Well, there are certainly free options for joining, like utilizing Steemit sign up

Well, that's also certainly the first big obstacle to overcome for an easy, fluid & successful onboard process my friend.

And as for those users giving away free accounts... I suspect the guts of the steem blockchain, its internal dynamics and own interaction intricacies, already are sufficiently hard to grasp for average Joes, that we should be irrationally optimistic in thinking that they will be willing to deal with these options first in order to finally obtain an approved account.

I've seen plenty of people come here and grow quite large because they were talented, and others with stake like their content.

Yep! once upon a time when a bit of that was kinda common over here. Not currently anymore.

And last but not least...

Operation Mass Adoption Contest Rules

• New user must have account created, as well as introduction post before the close of this contest. The service used to create the account does not matter.

• The new user must mention who invited them to Steem in the introduction post, as well as an elaboration of what they intend to do here on Steem. (A description of their interests and hobbies is not listed as a rule, but certainly is a good idea in a community driven space like Steem!)

• The introduction post must utilize the tag newonsteem. (This is essential! @ocd will be curating this tag!) This is also how the entries will be found, so please pay special care to this vital rule.

• Contestants in the onboarding competition will also need to create a post listing the Steemian's they successfully onboarded with introduction posts. This is to verify the authenticity of both the competitor and the new join.

Yeah, just throw a couple more of rules like these above and we will be before an impossible mission to be actually capable to enthuse and excite an average Joe to try. };)