I didn't know there was such a long waiting list right now! You're right, it should be used to drive excitement. Even for those of us who are already on Steemit, it makes us feel like more exclusive members.
I also forgot about the fact that they just give each new member 15 steem power. I just realized something disconcerting: is there anything stopping people from just making a lot of separate accounts and pooling the steem power in one? (with the delay of withdrawal of course).
Hey @erb! Well, as I mentioned I really don't know how many are waiting... hopefully it's a lot! To your question... Steemit used to give out Steem Power directly to new accounts. But now they actually delegate ~15 SP to each new user and then take it back after a few months (once that user accumulates enough SP of their own to perform basic actions on the platform).
Back in the old days - there was a lot of concern over abuse. (Though each new account is vetted / forced to provide a phone number and email etc.) Luckily long onboarding and delegation resolves some risk. Anyway, it's a huge cost on behalf of Steemit Inc! Time wise and cost wise. Ultimately, this platform is super exclusive. Let's celebrate it!