Some users don't want to give their email address and using fake one is not a very good user experience.
Better solution is to able not to enter email address.
I tried to modify these lines, but it did not work.
emailValid: function (next) {
if (userData.email) {
// next(!utils.isEmailValid(userData.email) ? new Error('[[error:invalid-email]]') : null);
next();
} else {
next();
}
@vstoykov what is the point on registering then? You can't validate identity, and can't communicate even with the user outside your app. You mean only having a reserved nickname for the user then?
In that usecase user could not get a new password by any method, since he/she has not registered mail, etc. I don't see the point on it, being honest. 
Some users don't want spam (and are concerned to give their email address). Others need anonymity and do not want to be fussing with making fake email for the purpose of registration.
I tried also this:
emailValid: function (next) {
if (userData.email) {
// next(!utils.isEmailValid(userData.email) ? new Error('[[error:invalid-email]]') : null);
next(!(utils.isEmailValid(userData.email) || userData.email==="" ) ? new Error('[[error:invalid-email]]') : null);
} else {
next();
}
But it looks like there is a validation somewhere else.
For me is simple, if an user don't want to give the email address, don use the forum. It is the same with gmail, facebook, and 99% of apps where an account is needed.
I don't think that there's and easy way to achive what you're looking for.
You can enable guest posting on your forum. Or maybe develop a little plugin for registrarion without email but a lot of functionalities of nodebb can fail afterwards (mail notificacions, password recovery, basically all that have something to do with mail).
If you want just to modify the code you showed, i think you can simply call next(null); on emailValid. without evaluating at all the mail input.
emailValid: function (next) {
next(null);
}
If a user doesn't want to provide an email then you should probably be using the guest feature. You could also just put a button on the signup page that fills in the email with a fake one and then hides the input.
It's interesting, in China a lot of websites and apps not using email registration, instead using phone numbers. It's kind of more SoLoMo I think.
But currently email register is good.
I tried to make a reply, but got this error:
Error
Post content was flagged as spam by Akismet.com
Obviously, it accepts my reply when I changed the content.
Edit: I am adding link to the content I wanted to post: http://pastebin.com/VivmRNfc
Is there any development with this feature request?
For some users it is preferable to be able to signup without forcing them to enter an email address.
Automatically adding a fake email (like my suggestion posted on pastebin above) is not a very elegant solution. Also, scripts that send emails should not be triggered to try sending emails to the fake email addresses.
I like how it's implemented on Reddit - the email field is not mandatory.
Also forcing users to receive emails is not ok for some users.
This will be available in 1.18.0
https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB/issues/9607
I am grateful that NodeBB users now have the option to fully participate with respect and anonymity. Last week I was convinced that email verification was an essential part of spam control. Now I see email as purely a personal choice. Spammers don't have a chance now that I'm using the registration queue, post queue, and minimum reputation for profile enhancements.
