I care for new members, therefore I copy/paste from the public link to help EVERYBODY in our community and I also needed to write this post for myself as a reminder.
“A smile is the universal welcome”― Max Eastman, The Sense of Humor
THANKS TO @timcliff to post this much needed "Welcome to Steemit " link, I just saw today, info I never read before except in the White Paper at the very beginning.
STEEMMAG, my personal favourite source of information
I wish that @steemmag, I enjoy reading from day 1 picks up the "WELCOME & Keep Them Newbies" topic and spread maybe more detailed information and interviews again like the one 8 months ago.
I really needed to read up again who this controversial member @smooth / whale is. Great Interview !
Who are the Whales ?
Here You can find the List on www.steemwhales.com
The Experiment and my thoughts
I am not angry at anybody for being flagged in those last days but some who don't understand the reason behind, such so called well meant moves should be implamented and communicated beforehand. Staying angry doesn't help at all, especially in a community with distributed power. We need to build bridges and that is impossible to be angry as @edje said.
Thats my whole point why I am writing this article.
Down voting is an act of "UN-Kindness".
There’s Nothing More Important Than Kindness - Lessons To Learn, Inspired by Don Miguel Ruiz
image source : SteemMag – Steemit’s Weekend Digest #1: An Exclusive Interview With A Whale ….and This Week On Steemit
Fun with Flagging by @gtg , one of the witnesses I voted for.
We need A proper Steemit Help & Newsfeed !!!!
Your thoughts on this ?
Real News , NO Fake News!
Image Source by @stephenkendal Thank you for this article!
Here we go >>>
My partly Copy/Paste job from https://steemit.com/welcome
Welcome to Steemit!
Come for the rewards, stay for the community.
Quick Start Guide
Cost to Participate
It is free to post, comment, or upvote all content on Steemit.com. You might even get paid for it!
Welcome Page
To return to this page at any time, click on the "Welcome" link in the main menu in the upper right corner.
Upvotes
Upvotes are Steemit's way of saying you like someone's post or comment.
To upvote, click on the Upvote icon at the bottom of the comment/post.
Comments
When you are first starting out, commenting on other people's posts can be a great way to get involved and connect with people!
To comment on a post, or reply to an existing comment, click on the "Reply" link at the bottom of the post/comment.
Creating Posts
To create a post, click on the "Submit a Story" link in the upper right corner.
Posts have three main parts: Title, Content, Tags.
You will want to make your title attention grabbing, and relevant to your content.
To create your content, you can either use "Editor" or "Markdown" mode.
There are several guides for creating posts in the "Helpful Posts from Steemit Users" section below.
Tags
Tags will help people find your posts.
Each post can have up to five tags, separated by spaces.
The first tag in the list will be the main category that the post is in.
The tags should all be relevant to the content in the post.
You can browse content by tags, as well as see a list of popular tags that other users have used in their posts here.
Followers and Feeds
To follow an author, click on their username and click the "Follow" button.
Once you follow someone, all of their posts will show up in your "Feed" on the homepage when you login.
As other Steemians come across your posts and comments, you will start to gain followers.
You can see all of your followers and the people you are following in your profile page.
Resteem
If you want to share someone else's post with all of your followers, click on the resteem icon.
Digital Currencies
STEEM, Steem Power and Steem Dollars are the three forms of digital currency used by the Steem Blockchain.
More information on the three types of tokens can be found in the Steemit FAQ.
Curation
Up to 25% of the reward for posts goes to the people who voted on it. These people are called curators.
The more Steem Power you have in your account, the more your upvotes will be worth, and the more potential curation rewards you can earn!
Payments
There were two payment periods for posts. The first was roughly 24-48 hours, and the second is roughly 30 days. This will be changed to a 7 day period for the first payout.
All comments are paid out 7 days after creation and there is no longer a second payout window.
The payments may fluctuate (up and down) until the final payment is reached.
Payments for posts are split between the author (at least 75%) and the curators (up to 25%).
The author reward is paid 50% in Steem Power, and 50% in liquid STEEM/SBD.
Authors also have the option to decline payout, or be paid in 100% Steem Power!
Home, New, Hot, Trending, Promoted, and Active
These are various ways to sort blog posts.
Home - Most recent posts of the people you follow (your feed).
New - Posts are sorted by the time posted, newest first.
Hot - Popular posts at the moment.
Trending - Posts with the highest pending rewards currently.
Promoted - Listings that are boosted by Steem Dollar payments get "Promoted" for greater visibility.
Active - Most recent posts with edits or comments.
Profile
Feed - Here is where you go to see the most recent posts from the people you follow.
Blog - Here is where you go to see all of your posts and resteems.
Comments - Here is where you go to see all of the comments you have made to other's posts and comments.
Replies - Here is where you go to see all replies other users have made to your posts and comments.
Wallet - Here is where you go to see your wallet balances, make transfers, exchange STEEM/SBD, and Power Up.
Change Password - Here is where you go to change your password.
Settings - Here is where you go to update your settings.
Logout - Here is where you go to logout.
Reputation
A reputation score is one way Steemit measures the amount of value you have brought to the community.
The higher the number, the more weighted votes an account has earned.
All new users start at 25.
Your reputation will go up as you earn upvotes for your posts and comments, but it can come down if they are flagged.
Cashing out or Spending SBD
You can spend your SBD at the Peerhub Store.
You can exchange your STEEM and SBD for bitcoin on an exchange such as BlockTrades, Poloniex, and Bittrex.
You can also "Power Up" and use your STEEM/SBD to gain more Steem Power!
Plagiarism
The community is looking for you to add your own personal touch to your articles.
Plagiarizing, that is posting someone else's work as if it were your own, is very frowned upon by the Steemit community.
If you are using anyone else's material as part of your posts (including images) - please cite your sources.
Also, make sure that you are not violating any copyright laws if you are using someone else's material/images. Limited, sourced material sharing is OK under fair use and fair dealing doctrines.
Password Security
Your Steemit account is worth real money. Treat your Steemit password like you would your bank password, and keep it secure!
Unless your password was recently changed and you possess the old one, there is no password recovery for Steem accounts. You are 100% responsible for having it backed up. This means secure digital backups, as well as secured paper backups, off-site if possible.
Earning on Steemit
The best attitude to have is to expect to make nothing. Have fun. Get engaged. Make friends. If along the way you earn something - bonus!
It is possible to earn thousands of dollars, but most authors who are doing this have put in a lot of time and work to contribute to the community and build followings.
To Do List
1. Backup your password
Unlike centralized web services, the Steem Blockchain has no account password recovery.
You are entirely responsible for keeping your password, and keeping it secure.
Save your master key and keep it somewhere safe.
It is strongly recommended that you store an offline copy of your password somewhere safe in case of a hard drive failure or other calamity. Consider digital offline storage, such as a flash drive or burned CD, as well as printed paper. Use a safe deposit box for best redundancy.
If your account is valuable, treat it like a valuable!
2. Sign Up for Steemit Chat
A lot of users hang out and chat when they are not posting or browsing Steemit. It is a great place to meet people!
There is a link to sign up in the main menu in the upper right corner.
Your steemit.chat account is a separate account from your Steem account.
Some channels allow you to share links, but others don't. For instance, general is for discussion without link promotion, while postpromotion is for promoting your Steemit posts.
Each channel will have its rules posted in the "Info" section.
3. Setup your Profile and Avatar
Under your user settings, you can update your profile. This includes your display name, location, about info, and website.
To set your avatar image, type or paste a link to the URL where the image is located into the "Profile Picture URL" field.
Once you have made all your changes, click the "Update" button to save your profile.
4. Chose your "NSFW" (Not Safe for Work) Display Preference
By default, content that users have tagged as "NSFW" will be hidden, but a link will be shown to reveal the content.
You can update your display preference so that NSFW content is always shown by default, or is completely hidden with no option to reveal.
5. Create your "introduceyourself" post
While not required, the tradition for new users is to create an "introduceyourself" post, to let the community know who you are.
You can see some examples of what other people have done here.
It is not required, but a lot of users will take a picture of themselves holding up a piece of paper that says "Steemit" with the current date, so we know you are a real person.
It is not required either, but if you have other social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) you can help the community verify that you are who you say you are, by sharing the link to your Steemit introduceyourself post with those accounts. If you are claiming to be someone famous, this is pretty much expected.
Helpful Posts from Steemit Users
Please read updates HERE !
@ned - Ned Scott, CEO and Co-Founder of Steemit
@steemitblog - Official Steemit Announcements
Third Party References
Peerhub, BlockTrades, Poloniex, Bittrex, Steemit Chat, Steemit Help, Steemprentice, as well as the tools listed under "Other Resources" are third party applications/services, and are not owned or maintained by Steemit, Inc. Their listing here does not constitute and endorsement or recommendation on behalf of Steemit, Inc.
All of the links in the "Helpful Posts from Steemit Users" section were created by our users and do not necessarily represent the views of Steemit, Inc. or its management.
Please use the third party tools and content at your own risk.
My personal suggestion
Find helpful resources and valuable tips yourself in various steemit posts written by members. There are many good ones I have learnt from!
“Once again...welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness you bring.” ― Bram Stoker, Dracula
Useful STEEMIT TOOLS and LINKS"- It is a collection of very useful links written by @edje
Happy Steeming!
Yours
PS : I power up since day 1