I like the idea of members being able to change the standards of a forum,
but being in a mods position would have made it easier.
You can do that by complaining. The process of it doesn't take as long as you think. AOTW was up and running a day after the idea was introduced. It wasn't done by discussing within the staff, it was done by a public poll. Something anyone could do.

Most forums that have Beginner, Intermediate, Pro SOTWs have many active members of all skill levels. Here it would be pretty unbalanced. The forum is already very sigcentric, I don't think the worry of limited competition is for sigs, but for those who do everything other than just sigs.