It used to be something that would happen within hours, like screening and acceptance of a photo. It took hours when I joined....half a century ago.
It could be that the forums have been so quiet lately that the Admins haven't been looking at the membership queue.
It has been awfully quiet here lately, which is surprising, since there is a pandemic going on and many of the life events that we're all used to are on hold. People clearly still look at the forums, but few people seem to post anything.