I love Steemit!
And when I love something, I usually try to improve it, make it all it can be, support it, and protect it from harm. So please don't take this as anything but constructive criticism offered in the spirit of community.
Why is there a 10+ day delay as part of the signup process?
I've heard all over Steemit that this delay is an unfortunate consequence of Steemit's popularity. A sudden influx of signups. That would explain a TEMPORARY bulge in delay times, but what we actually see is a continuous steady increase in delay times. It used to be a few days. More recently, it was a week. Now, it's more!
My wife MediKatie has been checking her email account every few hours for 10 days now! She has her intro video (along with the write-up) already waiting to upload. She's researched the new plugins and services and is eager to get involved. She has some exciting time-sensitive activism to post about.
Unfortunately, she's being forced to go elsewhere with some of this content. I'm certain she isn't the only one. This is a loss for Steemit because the website relies on uniquely created content, and creators like MediKatie! Losing content and content-creators may, over the long term, lead to a decline in the quality of the site and community.
People change or lose their email address every so often. How many of the tens of thousands of new signups end up failing because the email address changes during the 10+ day delay?
For that matter, how many people pass away during that 10+ day delay? Statistically, it's a non-zero number.
Many established Steemians seem to either not know about this issue, or don't believe anything needs to be done about it. Well, it must be nice for those who've had their accounts for months or years, but the health of the site can't be neglected! Please, do something about the massive delay, which is only getting longer and longer!
Steemit can and will do better!
Identifying problems is part of solving them. I think we can all admit that a week and a half is too long to wait to sign up to a website. There's nothing to be gained from delaying content-creators from posting to Steemit, and much to be lost. Hopefully with more awareness, a proper solution can be found quickly!
With nothing but love,
DRutter