Dan, both of those are awful. I'm sorry. Ratsun is using acres and acres of vertical real estate (AND OMG THANK GOD WE DON'T ALLOW SIG PICS!).
Notice how if they put your username in the same column it would be that much worse.
And your example for our forum does exactly what I knew it would. Make things another 20-30 pixels taller than they are now.
Your signature doesn't help. It is WELL above the forum limits as is. I know you've been told to make it smaller. You might need to do more. You're allowed 4 lines. You have ~11!