To be honest, I find the forums neat and tidy without them. I think it fits the scheme with just red and black. When you add blue/green/orange/yellow/purple/etc. to the scheme from peoples' avatars and sigs, kinda makes it look awful.
This has been asked many times over the years and the answer has always been the same: "There will never be avatars on this board, period end of discussion." So I don't think the stance will change on this in our lifetime