Yes, NS does make the username ‘unique’. I installed 1.1.4.3 and now the usernames are the exact same as their emails. Paul Smith has [email protected] (his real email address) as a username.
The problem with this, is that the bots that troll the Internet can easily score a bunch of emails just from the usernames. Putting the users at a major disadvantage when dealing with spam AND their identities. Paul Smith would me much better off if HE could choose his username. PaulS for example. The manual addition of a user by the Site Admin will deny a second PaulS from using that username. It would be very nice if NS could do the same.
Thank you for your reply and attention to this topic.