I can definitely understand the point about users looking like just a line of data, especially for newcomers. On reddit if someone says "oh, I've seen this guy posting here before", I think: how do you even notice them as an individual? I think most of the time I don't even look at usernames on reddit.

Here, I could see the same thing happening. I've been on the site long enough that the veil of impersonality for all the frequent users has melted away and I can actually pin an individual with opinions, thoughts, and feelings on their pen name. If I were new I would have no way to do that.

I know some subreddits utilize a line of flair (which may be entirely customizable) which I think helps a lot to put a person to the name. Another idea to throw in the pot.

I think the key to new identifiers is that they should be tasteful and have some form of uniformity within the site's aesthetic, lest we look like a geocities page. So if we use avatars, it should be something within certain confines (like the little circle G+ uses, eg.).