The current account creation process takes too much time or is too complex to encourage new users to sign up. Neither option really induces folks to join. Once on, the Steemit rules are also extremely complex--far from the simple post, upvote, earn Steem that is marketed. When I signed up I thought it might be nice to just pay a little to get an account right away, but there was no indication on the Steemit sign up page about cost, which I thought was really odd. A button to pay a small fee via paypal or credit card would go a long way to encourage new users. Immediate free accounts with delegated steem would be better. I think it just depends on how much those who control these things want to see the platform succeed.