As a result, our instance https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/ got 625 new user registrations (of which 536 where accepted) in the past 24 hours! And the registrations are not abating even now. We still get like 10 new ones per hour!
I suspect this is probably the largest advertisement, for lemmy specifically, since the main reddit blackouts 1.5 years ago.
Have your own instances also seen an influx of new users?
The typical ratio is 1:9:90, meaning only 10% are actively posting or commenting. The Lemmy numbers fit to that surprisingly well, although you would think a few more lurkers would at least vote sometimes (which Lemmy reports as active in the monthly stats). My guess is that the lurkers don’t even bother to sign in.
First time I made an account I fd up the verification question (didnt even look), took me months to make an account again because I was annoyed I couldnt have that username on that instance because I did It wrong.
some sort of retry option for the verifcation question might be helpful