Hello, and welcome to the Sins community. We may have a realitively small community, but a lot of the most active and knowledgeable people are still here, and with the release of Trinity (basically the gold edition), there has been quite a few new players as well. If you have any questions once you start playing the game (or even before), feel free to ask.

I should warn you that MP has a reputation of being pretty rough for new players, so I'd try to get confortable with single player first. You might find some experienced players willing to show you the ropes though, but I'd try to arrange it through the forums instead of the game lobby. Otherwise, quite a few articles in the multiplayer or strategy forums might help (generally not the stickies though, they are quite out of date unfortunately).

I know there has been like minded people, and while I believe their efforts were at least somewhat sucsessful, I am unsure if they are still playing that way.

Also, just to save you some headaches later, the pirates in the game have never been popular in multiplayer, and especially now in diplomacy that they are considered too powerful, they are usually turned off. It will make learning the game much easier if you do the same and disable them in the game options menu when selecting a map.

Welcome!  Echoing the comments about playing single player against the ai's, it is highly recommended.  To get a feel for the mechanics and familiarize yourself with different unit abilities is very important prior to attempting multiplayer games.  These don't have to be long multi-star games, but it's helpful to play against, and as, the different races.  This can take more than a couple of games, but when you find a race that you prefer to play as, you can focus on that race when you make the transition to multiplayer.

Be upfront and clear in announcing that you are in fact new, and most veteran players will give you the benefit of the doubt, along with helping you in game once you do make it into multiplayer games. Learning the ropes in multiplayer will undoubtedly mean you will be a liability to your team while you are becoming accomplished, so try to understand some players can get frustrated with you until you are able to hold your own. You will have more success if you have a good attitude and are able to take direction.

Happy Solaring!