I like some signatures, as long as they don't contain pictures or are spammy. They should say something profound; funny; thought provoking; etc, as well as say something about the individual in most cases. Mine on most websites is "Vivent les DJs," which says something about me, while not being spammy, something that should be on someone's profile, or too long. If people would have signatures that followed these guidelines, they might be less annoying.
I do think that in this case, it was a good idea to drop signatures. Too many spammers, trolls, etc. It would be abused.