Help me verify Steemit.com !

Hi everyone, I am fairly new to this platform and probably like many of you still skeptical about it, so here's my idea:

• via your up-votes I should be able to increase my Steem dollars which I can then either transfer or decide to use for steem's purchases

If you're curious about the process then do vote my post or comment if you have suggestions and I will document at the best that I can the entire process.

My sole intention is to check what the majority of people here are claiming and make my example useful for everyone else! Thank you

I took the freedom of adding here the top 20 richlist:
@steemit @ned @dan @blocktrades @ben @jamesc @berniesanders @smooth @val-a @dantheman @mottler @tombstone @rainman @itsascam @steemed @val-b @michael-b @michael-a @summon @blackjack