Good to see lots of activity. I've not looked at Holybread yet, but I imagine it's really hard to make it hack-proof.
It's nearly a year since I started my @tenkminnows project. We have gained less than 100 minnows in that time. Mind you we have gained some more dolphins and a few orcas, so some people have moved up through the ranks. Steem desperately needs more active users producing and consuming content. A rising Steem price may help, but it seems there are other obstacles. Some I've heard from friends are the complexity of things like the keys and also that it is used as a platform by some undesirable people. Those are consequences of the decentralisation and freedom that many people value. You have to wonder what proportion of people will want to use Steem and find it usable. There's also the fact that a large proportion of people only use phones to get online and may need better mobile apps.
With regard to the complexity:
There are some tutorials out there. For instance @jongolson has @steemsavvy.
I haven't used it personally, but there are some I follow who have and said good things about it. If I am correct, Jon based the training on his own experience learning Steem and Steemit. If I am right, there may be more advanced training he adds when he learns more.
Mobile phones are what all younger people use for all communication. Even those a little grey around the edges and long in the tooth use their phone a lot. @eSteem works for a quick snapshot and a few words, or for sharing an article or other content. It still has some challenges, like if you try to edit a post on the iPhone, it is almost impossible. The title block is locked in place on the screen and the keyboard pops up and covers almost everything else on the screen except a couple of lines.
Searching for content:
This is one that really irritates me. It would be nice to search for something and get relevant results. It would be much more attractive and keep more new people around if they could find relevant content they are interested in outside of looking through tags.
I have expanded on some of this in my latest post. I have been using computers for decades, so I adapt fairly easily to new technology, but you can see how Steem would look scary to many. For some it has to be really simple and I am not sure how possible that is. That said, I see a lot of less techie people managing fine here. We need their feedback on how they cope.
Exactly what I ranted about last week in the homesteaderscoop discord!
There's always plenty to rant out about on Steem 😀
All very valid points. We definitely need more people.
There seems to be a divergence at present between the "we need marketing now" and the "we shouldn't spend money on marketing until communities and SMTs are all in place".
I'm in the former camp. Despite the current shortfalls and complexities we need to get moving. to get known, to get active... and get mobile.
Is eSteem filling a gap for mobile users at all?
Yep, yep and double yep.
Hopefully, soon.