Hackers attacks and new Registration Procedure

We were hacked a few times in the past 48 hours. Their attacks and attempted attacks came from Saudi Arabia and Atlanta (earthlink dialup account). They came from newly registered users. To help prevent more of these attacks we will be activating new users 'manually,' meaning we'll email them for a reply and if we get one, and it appears to be a valid one, their new account will be promptly activated. This has NOTHING to do with existing accounts; just new ones.
http://cavediver.net/temp/hackers.jpg