Originally Posted by u-Bob

It might encourage people to buy a skin instead of banner space.

It might also encourage people to buy sigs instead of just buying banner space (buying a top spot has the added benefit of being allowed to use bigger banners in sigs). This might result in a higher number of posts by the sig sellers. This will then result in a higher number of posts on the board. This means 'prettier' numbers for Eric to show potential ad space buyers.