Fediverse

It's entirely possible to host an instance that doesn't require emails to sign up. Blahaj lemmy and piefed don't for example. We don't have a spam problem though, because we require manual approvals of new accounts. Lack of email verification is only a problem when it's combined with open signup

Agreed, this is my go to response to everyone, (seriously there's like a post a week about this same thing) asking it. Sounds like the perfect place to spread whatever garbage you want is the server you set up and pay for yourself, accepting all personal liability for. Go all cowboy with it!

I've noticed you tend to always assume the worst before even trying to give the benefit of the doubt.

There are very legitimate reasons to not want to give your email to any random website that asks. They can be hacked, the instance might be a front for some data aggregator, etc. And if your response is "just use a masking service" or "just use a disposable email address", then what is the point of validating the email address in the first place?

Admins add email verification because this is one extra layer of protection against automated bots, but this is far from a guarantee they are protected. It might help them to give some paper trail in case someone does something nasty on their servers, but the best they can do is take an (easy to create) email address and report to the authorities along with the IP address.

Compare with an instance that only accepts paying members:

• no bot or spammer will be interested in paying a few dollars per month to send messages
• if some spammer is stupid enough to sign up to the service and sends clear spam, then we point the ToS to them, kick them out and they will be left without any money
• we have a much stronger paper trail (credit card payments, bank transfers) in case some user does something nasty.

We require a valid email for registration as an anti-spam measure, but you can garble the email afterwards.

db0 require email for registration.