[quote=Prince]
@Kestrel: My complaint was solely about the people ehom either don't or attempt to minimally format a character to a setting. Actually putting a character through a valid redesign isn't bad at all. Having character concepts and archetypes to choose and design from is fine. The complaint here was the people with massive lists of premade characters that simply look for insertion. That complaint here isn't applicable all the time, but I can name a few places where it is. X-Men AU, Naruro AU, varying Fantasy levels and anything dystopian. Those settings are often alternate or specifically designed to highlight a central theme or difference. Coming in with a stock character that has no relation to that and wasn't formatted to the world often causes conflict and less than optimal interaction. Reusing a character an recycling character concepts are entirely different things. There are roleplayers that love their characters and are staunchly attached. That doesn't justify them trying to use them in every roleplay they see the slightest chance for them to be maybe relevant for a second. Rebooting an RP in and of itself is an entirely different endeavor that is hardly comparable.
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Reusing a character usually only becomes an issue if their players don't let go of their previous experiences. For most games, I can simply c/p an old character sheet, change some place names here and there, and nobody would ever notice. Then again I usually don't write characters who won seventy wars single-handedly or are angel/wolf-anthro/unicorn hybrids, which I guess helps, but I can put a knight seeking redemption for failing to protect his previous lord into pretty much any fantasy RP ever. It doesn't matter whether the theme is conquest, corruption or romance. The character will change over the course of the story due to different experiences and relationships, but the initial slate easily suits multiple themes. Conquest? Prove his worth as a capable warrior to wash the stains off his record. Corruption? Enlist to a new but corrupt lord and struggle between failing yet another master or doing the right thing for the kingdom as a whole. Romance? Seek out a fair maiden to rebuild him as a man. 

I don't often plainly reuse old characters without touching them, but when I do, it's really hard to notice unless people have RP'd with said character before. I don't think that's a testament to my 'roleplaying skill' but rather that reusing an old character isn't bad by definition. I think a few bad people are being taken as the norm here, whereas with most you'll never even know.