Welcome to this community David!
I joined ChiefDelphi when I was a sophomore, and I can say without a doubt that reading and posting here has helped me grow in many ways. You can gain (and share) new perspectives, become an ambassador for your team, and you can gain (and share) technical knowledge.
If you want to make sure that you are percieved positively on this board, there are several pointers I can offer:
Try to use decent spelling, punctuation, and grammar. When you use them, the tone of your posts are more professional. No one is going to nitpick about it, but it does help. There is a spellcheck option that you can use while composing your posts.
You will here this one about 1235729385 times - use the search function before starting a thread asking a question.
However, I also reccommend that you lurk before you post as well. Before I started posting, and even before I registered here, I lurked for several months - reading and getting a sense of the acceptable ettiquete and posting styles.
I am a member of serveral other internet boards besides this one, and I can tell you with GREAT assuredness that internet boards vary greatly when it comes to politeness, professionalism, post content, and off-topicness. Here on ChiefDelphi, people prefer it when you stay as on topic as possible when making posts in a thread, when your posts have meaningful content (i.e., not just a smiley face or a comment that has already been made by another poster), and when you show respect towards other posters (i.e. don't slander other teams, no personal attacks, etc.). On some of the other boards I visit, all of the above things are acceptable, and it has made me appreciate the quality atmosphere that is found here on CD. Let's try to preserve it.
Again, welcome. You are on the right track by asking questions about how to use this board.
-- Jaine