once you signup at x10 you will get a activation email, once you activate your account will be put in the new account creation list. For me it took around 2 weeks to 1 month. Check in the forum announcements to see when corey is doing the next round of new accounts!
To the best of my knowledge ya, or if they're being made automatically it's still working through a rather large backlog of accounts (guessing the latter for sure, since this post is here among the others XD)
The good news is it seems Corey is running batch account creations every once in a while to help get the backlog erased. Turns out getting a backlog while the server's down is a pain to undo (guess it's a sign of popularity)
Look I'm not saying this again, users should make sure they read the news and announcements section and use the search feature first before posting.
There was a reason why the login at least once every 2 weeks to your forum account for a reason. Because people did not keep themselves updated on things, and like it or not searching and reading is part of it.