When I signed up for this platform the place was not the same and even under a different name back then. While socializing on outside platforms I sometimes see Hive recommended and often people had a hard time figuring out how to make an account or how it all works. On top of this, veteran suggestions are not up-to-date or helpful anymore with the changes. This is my guide on how to get started on Hive today for those that may not be computer savy.
If one were to go to hive.blog and click sign up, they would be greeted with several sign up methods; three of which costs about $3, one free method that is a different website, and another free method claims to be "out of creation tickets" at this time. This is where people get hung up as they may not want to buy into something they do not know anything about and the free options have them confused. The easiest choice here for someone who does not want to reward a provider $3 for onboarding people to the platform is the Ecency option. Use my referral sign up link to reward me Ecency points to spend on boosting my posts.
Start the sign up process by choosing a unique username you would like to go by. This will become the account name and is unable to changed or deleted in the future - although a display nickname may be chosen later. Next fill in your email address and click continue. If my referral link was used "misterabaddon" will be locked in the field below your email.
After submitting an available username you will be told to check your email to verify the account so go ahead and do so. Next you will be told the account creation was confirmed and to wait for a new email that contains the username and password. Write this down and keep it somewhere safe. Now go back to ecency.com and login to the account.
Click the drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner that is the default profile picture and choose settings. At the bottom click "Permissions," re-enter the password and click "click to view keys" to see all of the account keys. This is by far the most important part of the account.
Write down all these keys and store them in a safe place as it gives full access to the account. I highly recommend a locally stored password manager such as Keepass to keep track of all keys and any other accounts you have. Keep this encrypted password database offline on a usb drive alongside a hand-written backup of the Keepass master password, keys, and recovery emails in case the database fails.
So what are all these "keys" and what do they do? When it comes to blockchains, an account uses keys to give access to specific actions on the account or wallet. Historically a crypto wallet will have a "private key" which is a full access "password" of the wallet to send and recieve, and a "public key" which is meant to be shared publically that can only receive funds. In the case of Hive, different private keys are used to gain access to different actions on the account. The memo key is not used at this time and can be ignored. The posting key is the bread and butter used to login to the account and do all the basic functions of a social media platform. The active key is a step up in that it adds the permissions to make major account changes such as editing the profile, voting for witnesses, powering up/down, and moving funds. This will be used occasionally but stick to using the posting key for as much as possible. The owner key is the "master password" that allows full access to everything on the account, including changing all keys. This is an extremely dangerous permission to have access to so it should never be entered for any reason and stored offline always. If these keys are lost the account will be permanently lost with no recovery option available.
You are now ready to use the Hive blockchain through the Ecency platform. Ecency is a dApp, or decentralized application, built on top of the Hive blockchain. By making this Ecency account, it created an underlying Hive account and is communicating to it through Ecency. There are other options to blog on Hive such as the modern and polished viewer Peakd or my favorite with a simplistic and clean interface Hive Blog. Other dApps on the Hive blockchain include games (Splinterlands, RisingStar), fitness (Actifit) and video hosting (3Speak), all of which reward income for using them. A full list of dApps can be seen at Hivedapps.
Top 10 dApps in the last 30 days
If you plan to use a dApp other than Ecency, you will want a secure way to login to the Hive account without submitting private keys everytime. This is where Hive-Keychain or Hivesigner come into play. These tools store Hive keys and adds a custom password to make loging into the account easier and safer. If using a PC, I highly recommend Hive-Keychain as a browser addon to make using dApps simple. There is mobile app on Google and Apple stores available but I have not tested it. Hivesigner might be a better option for a mobile user that cannot use a browser addon as easily and do not want another app to download. Add both the posting key and active key to maximize convenience.
You are now prepared to explore the Hive ecosystem as you please. I encourage you to test out all the projects and support the developers by voting for witnesses. Voting for and upvoting accounts you support on the platform not only rewards them for their time but also gives them a bigger voice and "pull" to steer the future of the platform. Some general tips for using Hive blog would be to make sure you are interacting with the community through comments and upvotes more than posting. Explore and follow communities to make connections and posts into them specifically, according to their rules. Never ever plagiarize and always cite every source used for information and photos, including free creative commons material to be safe. In settings, set blog post rewards and comment post rewards to 100% power up since actions on Hive use "power" and you need as much as possible to continue interactions without having to wait for a cooldown period. If interested in independent news reporting follow 
