So I haven’t played a FG in the longest time (the last one I played was Dead or Alive 3 for like…10 minutes)
Is there anything I should really know when it comes to someone who is completely new to the FGC?
I’ve been in the eSports scene for 10 years, just never for fighters (I’m mostly an fps guy), so I guess I’m not a serious newbie 
That’s a bit of a broad question. I’d say the 3 biggest things are:
Don’t Quit: Against more experienced players, you’ll start out losing a lot. A LOT. Try to learn from your mistakes. Heck, ask them what you’re doing wrong and what kinds of mistakes you’re making so you don’t repeat them next time.
Offline >>> Online. “Don’t take online too seriously” could also work here. Since fighting games are usually precise affairs, where even a slightest fraction of a second could be the moment where you either grabbed victory, or fell into defeat, network lag does not do anything for the experience. Also, there are many tactics and strategies that people utilize online that are ineffective or outright suicidal if tried offline. If at all possible, try to play offline against people rather than online, even if you have to go a bit out of your way. It’s the way the games were meant to be played. Oh, if you get sent hatemail for beating someone really badly, you’re doing something right.
Don’t count your previous game experience towards fighting games. Fighting games are an entirely different breed apart from shooters or RTS games. What fighting games do reward however, is being able to analyze, react, and adapt quickly and well. Most of all, they reward practice, and by practice I don’t just mean practicing combos against the training dummy, but playing against other players constantly.
Learn to block and use your normals first. In SF games, don’t jump too much. Stay grounded as much as possible.
Don’t jump. Learn to anti air correctly. Learn a basic punish combo. You are now able to beat about half of the people that play online.
Once you’ve got a feel for the game, read this http://sonichurricane.com/?page_id=1702
Check out the stickies in the Newbie section, a lot of them provide a good foundation for you to start excelling at fighters.
Read articles here. Understand what people are talking about. Train hard. Good luck!
Did not even notice those haha, I will look at them now.
And thanks for the replies!