@carlgnash: standard disclaimer

standard disclaimer about financial advice, etc., applies - but in my own opinion, the value of the current Steem and SBD tokens is going to plummet after the hardfork happens. Quite a few Steem whales have publicly stated they will be selling off their Steem and moving to the Hive chain (Hive account@blocktrades being probably the most prominent, and he is one of the largest stakeholders on Steem). It isn't so much about abandoning money, as preserving the value that you worked so hard to get. Again, my own opinion, and I don't have a crystal ball - but I think Steem users who do nothing and just hold on to their Steem tokens are going to see the value of their Steem wallets crash to basically nothing over the next 3 months (the period of time it takes to power down a Steem account / 13 weeks).

As far as how to convert your Steem / SBD to bitcoin or fiat, you have to create an account at an exchange that lists Steem / SBD first (this will require KYC, usually the process involves both submitting your ID and a selfie). Once you have an account, then you deposit Steem at that exchange (transfer your Steem / SBD to the address the exchange gives you for the deposit, with the memo that the exchange gives you to direct it to your own account at that exchange). The exact process / buttons to press is going to vary some from exchange to exchange. You can find a list of exchanges that trade Steem here: https://coinranking.com/coin/fXGcu_EzDgP25+steem-steem/exchanges
I personally use bittrex.com .

Once you have your Steem / SBD on an exchange that lists Steem / SBD, you can trade it for bitcoin. From there you can decide if you want to keep it in bitcoin, or if you want fiat you can convert bitcoin to fiat. I don't believe there are any exchanges that allow a direct Steem to fiat trade without going through an intermediary step like bitcoin. Let me know if you have any specific questions about that process.

I get where you are coming from, and I really appreciate the info ... but just remember what it looks like from the perspective of those who are just learning about the ninja mined stake and what witnesses actually do and trying to keep up with what is going on. Steem just tripled in value -- a lot of small creators aren't going to see the danger of staying around under those conditions unless the benefits of Hive are made clear, because little is clear. I was a professional journalist, and it has still been hard for me to put all the pieces together -- but I do know how to ask questions, seek information, and evaluate sources because of that background ... and you, sir, proved to me that you had the best interest of new Steemians at heart exactly 367 days ago.

Well, guess I'm signing up on Bittrex ... been trying to pick a safe exchange for a minute, so it's about that time...

In as simple terms as possible: The two main value propositions of Steem are that it is a decentralized and censorship-resistant social media network. The current (old) Steem blockchain now is neither decentralized* nor censorship-resistant**, while Hive is.

For someone who doesn't care about a social media network being centralized or having censorship, Steem wasn't the place to begin with. You could always reach a wider audience and make more money on the mainstream social media networks. And for the people who do care about decentralization and censorship, they are going to drop Steem like a hot potato now.

*Steem is not decentralized now because Justin Sun is running at least 20 puppet witnesses (presumably even from a single server) to centralize the blockchain governance under his control and voting for them with the Steemit, Inc stake. The Steemit, Inc stake is removed from the Hive fork.

**Steem is not censorship-resistant now because the steemit.com front end is in fact currently censoring posts. They even added an external black list source in China that they can add posts to censor without even having to change the GITHUB code now.

Posting through from Hive -- neat.

However, the powers that now be (us) might consider changes to this front end ... there COULD be a nasty fight about it because of proprietary matters of ownership, and if Mr. Sun is as bad as we are hearing, he will be looking in 13 weeks to get his money back however he can.

This is the first time I have EVER gotten a clear, concise explanation. My tenure is just a few days over a year.

Oh well. Next year on this day, I'll have a year on Hive. Wherever the people I respect are going, I am going too, because I'm not into censorship and dictatorship either.

Well, guess I'm signing up on Bittrex ... been trying to pick a safe exchange for a minute, so it's about that time...

Posting through from Hive -- neat.

This is the first time I have EVER gotten a clear, concise explanation. My tenure is just a few days over a year.

Oh well. Next year on this day, I'll have a year on Hive. Wherever the people I respect are going, I am going too, because I'm not into censorship and dictatorship either.