Importance of verifying user email on web signup
email, registration, security, verification
Solution
I'm on their side -- 95% of the time websites don't actually need an e-mail address, they just collect it because all the other web registrations they've seen collect one. If you're worried about spam, use a captcha; e-mails are a horrible way to stop automated registrations. With sites like Mailinator to give people instant throwaway e-mails and BugMeNot to save people the hassle of dealing with registrations like yours, you should avoid making your registration any harder than it needs to be. Stack Overflow is a great example -- you don't even need to register to ask/answer questions
Problem
I know this question is crazy - but my employers client is demanding that email verification be removed from the sign up process (they feel it is impeding sign up). I wanted to garner feedback from the programming community at large as to their experience and opinions regarding sign up and email verification - and the possible consequences of removing this safeguard.