***A few interesting points have surfaced today relating to the options for creating accounts on Steem, so I thought I would share with you what I have learned... (feel free to correct any errors!)***

![pay to comment?](https://i.imgflip.com/2jlr6r.jpg)

As I recall, before Hard Fork 20 was activated I saw numerous posts talking about how it would be a great boost for signing up new users and don't recall much talk about it being aimed at curbing spam on the network. After HF20 much of the talk was directed towards the Resource Credits system and how it was being set to prevent spammers from exploiting the network. Somewhere along the way the topic of account creation got a bit lost.

Today I saw [this post](https://steemit.com/steemit/@davemccoy/steemit-the-anti-social-network) and a few angry people noting that an account had been created and paid for, that ended up with 0SP and only the ability to post one comment per day! The post did not spell out how the account was created, but eventually it was explained that it was created using the Steem Monsters App. 

After @ned, @gandalf and others explained, I now have a more full appreciation of the various options available when creating accounts and it is NOT straightforward, so I will do my best to spell out all them as I see them. (note: The issue of accounts created via Steem Monsters is unclear to me at this time, maybe they will change the way that works soon).

### Options for Account Creation
---
i. Signup via Steemit.com and provide a phone number / email. This is the same as it was previously, except that the 15 Steem Power in your account is delegated from @steem (steemit inc.) instead of being given to you in your account in a way that you can power down. You will be able to interact on the network to a decent level, but the signup process might take a week to complete as your ID  details are checked (however that is being done, I don't know). The Steem Power may be undelegated if the account is used to produce Spam.

ii. Signup via a third party service such as anon-steem, blocktrades or steemconnect (these are the services presented as options on the signup page at steemit.com currently.

ii.(a) [anon-steem](https://anon.steem.network/) charges $8USD for creating an account and will delegate the account with 3 Steem Power for 30 days to help it get started. 

ii.(b) @blocktrades offer an account creation service [here](https://blocktrades.us/create-steem-account). The text on the site is not educational but it appears that the fee is 2 Steem currently. There is no mention of any delegation so the chances are that this will create an account with 0 Steem Power which will need to buy some Steem Power or receive a delegation to be of much use.

ii.(c) The [Steemconnect](https://steemconnect.com/accounts/create) based tool allows you to buy an account with the standard fee (currently 3 Steem), but the account will also be created with zero Steem power.

iii. Finally, you can now claim and create accounts using the new Resource Credit system if you have enough available. A script has been created for this by @holger80 [here](https://steempeak.com/beem/@holger80/claiming-and-creating-a-discounted-account-using-beem) and I just tested it to claim an account. I ended up using nearly 50% of my resource credits to do this though, so clearly creating a new account is not 'cheap' in terms of resource credits currently. These accounts are also created with zero Steem Power, so I will need to transfer some steem into any account I create this way in order to use it.

Has this cleared the issue up for you to some extent? Let me know in the comments below.

### Thoughts for the future
---
I am 100% certain that the various sites need to be upgraded to include User Interface elements and MUCH clearer text to explain this signup situation for both new and old users. The intention of making user signups 'simpler' with this Hard Fork absolutely requires an entire layer of changes to be added to the various sites in order to come to fruition. We also need very clear notifications and guidance in User Interfaces for accounts with low SP and low RCs, so that the users fully know what is occurring and how to resolve the situation - without having to hunt around for the information. Most users will just sign out and go back to Facebook if it isn't simple!


Wishing you well,
Ura Soul
---
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