password to add an entry doesn't work

Sometimes I just get sick of chasing the spammers away and updating AVGB every now and then. I'd like to just password protect the whole thing but that feature doesn't seem to work. I'd rather have people email me when they want to post at this point.

Also, I no longer get emails when people post things but the email address is correct in the general options page. I'm running version version 2.3.4.

any suggestions?

thx

The password is for comments not entries.