>>that sounds pretty good but in #3, why don't you simply give freebies 18 posts/day at that point once you have verified the email account and the newbie has clicked that random number/phrase/link to activate the account?
I want it to work like this:
1. Register (deny any new registration for same e-mail already in db)
2. Account is quasi-suspended (no posts)
3. E-mail is sent out, click link to verify, account is set to 3 posts/day
4. Once you make your first post (like it is now), you get upped to 18 posts/day, after I approve it
It's just an added layer of protection against the idiots and spammers.
Doing it the way you suggest is the way RB and every other site does it. The effort I put into verifying/approving accounts is well worth it, as the spam and idiots often get the crap smacked out of them before anybody else sees them -- which is the way it SHOULD work.
The one thing that would cut down on spammers and also stop aliases is the e-mail verification layer, which we've never had.
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