There are many lemmy instances in the world, but currently most people are using lemmy.world. This is why everything has gotten so slow.
You don’t have to delete your lemmy.world account, but check out https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/map it’s a geo-based map of lemmy instances – explore stuff nearest you, pick one, sign up, search , subscribe and begin interacting with your favorite communities. It’s easy, free and it will be faster. Try it!
I’m a little confused by your comment. What function does Open Collective serve other than simply as a fiscal host?
A reliable pipeline for donations, transparency and experience running large Fediverse servers (EDIT: list of Fediverse servers run by Ruud). You’re right that they’re not directly involved in running the server, I had misunderstood that and thought they were directly associated for some reason.