wipw I'm not a moderator but I can answer your questions.
If it has "poll" on it there will be a poll question with a list of answers below it with radio buttons in front of them. When you click your mouse in a button it records your vote and then will display the results to you.
If it says "sticky" then that post will always stay at the top of the list and will not become buried pages down by newer posts and replys. This is done for informational type posts or posts of great interest so they are alway easy to find (at the top).
I'm sure the moderators can add some to this but that should cover the basics.
Eric