I now understand from my test user registration that all users must reply to an authentication email that they receive after registering to be a user on a BuddyPress site. If a user for any reason does not respond to that automated email to authenticate their registration, that user will be marked as a “spammer” and thus they will be unable to participate in that BuddyPress site.
Perhaps this procedure should be explained directly in the BuddyPress documentation somewhere so that administrators will understand what to expect with BuddyPress?
I tested the BuddyPress registration process by registering as “test” but using an actual email address of mine. This “test” user was also automatically marked as a “spammer” and that automatic marking of any user as a “spammer” is a problem. BuddyPress should look into why this automatic marking of a user as a “spammer” happens, and also provide clear and specific instructions for administrators to undo the marking of “spammer” whenever (as in this case) the marking of a user as a “spammer” is clearly an error.
