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Rob LIt's very true that the authentication companies have hard times with signatures that are not pristine. I had an Angels jersey signed by the 2002 team that was not issued LOAs from PSA/DNA or GAI. I know the signatures were authentic because I collected them myself and thought the LOA would help to sell it. They claimed that there were skips and bleeding in the signatures. Well duhh!! The signatures were signed in sharpie on a piece of cloth.
I also have a Ruth autograph that I had researched and decided was authentic. I sent it to PSA/DNA Quick Opinion to confirm my research and they came back with "likely not genuine" but with a comment that said to send it in for further review. If they had said it was inconclusive, they could not have charged me with their "quick" analysis (which came after the auction ended), they were able to keep the fee. It did ultimately pan out as authentic.
I agree that becoming educated on the autographs that you are interested in is the best way to go. There are many sources to find exemplars of autographs including several websites and auction catalogs.