I think this really, is excellent. First of all, some of these pre-established characters already have strong ties w/ other established players and it would encourage perhaps more positive relationships OOC, which then, hopefully might result in less onsite tensions.
Second, for new players, if they could come and find someone already established, or shy players, it would give them, perhaps some strong players to "mentor" under and hang with, for lack of more effective terminology, and perhaps make some folks feel more welcome a bit quicker.
And third, sometimes the deletion of an established character leaves a hole in the "mini-plots" or those unscripted things that we all do, and makes it difficult. And believe it or not, once in awhile, we all can get attached to some of these people and we don't want to see them go!
Rather than just shipping them to the graveyard, why can't we place, basically, a classified ad on the site looking for a new player to take that character on? At least for some given time period.
Makes immense sense to me.
Good idea, Eli!!
Khaat