What Are Steemians Talking About? Important Things Newbies (Like Me) Should Know

One of the biggest frustrations with Steemit is that there is a lot of information about it. However, the information is not organized or easy to find. I have stumbled across posts here on Steemit and videos on D.Tube that have helped me understand certain things. Even now, there are things that escape me. I've only been active for about 15 days, mind you.

If you are new here, here are some useful places to visit.

• https://Steemd.com followed by your user name for stats on your account, for example https://steemd.com/@shainemata
• https://Steem.supply for a better idea of what rewards you have coming your way and estimates of the value
• https://steemprojects.com for an overview of what's out there.
• https://steem.chat for interaction and direct answers rather than wait for comment replies
• https://busy.org has a cleaner interface than https://steemit.com
• https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/wiki/Markdown-Cheatsheet to learn Markdown for blog posts

For Media

• https://d.tube for videos
• https://alpha.steepshot.io for photos
• https://dsound.audio for audio recordings

What I have learned so far:

It takes several days (about 5) before your activity steem comes around and posts to your wallet.

The apps I mentioned earlier, I think they take a cut of your Steem for posting on your behalf. On the other hand, I think you get larger rewards, so it may even out. I haven't found any information on this yet.

You will read a lot of mention of HF20 (hard fork 20) in which the Steemit code was altered for better long-term stability and to reduce the impact of spammers. What this means is that you should just interact normally rather than try to rack up points via comments and vapid posts. I suppose you could game the system; but, so are thousands of other people. The pie can only be cut up so much before it's not worth the trouble. Quality over quantity.

Witnesses matter somehow. I haven't figured out what difference they make. You can also vote for witnesses to do whatever it is they do. Kind of like voting for a politician. You can live a long and productive life without having to deal with them if you don't want to.

You want to convert Steem into Steem Power to increase your clout. More clout means it is easier to earn. Perhaps some day in the future when you have a ton of clout, you can cash some out to buy ice cream for people you love. Or, you can be a big whale in a small pond.

There are people actively putting money into the system in order to increase their clout, I mean Steem Power. Their aim is to earn a living at this so that they never have to work again. At the same time, there are people cashing out of the system. This means that you can't count on the value of the currency to only go up. It can go up. It can go down. It can stay flat.

Influential users, aka Whales, can really hurt your chances at earning. So, be nice to everybody. There are better platforms for you to discuss politics, religion, or how somebody should raise their kids.

IPFS is still flaky, so expect the occasional video or podcast to not play. . . ever. Enjoy if they do work.

Like being a new kid at school, it takes a while to figure out who is who. Take your time. The deck is stacked in favor of Whales. So, just be patient and consistent. The 5 day wait disconnects you from the immediate gratification mindset. Think long-term. Write your posts because you like writing posts. Let the rewards be a pleasant surprise.

This is all I have learned for now.