By default no passwords are stored in the database in their original form. All passwords are recorded in the database with md5 encryption. This way if someone actually gains access to your database the passwords themselves would not be of much use to them. MD5 is not uncrackable, so it is still inadvisable to post your database for public download -- however, reversing an md5 encrypted password requires downloading special tools which will take days to decrypt each password even on a fast computer. Thus it would simply not be realistic to decrypt a large number of passwords, meaning that no cracker is likely to waste their time getting the passwords of all your visitors.

Because of the md5 encryption, which is standard practice in most php scripts which use a member system, WSN Links does not email members their password when they forget it. It doesn't know their actual password, so it can't tell them. Instead, WSN Links automatically sets a new password for the member's account and emails this new password to them. All a member needs to do is enter their email address on the login page and click the send password button. WSN Links will then check the email address entered against the database for that email address. If the email address is found a new password will arrive in their inbox within minutes of the request. The new password which is set is ugly, but your members will only need to use it once. Once they use the new password to login all they need do is go to edit profile and enter in a new password.

If you really want to email members their existing password, you'll need to remove the encryption. Go to Admin -> Members -> Settings and set the password encoding to 'none'. This will automatically make the lost password emails send the actual password. Please note that this is a dangerous practice since email can be intercepted and read by an ill-intentioned third party.

Please note: Changing password encoding, including changing it to 'none', forces all preexisting members to fill out the lost password form.