Last modified: 2013-04-06 17:41:28 UTC
I just created an account and supplied an email address (testbruno, testingwithfire at gmail dot com). The account creation was successful and I was able to edit a page without ever checking my email for a confirmation notice. I understand that this is expected behavior but I think that a confirmation email is an important security feature - I don't want somebody using my email address to be editing Wikipedia articles!
You only need to confirm your e-mail address to use e-mail related features, like receiving e-mail notifications or sending (and being able to receive) e-mail via Special:Emailuser. And since e-mails for accounts need not be unique, even if somebody does provide your address in preferences, it won't be in any way visible to anyone but themselves, and it won't cause any issues until they confirm it (which they obviously couldn't do).
