Threads like this one have been posted over and over.
There are two arguments.
One says that we may get visitors who come here with the potential for becoming a very good, active poster, but turn away because their name is already registered. Therefore we must keep as many good names free as possible.
The other says that the people who registered but didn't post anything may come back here one day, remember they made an account, and start posting. This is not an unusual phenomenon, and has happened here quite a few times. But that said, so has the evidence for the first argument. Quite a few users have signed up and found they couldn't use the name they wanted, so they had to make up something a bit different.
The problem is, neither side is more correct than the other. Which direction a forum chooses to take depends on what they want, and how their personal beleifs sway them.
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