You need to a little more specific, but I think that you should view the stickied threads at the top of the newcomers forum. They should answer a lot of questions.
The"stickied" threads are the ones that have a thumbtack besides them. They are at the very top of page one. (Mods call them stickies, that's why I call them that)
A lock next to a sticky means that you can't post in the thread. You can still read it, but you can't but anything new in it. The same applies for regular threads.
