Things you didn't notice were broken are fixed

[Mogri]

If you're reading this, there's an excellent chance you weren't using this functionality, but it's good news all the same:

• Forgot password form. If you forgot your password previously, you basically had to figure out my email address.
• New user registration. Registration is admin-locked to limit spambottery; if you register, you need admin approval before you can post. I changed this setting in June and didn't notice that I broke user registration completely (because, guess what, I don't register for a new account very often).

Huge thanks to TMC for bringing these issues to my attention.

[Bob the Hamster]

Is there a specific way they are supposed to ask for activation? Most if the spambot names look like spambot names, but out of the flood of account mail this morning one or two of them looked somewhat plausible

Also, I accidentally activated user "Jessicagek" because I thought clicking the link would show me a profile, rather than just instantly activating

[Mogri]

I've added a filter so that usernames matching [a-z]+[0-9]{4} don't make it to our inboxes.

There's no procedure for this, but I can add a field to the registration form asking the user to explain why they are creating an account (or something along those lines) and add it to the email. I think that would make things easier.

For now, I'll add the user's email address to the email. That will probably be useful in determining if an applicant is human.

[Spoonweaver]

It's like Slimesalad is an exclusive club now.

[Bob the Hamster]

I like the idea if a text field where they can say something about why they are creating an account. Half the spammers will skip it, the other half will paste their spam links directly into it :)

[TMC]

From my experience picking through spambot accounts registering on Castle Paradox, virtually always they're easily identified by looking at the account name and email address, and considering the other profile fields too lets you be sure. But there seem to be very few spammers who make it through the captcha, who then register lots of bots, so there's not that much variety, and I guess each website would see different patterns.
Often they would not put a spam link in their profile when they register, but come back and do it later.