I think this is kinda funny. I've been trying to connect every once and awhile for 30 minutes. I finally get in, head to the W3 channnel and say

"Hey, could anyone else get in?" I frown as my words don't appear in chat, and re-type it. in about 20 seconds, they both appear right next to each other at the same time.

I then type /ping and nothing appears for a long time. I give up and come back, frowning when it says my latency is 9617. Woo. 9,000 ping.

How is anyone playing like this? I think you should just take the server down until this is resolved.