Hello @lukebrn and a hello to the other guys of your project!
Your project is necessary 100%!
I tried to start posting in August 2017 on Steemit, but I stopped after some posts, nobody was interested in reading, no replies and all the rules and what is important for to grow on Steemit where hard to find.
No guides for new users and, and.
I started in December last year posting again, I had more time to find all the informations for new users, but other people have to work 8 or more hours, so they not have the time for search for all the infos they need.
The other thing ist, there is still support missing for newbees.
When I look at some great posts of them and I see after 2 days they have only 2-3 small upvotes, then there is something wrong.
Other make real useless posts and collect 20$ rewards and more.
Many of these maybe brillant newbees get disappointed and stop posting, a part of the 92%, and many of these 92% never will post again, I would like to know how many dead accounts we have here on Steemit already.
It have to be more easy, the system is too hard to understand for the most people, many just don't have the education to understand it, many have not the time to learn it.
We are not all computer freaks and nerds, for people with basic or a little more computer knowledge, incl. myself, it's hard to create optical nice posts and to get attention for.
The flagging system is another thing what's not ok, a bigger fish can destroy your account like nothing, you can do nothing against it, to have sometimes trouble in life is normal, but if you have no chance to defend yourself, that's not ok.
The other networks or the creators of them don't sleep, very soon we will have much more networks based on blockchains and where users get paid. If Steemit want to swim on top of these, there must be massive changes.
Guides, easy to find, for newbees is a must, overthinking the upvote system is necessary, the flagging system, and the posting system aswell.

Anyway I love Steemit and hope the big fish realize what's necessary for the future.

I wish you the best success for your project.

Best regards and a wonderful day.
Tom