Loading ...No freemail allowed
The Independent forums have been a part of The Independent for years. Last year I switched our forum software to a popular, open-source system called PHPBB. It’s powerful and allows more cool features for the users like an arcade game section.
Given the nature of the Internet, this popular software is also susceptible to ‘spambots‘ that can flood the forums with fake accounts and links to porn or gambling sites. I’ve put up a lot of roadblocks to keep that junk off the forums but at the end of the day, I still have to manually check every account registration before I activate it. These bots take advantage of free email services like Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail among others which makes it next to impossible for me to know which is a real person and which is a spammer trying to slip in and hook unsuspecting users.
So I had to implement a ‘No Freemail Allowed’ rule. This means you cannot register for the forums using a Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, or other free email service account. It will be deleted. I realize this may seem unfair to people who only use those services for their email. But the Spam Factor along with other factors (banned users trying to get around their banishment by registering with another email is a biggie) has made this an unfortunate, but necessary step.
I will say that you can register with a work email address, or home address given by your ISP. We protect your privacy and we will never send out emails to registered forum members. The address is pretty much just one of the roadblocks we need to verify that you’re an actual person and not a robot 
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