So you found this little slice of heaven we old timers call Steemit and you decided to check us out. That is awesome and we are glad to have you, but there are some things you need to know before you go any further.
What is Steemit?
In short it is a Social Media Site that pays its userbase to Write and Curate blog posts.
It is also a Crypto-Currency backed Social Media Site that runs on Steem, Steem Power and Steem Backed Dollars!
It is also a great place to learn, be entertained, grow as a person or meet awesome new people from all over the world!
What does "XXXX" mean?
Steem - A Crypt-currency (digital coin) that powers steemit.com
Steem Power - Voting Power that you can earn (by authoring or curating posts) or buy on Steemit.com or numerous online Exchanges. The more Steem Power (commonly referred to as SP) the more money you give to authors when you vote on their content.
Power Up - This is when you convert Steem (tradeable crypto-currency) into Steem Power to increase your Voting Power.
Steem Backed Dollars - Also known as SD or SBD this is the other Crypto-currency that powers steemit.com and it is Earned by authoring or curating content. It can also be bought on numerous online Exchanges. SBD can be converted to Steem (and then Powered Up).
Fiat Currency - That is traditional currency that is issued by Governments or Central Banks. Like the US Dollar for example.
How do I.....?
Get people to vote on my posts/comments?
This is probably the most common question I have seen in my year on Steemit and by far the one thing most people get wrong, in the beginning. So here is a quick guide to help you:
Step #1: Get on Chat (either Steemit Chat or PAL) and make friends, chat with people in the "General" chat room. Get to know the people who have been here a while and have higher voting power, but most importantly let them get to know you.
Step #2: Read, Read and Read some more! I can't stress this step enough. So right now open a new tab and go over to asksteem.com and search for "Guides" or "How-To" or "Tutorial" and read them, read all of them. An educated person is a successful person; especially when it comes to Steemit.com or most other places in the interwebs.
Step #3: Find your niche! Everyone has something they are good at; yes everyone, including you! Figure out what the something is for you and write about it. Once you have a few posts under your belt consider doing an "Introduceyourself" post.
Step #4: Always, always, always include Pictures, Proper Formatting, Spell Checking and Source References (if all the material is not your own)
Step #5: Don't be a tool, plagerizer, or needlessly start crap with people who can destroy you.....well your chances of being successful anyway!
Buy/Sell/Trade Steem or Steem Backed Dollars?
There have literally been dozens of Guides written for this so head on over to Ask Steem and do some reading!
Power Down?
Well first off you probably shouldn't Power Down, especially if you are New to Steemit and Reading this Post. But if you ever decide you need to or want to just go to your Blog then click Wallet. Then where it shows the numbers to the right of Steem Power click it and hit Power Down. Right now the process of Powering Down takes 3 months (13 weeks). That money will be divided evenly across 13 weekly payments and deposited into your Steemit.com wallet as Steem each week. You can then transfer that Steem to an external exchange to convert to Fiat Currency or another Crypto-Currency.
Transfer crypto into or out of Steemit.com?
There are multiple guides for this as well so head on over to Ask Steem and do a search for "Transfer steem to" or whatever you would like to learn about!
What else do I need to know about Steemit.com?
Steemit.com is a Censorship Free Zone, meaning that Steemit, Inc. doesn't censor your content by deleting it or blocking you from accessing the site.
There are bots (computer programs) that monitor content, all of these bots were created by users like you and they all have different functions. 
Virtually any kind of content you could publish will be accepted on Steemit.com - so long as it is not Illegal, Inflammatory (Racist) or Inciteful. Even that content will remain forever in the Blockchain and visible to those who want to see it; but you may find yourself "flagged into obscurity" if you cross the wrong lines.
Adult Content: Stories, Pictures and Video is acceptable as long as the first Tag is NSFW, it is a good idea to also include the [NSFW] tag in the Title of the Post when you Submit a Story. Failure to properly tag Adult Content will likely get you Flagged. Adult Content is generally accepted to be anything illicit, overly vulgar or containing any form of nudity (either written or visual).
What are those numbers in brackets beside my username? That is your reputation score. The more you comment and post the more that number will change. If you get Upvoted the majority of the time that number goes up, if you get Flagged (aka Downvoted) that number goes down. Ideally, you will get Upvoted 90+% of the time when you author and comment and that number will continue to climb.
What external sites are there that I need to know about that have to do with Steemit.com?
There is a great site called Steem Tools that lists them all, but the most important ones for you, the newbies are:
SteemViz - Shows your Potential Author and Comment Payouts!
SteemStats - Shows Articles from those you follow, your articles, your comments, replies to your articles and comments and a ton of other useful information that will help you gauge how you are doing on Steemit.com!
Steem Verify - Verifies users anonymously so that the community knows they are who they say they are.
Steem Boost - A Great and free tool to: Get More Power, Increase your Reputation Score, Get More Votes and more!
SteemNow - Your personal Steem Dashboard to keep track of your latest Steem statistics.
Should I....?
Upvote - If you like the content then yes upvote.
Flag - If you think the content is illegal, improperly tagged, plagiarized (without sources) then absolutely Flag the post. Also leave a comment explaining why you flagged the post and be willing to retract the "Flag" if the user fixes the post.
Resteem - There are two reasons to Resteem a post: 1.) If you are out of Voting Power and really like the content, 2.) It lets authors know you really liked their content and they are more likely to Follow you and vote on your content then.
Where can I find help, if I can't find a tutorial or guide to teach me?
Steemit.chat has a help channel here
PAL has the "brandnewhere" channel as well
You can also seek out us old timers and Steemit Guru's (in either of the chats listed above) like:
Voting Power Explained
Voting power is spent at a rate of 4% per 100% vote. It can be reclaimed at a rate of 20% per 24 hour period.
I recently did a post after Hard Fork 19 (update) explaining the Voting so I will refer you to it now:
[Tutorial] Voting in the post HF19 days - what should you do? ☑️
