This site is currently struggling to handle the amount of new users. I have already upgraded the server, but it will go down regardless if half of Reddit tries to join.
However Lemmy is federated software, meaning you can interact seamlessly with communities on other instances like beehaw.org or lemmy.one. The documentation explains in more detail how this works. Use the instance list to find one where you can register. Then use the Community Browser to find interesting communities. Paste the community url into the search field to follow it.
You can help other Reddit refugees by inviting them to the same Lemmy instance where you joined. This way we can spread the load across many different servers. And users with similar interests will end up together on the same instances. Others on the same instance can also automatically see posts from all the communities that you follow.
Edit: If you moderate a large subreddit, do not link your users directly to lemmy.ml in your announcements. That way the server will only go down sooner.
I believe what you did was necessary. There's a bug for account export and transfer to another instance, but it's still open: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/506. It doesn't appear that Lemmy has an account migration feature like Mastodon does, and consequently you've got to migrate your settings manually and then leave some kind of post or link in your old profile to where the new profile is.
But I understand that it's possible, since it's possible on Mastodon, right? IMO a smooth account migration process where you don't lose anything on the account even if the server randomly shuts down, and it's just another line in your account history solves a lot of the problems I see with Lemmy.
Even for registration, it would lower the criticality of instance choice so you have more solutions like using a buffer server that gives people X time to choose another server, randomizing or even just to lower the pressure of it.
Yes, it is possible, but was not a priority until now. The boom of users is basically just two days old, the devs have not gotten enough time to catch up yet hehe
Are you a Lemmy dev or just vocal here and on github?
I'm not a dev, no. But I've been here a while and like to help out :)