I'll admit it is somewhat discouraging being a new user having almost no influence, but still have respect for the platform and understand that it's just the nature of the beast. i'm trying to be more consistent with posting and add as much value as I can through not only posts but comments as well.

If I were to gain influence on the platform through the help of yourself or others, I would continue to promote platforms such as #PAL and #schoolofminnows - and hopefully enable them to gain more users than they already have. It seems that based on some of the comments you made on your post maybe you don't like things that allow auto upvoting, but consider this. As a new user, if I make a post, I will more than likely get less than five upvotes. If not for platforms such as the ones I mentioned it's almost as if it isn't worth my time to even use steemit! Not even considering the crypto incentive, making a post that barely anyone reads is very discouraging. I believe for a new user sometimes we need the help of platforms like this to gain some momentum.