Hey Folks. @drakos responded to my chat inquiry to have my account opened after waiting nearly a month since getting the "notorious" confirmation email. His actions were swift, friendly, and I woke up this morning to the pleasant email informing me of the activation of my account. Much thanks to drakos for this friendly assistance, and he has earned a puny (newbie) minnow upvote + follow for his efforts. One (hopefully) valuable nugget of feedback in regards to people not knowing the various alternative avenues for opening accounts is the fact that many people (including myself) simply don't have the time to invest in the process, ESPECIALLY if there is the risk that that time could be wasted. Luckily, I was given access to a client's account so that I could get active on SteemIt while waiting to go through the activation process - although I was STILL a bit weary about how much ROI would be achieved going the chat route. Luckily, it worked out this time, and so I would DEFINITELY support the proposal of a fund which compensates a group of people like drakos who can help get newbies up and running AND be compensated for this time/energy. As I don't know enough about donating Steem, and don't have much at this beginning stage, I hope that my upvote and follow (and future upvotes/comments) are an appreciated gesture in exchange for the valuable help drakos has provided me. Regards. TJ.