So far I love the folks here so much more than those on reddit. All the comments are a joy to read! It's such a breath of fresh air. Only thing is that I feel as if I wont be commenting as often here because I find everyone else to have more interesting things to say than I. And I am totally okay with that!
I joined just over a month ago, only started commenting recently, and just submitted my first post yesterday. There's no harm in waiting. There is definitely a "cool kid" or clique vibe going on at first but that was just my perception. Some of the members who have been around longer are more active, have more followers, and tend to get more exposure. They aren't inherently more interesting, they may just have more practice. For what it's worth, I feel much more welcome commenting here than I ever did on Reddit.
I'm here for over a month now, and I'm still feeling that other people are better than I could ever be. Don't let that hold you back! You'll miss out on discussions because you think you can't add anything, but the truth is, adding yourself to a discussion is something of it's own. I don't mean that you should start posting everywhere. If you stay yourself and are genuinely interested, your contribution will be interesting! I'll follow you.
I think everyone feels that way to some extent. That's probably why there are so many lurkers on the internet (not just here). Not speaking up out of fear of being wrong has led to airline crashes and patients getting the wrong leg amputated (as real world examples of why everyone should contribute). I think most people are on sites like this to hear what others have to say, and not just to give others their own opinions.
On the flipside, when I have a downvote option, I feel more negative in general. With Facebook, you just hide or keep scrolling if you see something that's especially inane, and you quickly forget about it. On Reddit, you can cackle gleefully and hit that little blue arrow... but it's just negativity that doesn't need to be there. It's sort of refreshing to have that option removed.