Since I'm curious by nature, I've been poking around and I found something that I think all new members, including me, can get some good value from: the steemit whitepaper (you can navigate to it through the popout sidebar over yonder ↗, or the link thataway ↓ )
I know, I know...whitepaper's are for nerds, but this one has something in it for everyone. Parts can be a little dry and get rather technical, but this isn't school! No one said you have to read all of it; whether you're more prodominantly left or right brained, if things get hairy or you get bored, just skip to a section that interests you.
The paper reads like an essay, covering every aspect of steemit, from the social network, to the cryptocurrency, to the relationship between the two, and many many aspects of security.