if only

for example, one can validate against a facebook account or google account. if one can check timestamps on activity on these accts to ensure they were created at least x days ago, or validate that they have more than y friends, even better.

Is it really fair if we really do that? For example, one legit user might created a new emaill address to sigh up the site and new FB account for its own privacy concerns. You said that u created a FB account just for Heyai ppl on Heyai's FB page as well right?

kensup wrote: a simpler pseudo validation mechanism would only allow people to start forum threads after x activities, like responding to threads, making friends, etc.

Agree with this idea but the problem is still the same, who is gonna do the programming(especially for free).

It all comes down to the amount of resources we have for the site, fundings, helpers etc. These resources are hard to gather especially for a none profit site like this.

One is supposed to be able to use Hey-AI without revealing to much of their identity (as long as people follow our rules, of course). Hence, the usae of one-time email-accounts is explicitly allowed (refer to our imprint), as long as one ensures, that they are reachable at any time (so, e.g. 10minutemail seems to be a not so wise choice).

Also, one should consider, that Caroline does not want to force people to have FB or G+ (once again: as long as they follow the rules). There is a ready to use plugin to use FB/G+-login data. This is Hey-AI, not “Facebook lite using Facebook for user data and storage,” so we are actually storing your data on our servers only. There is no selling of user data to advertisement partners, and we do not use your data to make money with it in any other way. Try to find this clear statement of support toward privacy and data protection in FB or G+...

There exists a ready-to-use plugin for Joomla which does exactly this, but it is not compatible with the outdated version we are using... :-/

Also, if I recall properly, Caroline wants people to be free to use the community and not register and wait a few days; hence, the bounce rate won’t be to high. But, as I said, this is only if I recall properly... Maybe I am mixing it up with something else.