Profile links = Forum posting. Forum posting requires=writing+reading+replying+time+effort+high possiblity of getting ur signture to be deleted Forum profiles requires=nothing just registering and pinging the link to be indexed fast or wait for it couple of days until it get indexed
IMO once you go through the trouble of registering you might as well make a few posts from time to time...
Does it matter what niche the forum you are posting on is? I mean this is a webmasters forum through and through but people put links to their sites which can be in a range of areas. Does google see a link from a webmasters forum to a health related affiliate site for example as a good link or a terrible link with no real value? If the niche of the forum counts this makes a big difference to what I would be doing with forum posting ... can anyone clarify?