1) In the past, new SoPS accounts were automated, but this led to too many spammers using automated methods to sign-up and post spam. Since September 2007, user accounts are approved by humans. If an account application is suspected to be a spammer, SoPS may decide to contact the applicant and confirm their identities. SoPS reserves the right to deny, without notification, accounts requested by confirmed spammers.

2) Once an account is approved, an email with a one-time access link will be generated and sent to the registered user email. The user is expected to activate their account using this link and set their preferred password.

3) Accounts that are approved and unclaimed for over 2 weeks are automatically deleted.

4) Once a user activates his/her account, it can be kept active by logging in at least once a year from the last login date. The automated actions take for inactive accounts (not used for over a year) are listed at http://www.postdoc.ucla.edu/policy/InactiveAccounts .