until the year is complete). If a year sounds too long, it could be 6 months. I think this could deter people that don't want to wait to get a signature.
They would just buy an account that is older than one year and spam on that.
True, but there would be fewer accounts that are over a year old and they would cost more.