One simple word, Photoshop.
I used the "Blending Options" filter on the text layer (right click on the layer) and gave it an outline look.
And I feel your pain about requests PM:s.
I often replied no to them earlier and tried to expand my message (in my signature etc), but since some will just TL;DR and still PM me, I decided to be cold-hearted and let them go completly unanswered and ignored.