Read Before Registering: Valid email address required

Due to the risk of spam attacks and a certain persistent sociopathic troll (and he no doubt will know I'm referring to him when he reads this), self-activation of user accounts is disabled and any new registrant will need to wait until an administrator such as myself manually activates their account. It's usually not a long wait, though, so don't be disheartened.

However, a valid email address is required and prior to activation the one you used to register will be checked for its validity using an online verification tool. Don't worry, you won't receive any unsolicited emails from me or anyone else here, it simply makes sure the email account exists and isn't just a fake address. If your email address checks out and nothing else about it seems suspicious (such as it matching your chosen username word-for-word, a tactic the troll I mentioned earlier has used), your account will be activated. If it comes up as invalid, then your account will not be activated and instead will be deleted with no exceptions.

Yes, even I agree this process is annoying and shouldn't be necessary, but it's to prevent anyone from trying to spam up the forum. It's unfortunately a case of one specific nutjob making things difficult for everyone.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for understanding.

- REF Staff