You are not wrong at all! I can’t contradict any of what you’re saying, only offer a bit of context and hope.
Steemit Inc. is obviously aware of the signup issues and it’s been discussed a long time. The next big update, “Hardfork 20”; also referred to as Velocity, is largely focused on the issue. It’s been a long time coming, but in a recent update @steemitblog at least said...
”Hardfork 20 has been on the back burner for a while as we focused on scalability-related solutions, but it is time to put it back on the front burner. We don’t have an exact date for the hardfork yet, but we are targeting early Q3 of 2018. More details will be shared on HF20 as the development progresses.”
I do feel there has been some deliberate dragging of the feet, keeping the Steemit site, signups, etc. clamped down a bit as it’d be useless to open the floodgates of millions of users only to create a crash! Under the current system it takes perhaps 10 Steem Power to have enough bandwidth to freely and non frustratingly interact with the blockchain. There are roughly 250 million Steem in existence... so right now Steemit has to tap out at a fairly small user base! This is what will be addressed soon hopefully!
I think the wait time for account registration is often softened and better tolerated if it is explained that the site basically has to give the new user some free money to play with! Brings a big reversal to the idea of a “pay site.”
I like your description of Steem as a commodity. It encapsulates the esoteric concept of an “attention economy” very well. I’ve greatly enjoyed being reintroduced to your art here, and love your enthusiasm and willingness to promote Steem!
The people who would probably understand Steemit best at the moment would be gamers. It’s like the launch of a new game. It’ll be glitchy, crash, and overall suck for a while. Then come the patches & stability. But if you want to claim your screen name and grind out some levels ahead of the masses, you’ve gotta be dedicated and patient!
I'm glad you found me, I felt a bit like a wallflower at a strangers party for a bit there, haha! “attention economy”...that's a good way to put it, too. Funny you should mention gamers, because people using gaming analogies have made to most progress in getting me to understand this whole thing. I will press on while waiting with hope that the restriction sign up gets worked out.
I've always felt like Steemit is kind of the "PVP Server" of social media sites. Luckily, I always enjoyed playing on PVP servers! (and it's very much a "sandbox" game... another thing I enjoy!)
Haha, I should have put an asterix next to mentioning help from gamers, as I'm not actually a gamer myself and most of what you said went over my head (PVP...player vector..uhm..picker?). Last game I played was AVGN adventures...which is basically a parody of an old nintendo game.
LOL, thankfully I haven’t really gamed in over a decade, or I’d never get anything done! Quick translation & education... PVP = player vs. player, wherein people are free to attack each other! And sandbox = an open world where the game gives no direction and you are free to make of it what you want. Both appropriate analogies to Steem I’ve always felt!