Re: What is the purpose of signatures?

I understand that people have varying agreement on the negative aspects of signatures, but can someone tell me any positives?

Self-expression is not really necessary to be seen every time you post. If you have something interesting then it can be posted in your profile.

A quick pros vs cons makes me wonder why signatures still exist here.

Not sure what exactly your problem is with signatures per se. Wana elaborate?

#1 more room than in your profile
#2 better visibility than in your profile
#3 area where ref links are allowed
#4 allows formatting and/or colors depending on your rank

My problem is that it's just advertising space. The downsides of moving it to the profile would be heavily outweighed by the benefits of increased forum post quality.

I tend to see little relation between post quality and signature in general. People post shit with or without, paid or unpaid, flashy or subtle signature. Yes getting paid per post (or flat) is an extra incentive for some to ask for a ban, but its not the only one. I see the spam as a moderation issue and think more (active) moderators and admins handing out well deserved bans are a solution.