Hi m8s,
I wanted to let you know that 2 days ago a spam bot registered on the forum and instead of posting his spam (llike they usually do) this bot went through the entire member list to automatically sent spam mails to registered users. By the time this issue was reported probably thousands of members got a spam email from this user sent via the portal.
Such stuff never was an issue before.... I guess such bots always will find a way to spread their crap.
The bot was isolated and removed. I have taken measurements to prevent such issues by disabling the email function for the basic usergroups. Staff members and members of moderated usergroups still have this function. I am currently working on a way to allow users to verify that they are real users and not just bots. Once the (automatic) verification is done the email functionality should be available again for these users.
Sorry for the troubles.
Usually I am the only spammer who sends mails via the Portal.