I'd like to see a plugin or feature that lets you do what I've seen on other mail systems, and that is for a user to check whether a name exists before they have to enter other information, like demographics.

Ideally the plugin would work from any page on your site, so you could have a simple form asking users to see whether their preferred name is available. They would then have the option of signing up.

I think this would lead to more signups, because you could make a special splash page designed to lure a user in, saying their preferred name is available and that they should sign up now before it is taken. It's just the same kind of thing you would see when speculating for a new domain name, and it's a feature I've seen on all other email systems.

Jason