They did. Apparently their efforts to put a stop to trolls over the years (such as forcing new members to pay for an account) didn't work, so I guess they decided to best thing to do was ruin it for everybody, lol.
No skin off my nose, though: I've had two accounts hacked over there, and I couldn't even register another new one without paying to prove I'm not a troll - I figured it wasn't worth it, and now I'm glad I figured correctly.