I'm sorry, I had to chuckle at the above observation--it's spot-on, and that's exactly what the Lending section has been like ever since I registered and Vod was seemingly policing it on his own.  I haven't visited that section in a long time, but obviously things haven't changed.

As far as sig campaigns go, I think the quality of discussion would increase if they went away, but I have no doubt that the entire forum would seem like a ghost town compared to when it did have them.  I'm pretty sure bitcointalk wouldn't become a dead website, but just look at how many members are advertising something in their signature space--and then imagine looking through a thread and ignoring all the posts made by those members.  It'd be crazy, right?

In any case, this topic has been discussed over and over throughout the years, and it's always remained very much a hypothetical situation.  It should probably be shelved until it's close to becoming a reality.