Buddy of mine joined Friday or Saturday, has been waiting for validation from an administrator. Yes, that is what prompted the topic. No, that didn't set my views on the policy.

I recommend nixing the mandatory admin validation of new members. Seems like a pointless step to me.

I agree; it lowers max activity because people are turned off from the site if they aren't validated quickly enough.

Why was it there anyway?

Same thing with search flood control (which still annoys the crap out of me).

Damn flood control, you find it on any IP.Board these days.

As for admin validation, I've only seen it on one other IP.Board, but it was a clan site, so it's understandable.

Someone attach a poll, 'cuz I remember bringing this up in the IRC, and someone with authority said it was there for a good reason.

well i could see it being there to stop spammers from recreating multiple accounts, but an IP ban would fix that

Exactly. Spammers were the reason for the admin validation technique, but as said before, IP addresses are a wondrous thing for banning