# Activating users without email?

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/activating-users-without-email/103305>\
**Category:** Product Support\
**Created:** [December 2, 2018, 5:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/activating-users-without-email/103305 "2018-12-02T17:14:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 9

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**Author:** ![Sailsman63](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sailsman63](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Sailsman63)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 6:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/activating-users-without-email/103305/9 "2018-12-03T18:47:19Z")

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> [@thraddash](#):
>
> Users can always unsubscribe from unwanted emails.

I think you’re missing the point. This is not necessarily about _users_ unsubscribing. It’s about the legitimate owner of an email address being harassed because others provided their email at sign-up, and you didn’t verify that the email was legit, and that it _belonged to the user_.

Worst case, I (as a hypothetical ill-intentioned person) could sign up an account using a targeted person’s email. Then, play with email notification settings a bit. They’d be getting spammed by every piece of activity on your site.

Worse, I could sign up another account, with a Junk email, and then send targeted spam/bullying as PMs.

Triple fun if I use _two_ targeted emails, and make each think that they are being targeted by the other.

Tracking “evil me” down would be hard, and your forum or organization might end up taking the fall for any legal complications.

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