How do you actually find good products here?

I joined product Hunt recently and feel a bit lost. between daily launches, upvotes, collections, and comments, it is hard to tell useful tools apart from products that just got votes from friends.

I am also unsure about the general etiquette. is lurking and upvoting standard, or should i be commenting? Do makers reply to questions from new users?

How did you navigate the site when you first joined? What habits help you filter out the noise and spot genuinely good tools?