[OT] Anyone using Steam, I need a bit of help

I'm just trying Steam for the first time but it's not behaving
reasonably so I'm hoping someone more familiar with it might give me
some insight into what I'm doing wrong.

I went to login and, of course, it recognized that I didn't have an
account already, so I clicked on the link for creating an account. I
filled in an account name and desired password on the first screen,
then supplied an email address, checked the Over 13 checkbox and
completed the ReCaptcha; it sent me an email and then I clicked the
verification button in the email. It told me I was verified and showed
me the login screen. I filled in the account name and password,
expecting to enter Steam but instead, I got the message: Please check
your password and account name and try again.

I'm baffled. I just created this account and it said everything was
fine but now it refuses to sign me in.

For what it's worth, I've done this sort of account creation many times
before so this is not my first rodeo: I know what should happen.

I've tried retyping the account name and password. No go. I tried
creating an account with the same account name and password but a
different email address but that gave me the exact same frustrating
result. I've tried resetting the password but that changed nothing.

There's a help link under the message but none of the options under the
help link connects you to a human being who might be able to actually
explain what's wrong; there are options to change your email address,
reset your password, etc. but nothing that looks like it might actually
help aside from the password reset which DIDN'T help at all.

So, does any other Steam user have any idea how I can finally get in?

Is there some sort of forum where Steam users hang out where I might be
able to get some human guidance?


--
Rhino