All members need to be "approved" by a moderator - me or Paul - before anyone can see their page. This spares you all from seeing a whole lot of stuff you don't want to see from spammers.
It goes like this:
1. A person registers a name, and the account is created.
2. The systems sends them a confirmation email with a password so they can log in, fill out a profile, and post. Once they hit the link in the confirmation email, they become a "User awaiting moderation." They can post, but no one but the moderators can see that post.
3. If it is an actual person who seems like a potential member, I or Paul "approves" the user, then everyone can see his or her profile, and they can post without waiting for one of us to "approve" it.
Many times people do step #1, but nothing else. So you will see them as the newest member, but that's it.
Some people do step 1 & 2, but have not yet posted, we wait until they post so we know it is a real person, not a troll, spammer, or a child too young to legally belong.
All these people show up in the count of "users" but no one but Paul or I can interact with them until they are "approved."
We get spammers trying to join every day, and they post every sort of material imaginable, none appropriate or welcome on Pet Talk. People get paid per post in poorer countries, so try to post the spam everywhere they can. Sometimes it is even in languages we do not speak, but I know it is spam anyway. With this system, we spare you from those people.
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