For the last six weeks or so, I've had account registration disabled due to heavy spam registration attempts. Registration has now be re-enabled, but any new user must post (or at least log into) the forum at least once within 48 hours after the registration has been activated. Users that do not post or login will have their account removed, banned, and reported as spammers.
Due to the extreme increase of the number of spambot registration attempts, I am temporarily disabling new user registrations. If you would like to register on this forum, please send an email to register@customsoftwareconsult.com with your email address and desired username. I will manually register you and send you a temporary password.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Update 03/22/2017:
Registration attempts with usernames that consist of only numbers will be summarily deleted and reported as spam.
Update 06/30/2014:
Due to ongoing spam attacks, I am requiring all users to register with admin validation before they can post messages in any forum. This means that after registering, I will receive an email with your registration information. I must manually approve each request. I try to approve all legitimate requests within an hour, but if I am away from the computer it may take longer. Hopefully no more than 24 hours. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I've had this board destroyed too many times by scumbag spammers.
All new users should post at least one message within 48 hours of registering or their account may be deactivated.
*** USING GMAIL ADDRESSES WHEN REGISTERING ***
If you are using a gmail address when registering and get the message:
Gmail addresses may not contain any periods to the left of the '@' symbol. Please re-type the email address without any periods. i.e., 'myname@gmail.com' is OK, 'my.name@gmail.com' is not.
Try again without the periods in the address.
Why?
Gmail ignores periods in their email addresses, but phpBB does not. This is a trick that spammers employ to re-use a valid gmail address over and over again.
For instance, sending an email to the address "IamAspammer@gmail.com" will get to the recipient even if you were to use "i.am.a.spammer@gmail.com". The spammers know this. So if "i.am.a.spammer@gmail.com" gets blacklisted, they can simply change it to "i.ama.Spammer@gmail.com" (which may not yet be blacklisted). Upper/lower case letters do not matter either (that goes for all email addresses, even non-gmail ones).
You can read more about this on this blog post.
Update 01/29/2013:
After installing anti-spam countermeasures (Advanced Block MOD) last November, I've blocked well over 100,000 spam registrations. This seems to be working well, so I've re-enabled user email activation. This means that after registering, you will receive an email asking you to click a link back to this board to activate your registration.
Any spam posts will be immediately removed, the account deleted and the users ip address, email address, and username will be registered in several spam databases and black-listed from any online forums or websites that use those databases. Bottom line ... if you came here to spam, you are not welcome and I will do everything in my power to make sure your registration credentials are banned from the Internet forever. Spammers are lower than lawyers, telemarketers, and used-car salesmen all put together.
Update 11/19/2012: The spamjerks are back in full force. I've had literally hundreds of new spam user registration requests in the last 72 hours and have had to completely disable all new registrations until I can get things back under control. Until such time, I will honor all legitimate manual registration requests sent to register@customsoftwareconsult.com. Please include your desired username. I will supply you with a temporary password which you must change after logging in the first time. (See this thread for more information about upcoming spam countermeasures.)
Update 07/28/2011: Apparently, the spambots have figured out a way to circumvent the CAPTCHA safeguard during registration and I have been inundated with registration requests. New registrants must make at least one post within 48 hours of registering else the account will be deleted. I apologize for this and ask that you understand it is a continuous chore to keep this forum from slipping into the cesspool that so many other forums have succumbed to because of asshole spammers.
Registration requests from anonymous email servers will be deleted without acknowledgment (i.e., trashmail.net, Anonymizer, Advicebox, etc.). All registrant email addresses will be checked against a spam database and banned if listed there. This also applies to members that use transparent or otherwise invisible links in posts or signatures. Furthermore, all registration requests that are not activated within 24 hours of submission will be deleted. If you want link popularity, go create your own forum. Don't try to leech off my good PageRank.
Bottom line is this: This is a serious forum for the discussion of Firefox extensions and extensions that I have developed in particular. Spam will not be tolerated.
If you are having problems registering (i.e., not receiving confirmation emails, etc.) please email me personally with your desired username. Send registration requests to register@customsoftwareconsult.com. This email address is for registration inquires only. I generally do not answer support questions that are sent via email or private message. It defeats the purpose of a public forum. If you are experiencing a problem with any of my extensions, it is probably happening to others. A new thread benefits everyone.
Guests may freely browse the forums, but must register to post or reply. Registration gives you the added bonus of receiving email notifications of replies to your posts.
Spam registrations are out of control and I simply will not devote the time and effort required to keep one step ahead of the spambots and idiots who think this forum is a free advertising venue for their pills, porn, and propaganda.
Chuck