RacerBill (not Webmaster Bill), this is a function of the board software. Spammers are writing code familiar with the software, having it sign up on the forum automatically and post spam. Webmaster Bill tried to lock down the signup forms but it was troublesome; folks were having trouble getting on.

So, as an alternative, Bill re-opened the signup procedure and deputized a handfull of existing mucho-access IT members to police it (me included). We are constantly on the look out for these posts, we report them to Bill for account deletion, then we delete the thread (you'll notice all those are gone now).

So, when faced with an option of keeping people out or having to deal with the inconvenience spam, Webmaster Bill chose the latter...