Wow, you have a lot of fantastic ideas here.
I've been trying to onboard some new users and left about 12 new people.
the topic of keys come up they always say what's that, lol. but I don't feel is necessary one the biggest hurdles. I think it is the learning process of coming into the system and understanding what everything means.
I do like the idea of providing a minimum base vote value for low reputation score accounts that are new. granted, I can see how people can game that system, I think it would be a nice welcoming into what the community is. I think it would also encourage a lot more people to stay longer.
As for the good content.
Perhaps there is a way that an elected community official can flag content as "colorful and fun?" that would be the landing page for any new member coming to hive... Or something like that, or perhaps just a bunch of different tutorials for them to start reading, one of the tutorials could be how to make friends and learn about community.
But all in all solid post, I really like where your mind is!
Could be Welcome Community every new account has subscribed automatically at the beginning.
Nice! YES!👍