In order to use New AskFRED to register for events, all users must have a registered and confirmed user account. This means that not only must you sign up for an account, but you must also confirm ownership of the email address associated with the account registered. Note that this means you have to provide a valid email address that is capable of receiving email in order to sign up and use AskFRED.
When you register for a new account, you'll be sent an email with a special link in it. Simply click on this link. You will be logged in automatically. This auto login will only work on the single time you click the link, though.
We will likely offer alternatives in the future, such as "Sign in with Google", which will skip the need to verify ownership of your email address.
We've made this change due to a number of reasons, but the reasons tend to fall into two main buckets:
Abuse on Old AskFRED. Anyone can register for events, anyone can anonymously register anyone else, and anyone can anonymously update other fencer's information when registering them. This resulted in bad behavior. Making sure that all actions are locked not only to a specific user but also to an email address that must be able to receive email will help reduce these types of issues.
User communications, particularly around paid tournament registrations. Before, it was hard to contact people if an event changed or was canceled. Now, there's an email inbox on the other side of every registration.
Please note that we also disallow temporary email address providers for similar reasons, and actively police bad behavior on the platform.