I have an alternative idea, signature is automatically disabled on thread if the OP is newbie. That way, we don't need to restrict newbie account in any way.
If it's genuine question, OP is more likely to get helpful answer since spammer aren't interested on thread where it's signature is disabled.
Good idea, this would definitely prevent anyone from opening a topic with the intention of using their alt accounts for signature spam. The question remains how technically feasible is this?
It's feasible as long as they don't bother use/buy account with higher rank or ask "friend/group" to create question thread and prepare answer in advance.
I have an alternative idea, signature is automatically disabled on thread if the OP is newbie. That way, we don't need to restrict newbie account in any way.
If it's genuine question, OP is more likely to get helpful answer since spammer aren't interested on thread where it's signature is disabled.
This, and allowing users to determine whether they want to include signatures on their thread upon opening are probably the best options I've seen proposed so far. Although, this only counteracts the signature spammers, and doesn't prevent users from farming their accounts. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the issue we will always have some sort of issue with low quality users, and those low quality users are going to be more frequent the more popular Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies get. We could put all the restrictions in place, and they will find a way around it.
My idea is only to prevent signature spammer. We only can hope member and merit source be careful when sending merit to thread whose created by newbie so those farmed account rank remain newbie and not too beneficial for the farmer.