Do forum signatures really help?

[lxh]

It does help but only a little value is given with it, you might as well focus on other ways. Forums have other benefits like learning a lot from the experts. =)

[JennyRipley]

It does help in some degree, but you should not focus on the single aspect,you can also do onpage seo and offline seo.

[ELCaD]

Forum signatures can be a massive help with not only generating backlinks, but more importantly raising awareness for potential customers/visitors.
If you frequent forums that are in your niche then a forum signature advertising your site is essential as you have the potential of reaching sooooo many customers.

[smiln32]

Google does give credit to blog posts and comments, so if they don't already do so with forums, it's probably not far behind.