Normally, email registration is all that is required to register on the site. Unfortunately, there's been a series of registrations by spammers that while, not able to post crud on the forum, have been able to register accounts. I've been able to go in and delete them without incident, but for the time being, I'm switching to Amin approval for accounts to see if it deters them from further activity.
If you're a legitimate user and register on the site, the account once verified, should be active within a day, hopefully within the same day. Apologies for any inconvenience.