The e-mail address that you provided when you registered allows you to subscribe to threads and notifications that you control, if and when you value them. But the reason we require it is to help us combat spam and frivolous posts. It allows us to require up front verfication of your account, eliminating most bots and some troublemakers from registering and posting. It also allows us to contact you (which we almost never do) should there be problems with your registration or activities.

YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IS NEVER DISPLAYED IN OR AVAILABLE TO USERS IN THIS FORUM.

YOU CAN PRIVATE MESSAGE WITH IMPUNITY WITH NO RISK OF DISCLOSING YOUR ADDRESS

The "Private Message" feature of the forum is enabled. It is anonymous on both ends -- the forum software controls both ends of the transaction and you share only your screen names with each other. No e-mails addresses are disclosed at any time.

THE "E-MAIL TO MEMBER" FEATURE EXPOSES SENDER'S ADDRESS via the e-mail client's settings.

The "e-mail to member" feature of the forums is enabled. If a member uses that feature to e-mail another member, the message flows through e-mail clients rather than through the forum's PM system. The initial RECIPIENT's e-mail is kept anonymous by the system, so you will never expose your address by enabling the setting and receiving e-mail via the system. However, by using e-mail instead of PM to send that message, the recipient will see the SENDER's e-mail in the from/reply to/etc. blocks via the e-mail client (e.g. Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.). And if the recipient chooses to reply via e-mail, then that probably discloses the e-mail address via the mail client, though not via the forum directly.

YOUR OPTIONS

You can enable or disable e-mail and private message options for your account, or update your e-mail address, via the User Control Panel (log in, select UserCP in menu bar). We encourage you to leave them on. After all, the point of this is a community.

Note that there is a setting in the UserCP related to Private Messages, that conrols whether the system notifies you by e-mail when you receive a PM. Alternatively, you just have to wait until you log in and find it. This is a system noticiation, NOT an e-mail from a member, so your e-mail is not disclosed by that notification.

See also full privacy policy.