Bizarre Account Requirements

[zoiner]

I just tried to create an account using my real name and a real pop email address and received a message saying there was spam in one of the fields.

Use an invented name and a free web email and I am allowed in!

Any reason for this guys?

[duststorm]

Try searching for your name or email address on http://www.stopforumspam.com/
If there are records of it, then that is the reason.

We use an external spammer identification database. Usually it's pretty accurate, this is the first time I hear of legitimate users getting caught. Perhaps your email has been hacked and at some time has been used to do spamming?

[zoiner]

Aha!

It isn't the email address, it seems like any simple first name like David, James, mine, etc will get picked up.

A little bit of overkill perhaps, still I suppose it forces people to think of original usernames.

{Mine is just a juggled and misspelled word but it turned out to be a real name in Hungary:-)}

[duststorm]

Yes, the name is so common that probably many spammers have used it.
Judging that this name must be a spammer is perhaps a bit over the top, but usually it works pretty well.
On the other hand, thanks to this approach we are spared from literally 1000s of spammers trying to register bogus accounts every day.