600k Accounts... Is Everybody here?
I remember someone posting recently that the number of steem accounts is now somewhere north of 600k. It's great to see such grown, but, according to [Steemit Post Statistics] (https://iworldpark.github.io/steemit/stat/post/), the number of accounts that submit a post a day hovers more around 21k. A number of the 600k are likely placeholders or bots, but how many of them are accounts from users that have veered away from the platform?? I fear that the community is losing a good number of contributors due the fact that the platform can be overwhelming and quite confusing. They should just reald the manual, right?
People don’t read user manuals
This user, who I blocked off their name for the sake of not calling them out directly, clearly did not know that voting power is expendable. In a very short amount of time since getting their account, this user has voted away most of their VP and apparently has done nothing else. Perhaps they carried the Facebook mentality that “like” is unlimited and added on the curation factor in mind. “The more I upvote, the more curation I’ll earn”
This led me to believe that Steemit’s learning curve is steep and there is not much easy access to help to tame it. I was lucky and had a fellow Steemian introduce the platform to me and gave me a good rundown of how it all works. For others, it’s hard to imagine that a new Steemian will read the welcome or FAQ pages. Users are more likely to use the trail and error method and, only if their early experience hasn’t confused or frustrated them into quitting, will eventually seek out more information and continue to use the platform.
I also read a post by 
To
Perhaps try this?
I’m no UI design/system design expert but here’s a few suggestions that I think would make the Steemit a bit easier for new users.
##Voting Power Guage on Steemit ##
Show voting power on steemit.com. Given how important voting power is, it should easily be tracked and hopefully users will realize that votes are to be spent willy nilly . The current method of having to navigate to use another site is just track voting power is just cumbersome.
Looks like @juanlibertad (and probably many others) have brought this idea up.
Have a Short Steemit 101 With Pictures or Visual Aids##
Cause who doesn't like pictures?
Source
The current Steemit welcome page is a giant wall of text with a welcome picture up top. Nowhere does it show the users were anything is. A quick reference guide, QRG, may help. Here's a quick and dirty mock up.
Sticky Posts?
@JerryBanfield recently posted a story on Top posts on Steemit Here. Since many of you have already written great articles on how to use Steemit, perhaps the witnesses can capture those best intro to Steemit posts together and somehow make it sticky. Maybe even a new menu alongside trending, new, hot, and promoted. Only a certain number of posts can be marked as sticky so that post does not get buried under new content like what currently happens to all posts.