I've had my own experience with exchanges, I've read others' experiences and I've seen the exchanges posting notices apologising for delays etc. I believe they are still clearing and processing new accounts and backlogs while taking on the burden of additional KYC responsibilities, all the while with more interest growing daily
Clearly you are not up to date on the extent of the issues at Gox. Withdrawing fiat has been nearly impossible for most people since before summer. You can transfer in BTC but you can't get it out until you get verified and that process appears to be deliberately VERY slow and difficult. I registered at Gox in April during the last boom when they were also overrun with new signups and verification was painless with support tickets being answered within 24h. Now support does not reply to tickets anymore (indefinitely) if they don't like what you are asking (like withdrawals or the verification process)
Does it really make sense to you that newcomers would transfer mountains of fresh currency to the exchange that has prices way above any other? If they would, at least Gox would be able to pay out withdrawals. Evidently that is not the case, either that or Gox is outright scamming. Yet this exchange where it makes no sense to start your BTC investing is the one leading the charge upwards. If you think that's normal, well I feel confident my differing opinion will be validated at some point in the future.
Other big exchanges are doing all right. Stamp is excellent, BTC-e pretty good even if their support is lacking. But prices for whatever reason (habit, perhaps) still follow Gox which is a hole you can't get out of. Any other site would have been considered a scam by now if they did what Gox have been doing for months.