Hi there @your.system! While you're getting the lay of the land here on Steemit, take a look at our tutorials / resources (here).
This post in particular might help answer any outstanding questions you have! Let us know :)
https://steemit.com/toolkit/@sndbox/what-is-a-steemit-upvote-an-illustrated-guide
Thank @sndbox! this is very helpful :)