Nevermind, you can register again. I am an idiot but at least I fixed the forum (for now).
Here’s the short version: I’ve got the email server on this hosting account disabled for security purposes. This means that new registrations to this site’s forum will not process.
I could set it up to skip email verification, but this has been the best way to reduce spam signups. A lot of spammers have scripts to automatically flood forums, and the software typically doesn’t have something quite like Akismet which can protect blogs & Pligg installations.
Here’s the long version: Going on vacation can suck for your websites. Its also really important to keep your website CMS up to date with the latest versions, especially if you’re using something clunky and counter-intuitive like Joomla. I can’t emphasize enough how much I hate that software and how much WordPress is like a breath of fresh air for the less technically inclined.
So someone got in to an old site of mine and set it up as their base of operations for a bulk phishing campaign. Bluehost was nice enough to get me back online – not once, but twice! – but they were quite clear that the third time this account sent out bad emails would be the last time. Frankly, I appreciate that kind of patience and I don’t want to test it! So I got them to shut down the email capabilities of the account, despite the negative ramifications of doing so.
Unfortunately, I didn’t even think of the forum and now I’m going to have to decide whether or not I’m willing and able to keep up with the new registrations flood if email confirmations are disabled. I might be am almost certainly over-extended at the moment, with over a dozen domains to keep updated and an actual contract job starting up soon.
I really have enjoyed the forum so far, and I guess I’m not quite as down on the low turnout now that I realize its my own fault no one has signed up for the last few months. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’ll probably do what I can to get it back online in the next week or two.
Stay tuned then, for the re-release of WebsiteBuilding.biz’s webmaster forum!
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