[Lynne]

1. You need to do this the other way. All users will automatically go into the Registered usergroup (group id 2). You need to make that group not have signatures and not be allowed to PM and then after 26 posts you promote them to a new "Good Registered Users" usergroup (or whatever you call it) that allows signatures and PMing.

2. I use a Q&A on mine and then use Calories mod to check the time between pages of the registration process. I don't know if someone created a new version of this for 4.x (or if she ported hers).

3. Make sure you are giving permissions for that particular section. The section manager could be showing permissions for another section.

4. That's a lot of forums. When you create a new usergroup, you may select to base the permissions off another usergroup. So, if you have another that has the correct permissions, then select that one.