Why can't I register?

[Dragon]

This comes up from time to time so I'll explain ...


Forums are one of the favourite places for spammers to set up shop.  Many forums are completely open, once you register you can post immediately.

CSS is much more secure - and I should think that's for obvious reasons.  When you registered for an account here, I did two things:

• I checked the email you provided against a list of known spammers.  If your email was on that list, you're gone.
  
• I checked the IP address from which you're posting.  If that address is one used by known spammers, I'll investigate a bit further.  If I'm comfortable that you are who you say you are then I'll approve an account here - obviously if your registration credentials look odd, I won't.
  

If you've registered and come back later to log in (and I normally approve or disapprove people within a few hours) and are told that there is "no such user"  then you can assume that for whatever reason, I didn't approve your registration request.

If I'm wrong and you're a real person who wants to join our discussion, scroll to the bottom of the page and fill out the contact us form.  I'll get notification of that, normally within minutes.  I'll still go through my normal process and may ask you for some further validation before I approve your request.

All this said:

I will not tolerate spammers.

I will ensure that you're as safe as humanly possible here.