This thread is frustrating. Everyone seems more interested in nitpicking the specifics of what OP is saying and are ignoring that a forum sends you your password (not an automatically generated one) in an email on registration.
This thread is frustrating. Everyone seems more interested in nitpicking the specifics of what OP is saying and are ignoring that a forum sends you your password (not an automatically generated one) in an email on registration.
Reversible hashed password storage isn't meaningfully better than clear text.
A reversible hash provides a paper thin layer of protection against accidental disclosure. A one way hash is widely considered the bare minimum for password storage.
Anyone claiming a password has been protected, and then being able to produce the original password, is justly subject to ridicule in security communities.
The one they were sending at registration was prior to hashing. It would not be reversible afterwards.
That's technically less terrible, then.
Good for them. /s
Edited to add the /s for clarity, because the NIST recommended remediation in 2023 for emailing a password is "burn everything down and pretend the organization never existed". /s
Again, adding that /s since that's not actually what NIST says to do, and I am, at best, paraphrasing.