Introduction:

As a new member of the Steemit community I was very unfamiliar with what Steemit is, what it can and cannot do and how to navigate my way around within it. I proceeded to do some research and the more I looked, the more I found. Steemit is unlike a regular website where someone registers a domain name, writes some code that is stored on a server and points that domain name to their code.

Steemit does have a domain name like a regular website but that address is simply a portal for accessing code that is not stored on a single server. Steemit.com is simply a doorway for accessing the block chain; a system where data is stored on many servers around the world. Steemit is also in Beta, meaning it is still being developed. There will be changes coming (and changes have already been made since it was first released to the public).

There are currently several sites that also act as portals to that SAME blockchain information. These sites were created in an effort to provide users of Steem an alternative set of data that steemit.com is currently not offering (but may do in the future). Steemit.com is NOT the only method or portal of accessing the steem blockchain. A few of these alternate portals are:
http://www.steem.cool/
https://steemwhales.com/?p=1&s=reputation&p=1&s=reputation
http://steemd.com/
https://steemdb.com/
http://steemitboard.com/
http://steemit.deadfollowers.info/
https://beta.chainbb.com/
While I’m posting useful/interesting links, I may as well post a few links to normal websites that will help you with understanding steemit.com:
https://www.steemithelp.net/
https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/wiki/Markdown-Cheatsheet

Steem Keys:

This topic is already well-documented at the following link. Some information such as the editing of passwords is no longer valid, however I must stress the importance of protecting your password. It is highly recommended that you do not use your master password on a daily basis and instead use the private key for posting only. Check out the following link to learn about the various keys and what they are used for.
https://steemit.com/steemit-guides/@pfunk/a-user-s-guide-to-the-different-steem-keys-or-passwords

Flagging:

Flagging of someone else’s post should rarely be done and there are a plethora of posts about flagging etiquette so I won’t belabour the point. What is more difficult to find is how to know when someone has flagged one of your posts. One method is to look at the post page and click on the little down arrow next to the “# of votes” found at the bottom of the post, just before the replies begin.

A list of those who voted on that post is shown along with a plus sign (+) for an upvote and a minus sign (-) for a flag or downvote. If there are more votes than can be shown, it will say that there are more votes and the number of votes not shown. In that case, you will need to use one of the other portals to find this information.

https://steemd.com/@anyusername shows all transactions including who flagged the username specified in the URL. I did come across a method of seeing who does the most flagging but for the life of me, I cannot find it now!

Comments:

When looking at your own page, the COMMENTS TAB shows you all the comments that YOU made on posts by other people. All new entries here will be bold until you click to open them.

Replies:

When looking at your own page, the REPLIES TAB shows you all the comments OTHER PEOPLE made on your posts. All new entries here will be bold until you click to open them.

Searching:

Trying to find old posts from a long time back can be quite difficult. Steemit.com does not allow you to create folders to organize posts; they are all displayed in the order they were created, with the latest on top. This means that you need to either scroll, scroll, scroll down a long list of posts if the poster has made a lot of posts (and some have made hundreds), or use the search function at the top of the page. The search function is simply a Google search that will bring up all sorts of results.
If you search for words used in the title of the topic or simply terms you think may have been used in the article, it is rather unlikely the post you are looking for will be at the top of the list.

If you know the author of the post, it helps to use the plus sign and the author’s name in the search bar. This tells Google that the search must have the author’s name somewhere on the page.

If you just wish to find the author’s page, simply insert his or her username into the search bar and click on the magnifying glass to initiate the search.

It is interesting to note that once on the author’s page, the search bar is no longer available. This means there is no way to search just among the author’s posts.

Vests:

When looking at the graph in the following image (or at the right side column), you will see the term VESTS used. I knew about reputation and Steem Power, but what the heck are vests!?

The simple answer is that they are linked to SP and rep. (Kvests = Thousands of vests and Mvests = Millions of vests.) For a more detailed answer, see this link:
https://steemit.com/steem-help/@hisnameisolllie/what-are-vests

Hopefully this helps to answer some of the questions that are not so easy to find answers for. It literally took me all day to put this together and answer some of my own questions. I love sharing what I have learned.