The primary anti-spam feature is Trust Levels (TL) New User accounts are at TTL0 and therefore can’t PM and their posts aren’t in weekly email digests. In order to get to TTL1, where those features work, you have to write 5 posts, read 30, and spend >10min doing so.
Nice anti-spam feature, but kind of a bummer when we’re trying to get the new forum off to a big start. So for the first couple weeks, everyone that comes on board will go right to TTL1 so they can use all of the features. After that, New Users will come in at TTL0 and, via usage of the forum, show the software that they aren’t spammers.
A new User can contact a Mod and ask for elevation. Remember this is really about anti-spam. All you have to do is convince the Mod that you aren’t a spammer. As we all know, Spammers never promise to buy Mod’s beer, so that commitment would likely be interpreted as proof positive that you’re a SpecE30 enthusiast, and not a Russian spammer.