I have been on steemit for 318 days. In the beginning I had many problems finding answers to questions, to find how I can grow my account. there are not so many people trying to teach and educate others!

let's do this, I have a part of this duty!

Voting

before HF20 (the latest hardfork) things were a bit different. the current rules are:

• when you vote a post before it's 15 min old, part of your curation reward will be burnt for the good of system. well, if you are looking forward to maximize your rewards, don't vote before the post is 15 minutes old
• don't vote posts which you are skeptic or sure, that they use copied content or plagiarism; cause after your vote, the post may get down votes by the cleaners. so your vote will be a waste.
• don't vote to obtain followers or votes back! please do not expect other to vote, because you voted them! I personally don't do that... neither do many others!

Flags

I have received three flags in my entire steem life. I share them here with you:

• I got a flag from some famous ID ;) because I commented on some other famous ID which I didn't know none of them in that early times :D funny; I know! well, here is not much to learn from. just stay aside of flag wars and try to understand the culture of community. it's like a high school and there are some cruel boys who don't treat you well and behave irrational!
• I got a flag from a whale, because I asked him to see my last post. he said the post I have promoted to him, was irrelevant to his post, which I commented below. well, he was right, but still cruel! he was an expert in that field anyway and I wanted his feedback... I stopped any form of promoting my posts in comments after that flag!
• I got a 100% flag because I removed my 1 UScent vote on a post by a whale!

Comments

Commenting can help your account grow, more than even posting. because you may comment below posts, which will be visible more than your account. so the comment will bring more attention than your own posts.
But comments are a bit dangerous to be used in such way! I try to tell you some facts:

• NEVER ever spam in your comments! NOBODY likes spam! nobody I know, at least!
• write meaningful comments. prevent great post, good job, ... write something which shows you have read the post and contribute with the author. steemit is about engagement. I don't like to engage with bots! I need real people!
• some users (not definitely me) don't like people who comment without UPVOTING them! spot these users and don't read or comment their posts! yes! don't even read them! any meaningful comment should be welcome. I don't need people who only vote me; I need people who contribute, so I can learn from them.
• don't upvote your own comments, excessively! I don't say don't do that ever. I personally try to keep my self voting rate below 15% this is something completely personal. but I can tell you an account with 50% self-votes, is a bit disgusting to me!

enjoy your STEEMIT journey and feel free to ask or comment your advice so I can learn from you.