Some of you may not be aware, but there is currently a waiting list to join steemit that goes something like this:
- find out about steemit
- get excited
- signup for new account
- confirm email/SMS
- get a message saying they will review your account for approval
- wait several hours
- nothing
- wait several days
- nothing
- search for answers, finding most people claim they were approved within minutes or hours
- rage about some hidden factor holding you back
- go to steemit.chat/channel/help and ask for help
- be told to wait days longer
- wait more
- nothing
This goes on for what seems like forever, and many people in response to it take a different route where they try to signup again meaning the problem is a slippery slope where the longer the waiting list becomes the more duplicate accounts are being created and making it even longer of wait time. In addition, it means that a certain percentage of new accounts are dead on arrival where they stopped caring a few days in and went to do something else.
Is that bad enough? It gets worse. Many instances end where the person seeking help is told they should go to anon.steem.network to signup for an account that way, which at the time of writing costs 0.008BTC, so including some transaction fees you could be paying as much as $30 to create your account. How many times do people say this is a ponzischeme, and how good of an argument against that is it to tell them don't worry, you can start earning money today by spending $30 creating your account!
So what are the solutions? I cannot say for sure because I don't know the exact reasoning behind the waiting list. All I know is it's a compounding issue that will only get worse. If the wait time exceeds a certain threshold the number of duplicate attempts to signup for an account will become massive, and the percentage of people that stop caring before the email comes will increase also. At the very least, there needs to be some indication that progress is being made, instead of sticking people into limbo where their account is in a waiting list but nothing is said to indicate that or inform them that it will be done soon.
How long did it take you to get your account?
What was your experience with it?
How long until you would have been frustrated by this?
I am glad to read your opinion on this, please leave a comment below.
An interesting solution might be to offer a sponsored account. For instance, the user could create the account and then I, as their sponsor, could fund the account. This would distribute the workload and allow for verified signups. You could even charge more, say $50 since I could easily ask a friend to return some of the signup fees.
that is a really good idea for helping someone get their foot in the door, it could even be setup like a loan where the new account owes a certain amount back to the person that helped them join. Anything to cut down the entry barrier will be an improvement I think
so ...now steemit account sign up not free........????
No it is still free for all. However, if someone does not have the patience to wait for approval process (which can take weeks), he has the option to get an account instantly by paying.
It is good feedback. Steemit knows it is an issue and it is a high priority for them to resolve.
The reason for the wait is that it actually costs Steemit quite a bit of money to create each account. Around 20-30 dollars worth of STEEM is delegated to each account that gets created. Unfortunately lots of users were abusing the 'free' signup to create multiple accounts loaded with free STEEM. In order to prevent abuse, they are actually reviewing each application manually. I heard that there were over 5,000 signups in one day. This is why it is taking so long.
Users should not try to sign up multiple times. This will likely be seen as an attempt to create multiple accounts, and could result in all attempts being denied.
The services AnonSteem and SteemConnect are there if users don't want to wait. If you don't mind waiting a few days to a week for Steemit to review your account, then just hang tight and your free account should be approved. Otherwise users are welcome to create their own accounts - they just have to pay their own registration fee.
How do they pay the registration fee? I have a couple people I'd like to get signed up and don't mind paying a reg fee for them if I can.
Also, if Steemit Inc. could put up some kind of notice that might help. If also be willing to donate some of my free time verifying if I'm able to help.
Resteemed since this is something people need to know. Resteem, upvote, and put this at the top of the trending page.
I've had a very easy time signing up a friend instantly via AnonSteem.
I don't have the btc and I abhor the current transaction fees. I'll pay in Steem.
It's not done w/ BTC tho its done with litecoin
As @heymattsokol says, you can pay with LTC, BTC, or STEEM :)
Oh? They allow Steem as a payment method now? Sweet!
Here is the info on how to create an account with SteemConnect
https://steemit.com/news/@timcliff/new-tool-from-busy-org-create-new-steem-blockchain-accounts-with-steemconnect
Feedback acknowledged.
As far as reviewing the accounts, that is something that only employees of Steemit can do.
Anyone with an existing account and STEEM can pay to create new accounts. I believe SteemConnect exposes this functionality.
Beware providing your active keys to external services, though.
thanks @timcliff for the information, I knew it was something to do with account balance and a throttle but wasn't sure the details. I think the issue of people attempting to signup a second time will unfortunately happen a lot even if they only want one account because of the way the messaging works after confirmation, it kinda leaves you hanging where you can't tell if you're waiting or something broke, so I think some people just try again assuming an error (I noticed in help chat quite a few were confused about that, just imagine how many never even found their way into the chatroom!)
I agree, clarification in that part of the process would be good.
It should probably say this somewhere new sign ups can see like the FAQ perhaps so they're not left in the dark and actually understand why it takes the time that it does. I'll quote someone I highly admire, "it is the way it is because people are shit", couldn't be more true.
The wait time is what it is, leaving people unknowingly in the dark while the problem gets worse and worse is just a silly thing to do.
It is in the FAQ.
Yes, but it should be in a "welcome, please be patient while we review your application manually" email XP
I can imagine setting up a system of emails, 1 per week, explaining the whole concept of cryptocurrencies, Steemit's place within that context, how to make a superb first post, a few posts to read while waiting, etc...
Something to keep people interested in Steemit even if they can't participate immediately.
We experienced this with @Owen Kay who waited but eventually got accepted today - YAY !! Once again thank you @timcliff for responding so quickly to my mails
he is super helpful :)
At least they're trying to fix it. My friends that are waiting have given up it seems. Hope not. Thanks for the info. I will pass it along.
My main concern is there aren't enough whales here to upvote the content of all the new users. If they are all joining for rewards, it is highly unlikely they will see any.
The distribution of rewards is another issue. The changes in the upcoming hardfork are intended to have some positive impact on that.
Users should not be joining assuming they will earn fast easy money though. Most people will probably have to spend several months working to build a following and add value to the community before they will start to see higher rewards.
Great. Thank you for this honest reply. That is exactly how I would like to promote Steemit to my friends.
Hi @timcliff!
How did you get that number of 5000 signups a day?
Is there any place where we can keep track of it?
@penguinpablo posts good data on new accounts.
Thanks for your help @timcliff.
This is a gated community! Welcome to the VIP! It is like having a GPU miner and everyone else is mining with CPU's. Muhahahahahahhahaah
Concerning. New users are critical to the platform's success. If their first experience is just waiting in line, well that sucks.
Glad the Steem team is working on the issue. But, wow! This must get fixed soon!
How about this idea: New accounts get created immediately and then after a person posts their first blog, then they receive a little Steem from the system? That should weed out a lot of bots, fake accounts, etc. Simply put, use the initial Steem as a reward for new content. Dead/shell accounts, that never posted anything, become worthless to create.
Without a redesign of the blockchain logic, it would not work. Users need SP in their accounts in order to perform any blockchain operations. Currently users need about 10-15 SP to be able to post, comment, vote, etc without running into bandwidth limitations. It might still be a good idea, but it is not something that can be done easily.
Didn't know it was that much! Good to know. Thanks.
How about if another member 'sponsors' a new account. Even locks in some Steem, until they post? Would that work to ease the burden of verification?
That is always an option, even today.
Абсолютно точно..
Creating accounts can be done by anyone on the blockchain. Without a cost associated, all the names would be squatted forever—in one day.
Great point. It is a shame we don't have a recycling program. No activity on a new account for 9 months, and it returns to the pool.
Something like that would be disastrous; some sort of inactive account usurpation system is something we brainstorm often. There are no simple solutions that are not easily gamable by squatters (a single scripted free vote every 6 months by squatted accounts defeats the system you just described) or unacceptable due to not sufficiently respecting property rights.
Thresholds regarding account balances and such would be essential to such a system. We are actively thinking about it. Such a thing will not be soon, in any case.
Glad you are thinking along those lines. A comprehensive program would be hugely difficult for the reasons you cited. However, I wonder if just targeting the low-hanging fruit: say accounts which are a year old and have never posted or commented? Could clearing those out be an easier task with less cascading effects? Just brainstorming ...as us amateurs do so well...ha! :)
After 7 days of waiting, I found the@anonsteem page in the FAQ where you can pay to play. Best 0.6 Litecoin I've spent!
Fascinating, I had no idea!
Whew, we lucked into finding out about Steem even if it was only a few months ago, HUGE thanks to @itsmein3d for pushing us into it.
This all sounds like an excellent exercise in patience, which is what it's going to take (along with hard work, high quality, and a little luck) to make Steemit an awesome platform.
I know @captainobviou3 was asking about this as well, thanks for the explanation @timcliff!
Thanks for posting @alphacore!
NaileD IT !! - ))
... 8 days here - ))
THE days were LonG ... my EXCITE'me'NT so BIG !!! - )))
HERE i am NOW ... and THANK FULL !! - ))
... and ... i neVer wait for a thin-G !!! - )))
L(if)E is WAY ... to short !! - ))
LOVELOVELOVE )))
greb'Z )
MANY NEW ... USERS 'in' WAITING ???
... would LOVE TO SEE THIS POST !!! - )))
i found a similar post while ... p(END-IN)g ?? -))
... it helped, so will this POST !! - ))
I am pretty new. It did take a few days to get approved (3). I assumed it was to try to combat bot accounts or people with multiple accounts. Or to keep a steady flow of new users added to the block chain in a way that doesn't manipulate the value of STEEM/DOLLAR or content both.
Thanks for content.
i would not recommend paying for an account tho.
Paying for an account isn't really a bad thing, you're not really paying for the account, you're basically purchasing enough Steem to make the account fully functional without having to wait for any to be delegated or given to you.
I went through Anonsteem for a recent secondary account and the fee seemed to give me Steem at market rate with a very tiny surcharge perhaps. The account started with about 20 Steem, currently valued at about $45 USD.
I can understand the stigma of people "buying before trying" but these services are definitely on the level.
Do you think it could be because of the ratio of STEEM to SD being 19:1, respectively? If someone wants to create a free account and get STEEM than they would need to have the SD in the system and perhaps this is stopping more STEEM? I have no idea why that is happening. Perhaps they are trying to shut down the number of fake or duplicate accounts? Especially with anon and other account creation tools people cpuld easily try to create ten accounts and just sit in a STEEMIT farm and Upvote and Resteem and Plagiarize articles or something IDK I am totally speculating now. Ok my brain power has run out. I hope those who want to get on STEEMIT for real can do so and duplicates and those trying to game the system by throwing money into multiple accounts and whaling upvotes at themselves and increasing their account values. There has to be some people out there doing that for sure. I would but I am not rich hahaha
I helped my mum set up an account two months ago! In the meantime I've been off elsewhere living my life... come back for Christmas and find she never did receive any approval. It doesn't motivate a steemit user to encourage others to join either because then you feel like a bit of a plonker for recommending a site that can't even sign up new users.
And yes! Just added to the problems no doubt by trying to apply again!
Not only did it take to long to get my account once I got the account some loser idiots flag it enough that it is not worth using, this is the first time I've been on the account in 9 months. I wouldn't be surprised if this site was a ponzi scheme to get $30 out of people to start new accounts when theirs is flagged.
I think it took about 2 or 3 days. Glad to see it growing.
Mine only took a day or two when I created it last week. I am from the Philippines in case it has something to do with location.
It did not cost me anything to join but I did wait over a week to get accepted. Yes, I almost gave up but I was busy with other things in my life so the wait was not too bad. The thing that I am not liking is the people who say they will follow you and up vote you to get you to follow and up vote them but then you never see or hear from them again. This is not the social network I pictured it to be. Nonetheless, I am here and still trying. At least for now. But I do see steemit has having a lot of problems that still need a lot of work if this is ever going to be a great place for everyone and not just the sharks.
Mine took about a week, which was a shame as I had written my 1st blog within the 1st 24 hours of signing up, i even made up a photo especially for it! By the time I was approved my blog was old news.
It took 5 days to activate my account
I guess I was the last-of-the-lucky . . . I joined on May 11 and had approval within a couple hours. I was in on the Discourse platform chat and the mods advised that they are moving as quickly as they can. There was an enormous volume of new users who suddenly came onboard in the last 30 days and the accounts have to be manually entered. As of last night, they were very encouraged by the progress being made. I expect the situation will ease per their diligence!
I signed up in early May and it seemed almost instantaneous. We must've gotten in in the knick of time
Two days in early May.
Mine took only a few days to be approved, but there has been lot of new people joining!
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I signed up on May 18th, approved May 21st.
Oh wow. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I did not realize this was such an issue since I must have been one of the lucky ones. My account was approved within hours last month.
Existing users could sponsor new user accounts through SteemConnect. I'll create accounts for 3% of all future rewards :p
On a more serious note, I think the community can help bridge the gap until a better solution is come up with. Maybe forward people from the Signup page to Discord where they can find a sponsor who can also provide initial guidance.
I was indeed surprised to learn there was a time for approval...I was lucky to sign in last month the 15th may and it took less than an hour to receive the confirmation, as far as I remember ...WoW ! How lucky I am ! (but that I already knew ...)
It took a day and a half for my approval, but 2 to 3 weeks for my friend from Europe to get approved. Good thing I told him to be patient!
I just got my approval email today! 7 days latter. Almost gave up waiting.
I wish I had seen this post before I signed up, it would of help with the waiting.
We need up vote this to be at the top of trends so others can see it may take a few days.
What is ironic, I told a friend yesterday and he was approved in hours, but it took me days!
I'm new here and want to learn and follow all of the good people here. I will be posting my first post soon.
When SteemIt comes out of Beta, then I could see the wait times and the manual approval process being problematic. But, I've done Beta testing for a number of platforms and a wait list is normal. I've waited months for application approval. So, perhaps, SteemIt needs to send out a "we're still in Beta testing and your account application is being manually reviewed" email.
We anticipate the vast majority of signups will occur inside of our forthcoming mobile app.
Is this a different app from esteem?
Steem accounts are valuable cryptoassets, that's why they are not given easily for anybody.
The Steem blockchain doesn't have any transaction fees like other blockchains, it prevents spam by rate-limiting how often users can use the blockchain. The more Steem Power you have, the more you can use the blockchain.
So when the account is created, it needs to get a little bit Steem Power to be able to post and vote.
I really can't understand what people at Steemit Inc are thinking... They should be selling Steem accounts instead if insisting that only they can create the accounts for new users for free. If there is high demand, there are people who are willing to buy the account and that should be made as easy as possible. Then the waiting list would be shorter for those who don't want to use their own money.
Steemit.com should also have an easy account creation tool, so that existing users could make accounts for their friends.
Edit: I wrote a post about this: Why Steemit doesn't let new users in?!
Any blockchain user can create new accounts. AnonSteem sells accounts and is linked in the FAQ. If people really want to pay for accounts, they can do so today. SteemConnect also allows people with existing accounts to pay to create new ones.
We are not gatekeepers and we're not keeping anyone out. If the demand you describe is actually there, they will use the tools available to get their accounts (which will work fine on this site).
They don't have to buy it from us.
New users don't read FAQs. If it's not clearly told in the signup page, they don't know about it.
I don't think you understand how big influence Steemit.com has. Steemit is much more known than Steem. When people, especially potential new users, come to Steem, they don't know anything about how to make accounts to the blockchain or what different UIs there are. They will come to Steemit.com and what it will show to them, is the only thing they know about the whole system until they maybe later learn something more.
So Steemit.com has great responsibility.
In the beginning I was really happy to see a real company with big stake because it can make the development and marketing much more faster and efficient compared to decentralized efforts. But this current situation shows that is not always the case. Most startups have problems getting new customers, but Steemit doesn't seem to be prioritizing user acquisition even there is big demand for accounts.
Someday Steemit's stake will be used and it can't afford anymore to give away free accounts. There will be a point when new users have to buy their accounts. It's better to set up the system sooner than later. It would help Steem's growth even today.
If large demand for buying accounts were there, FAQ or not, we would see a lot more AnonSteem volume.
We won't be selling accounts - that isn't our bottleneck.
We are absolutely prioritizing user acquisition—but in a data-driven way.
You really can't assume that new potential users are aware that AnonSteem exists.
You need to assume that new users knows only what Steemit.com tells them. Currently it tells that the only way to get an account is to get into the list and wait.
The bottleneck is every time when a new user doesn't get the account immediately. What people are saying this happens way too often. I don't see any other easy solution to speed up the process than selling the accounts.
What does that even mean? What frustrates me the most is that Steemit Inc acts so secretively and vaguely. What kind of data you are collecting? How you are analysing it? What are the insights? Why you are not open about these things?
In my book data-driven in this context could mean making A/B testing. You don't any new functionality for that, you could just link to AnonSteem and tell that people can get an account faster if they use it. And you can point out that if they know somebody who already use Steem, they can make an account for them with SteemConnect. If you'd do that, you could see how many users actually use them and have better data.
Wow, glad you got in. I was lucky to get my account right away, but I already had an account a year ago, but lost my password for almost a year so started a new one.
Thank you for your good writing.
One of my friends is waiting for admission, but it seems to take almost a week. This a good solution.
I thought the new accounts were on "loan" and have to reach rep 50
Yes you are right here in korea it is very difficult for new to sign in normally takes 2-3days
My experience was basically everything you wrote here except I didn't care enough to find out that there was a way to pay to play. I just wrote it off until I finally got the email saying my account was live. If it had gone on much longer, I dare say I'd have just blown it all off. My problem, and the reason I tried to make a "new" new account was my phone didn't receive the code, at all, until I tried to send it again a few days later. Then it was another week or so before I got the email.
There is definitely the risk of people losing interest if the problem is not, somehow, solved. Perhaps asking for volunteers to approve the process, and speed it up, is an answer. Trusted people with a vested interest in the site would be best for that job, I do believe. Or maybe there's little interest in actually fixing it, with the logic being that if you aren't excited and into it enough to wait, then you probably won't stick around anyway?
I didn't have to wait long.. some people were talking about having to wait a long time.
The approval of my account took eight days. It would be good if they had implemented a notification system where new users would receive periodic notices to let them know their account approval is still pending.
you just told what i am thinking ....what should we do...? this is really a problem...
They approved my account in two days, but my friend waits for month and nothing, he does not beleive Steemit to have a future anymore :(
Agreed. Fast forward a year later and the same problem still persists. If it were a priority then, I'm sure the developers would've tackled the issue much sooner.
You can use steem.ninja to get a steemit account instantly.