Try a different server, ideally one closer to you. Lemmy.world is currently the most popular server (located in Finland) which has seen the largest influx.

Here's a big list of servers (and their countries) sorted by MAU [1]. Note that the MAU data is out-of-date now that there's been a huge spike in the past few days.

[1] https://the-federation.info/platform/73

If I were a smart man, and that seems to depend on the day of the week, I’d put the services that can swamp the whole system on a separate VM that’s resource constrained so it has its own back pressure built in.

It’s possible you’re seeing a bug, and it’s also possible that The System is Working.

I can tell you that the login link takes me to a form on Safari. When did tech people stop stating which browser they’re using and what quirky tools they have installed?

It's a bit confusing because it doesn't notify you that a verification email has been sent when you sign up. If you've already checked your email maybe try the spam folder.