Would it be worth posting a detailed sticky for this "what to do if you can't see all the forums"?
It may help to post the sequence for joining (ie registration, waiting for the email and replying etc) and then what to do if the "validating" remains (and where to find the status) and the times.
Although there seems to have been problems recently, quite a few are for the missing (probably junked) emails that haven't been replied to.
It's often nice to be able to see what may have gone wrong and who to contact.
Just a thought for saving the admin time.