We are now requiring a valid email for everyone who joins theOtaku.com. There are two reasons for this:

(1) We're going to be cracking down HARD on people who make fake dummy accounts. We have literally dozens of ways to discover when this happens--it's just that until now we haven't put the energy into it.

Having an email requirement makes it just a little more time-intensive and harder to register dummy accounts.

(2) We believe that the harder it is for people to register, the more invested they become in the site afterward.

Anyway, yeah, moving forward all new Otakuites will require a valid email address.