I think a better idea would be what I suggested recently in that to become a Junior Member you would require at least some merit received (at the minimum 1). That way, if they don't get any merit they would remain a newbie indefinitely and be confined to being a bounty member by default.

Also, I think we should look at removing signatures completely from some of the lower ranks. If we made it so you only got a signature once you became a Member/Senior or above then you would only be able to earn here monetarily once you had earned your right to rise through the ranks. This would stop shitposters signing up here just to earn by posting one liners constantly. A lot of the new sig spammers here will never make it past Junior Member because of that but most crapcoin campaigns will accept them and pay for whatever they post and this is a huge issue.