I'm in the same boat as you, @playfulfoodie. As a newbie I'm terrified of pissing off a whale or being ganged up on. Steemit is decentralized from nation and international governments, but there is undeniably a pyramid of power here that can easily slip into the bad habits of the past. As a budding new community, we're starting to confront structural issues that come when larger groups of human beings create a society.
I definitely don't know how best to handle it, but I'm very fortunate to have been in on this discussion and see the thought processes of everyone.