I like most of the above suggestions. I'm indifferent to the Shoutbox, but that's only because I never really used them.
The graveyard is a fantastic idea, and can be indeed quite handy. I'm a big fan of it, especially on some of the other sites I've been an admin/mod on.
I also like the idea of the expansion of the new user creation process too. It's always good to know what the user has, especially when they don't provide it right away.