What are the papers I see filling up the back pockets of riders in a group ride? How do you get them or give them? I hear the bing sound and see the thumbs up but that seems to be different that when I push the thumbs up button on the companion app that says “ride on” when pressed. thanks for your help.
Is there a place that explains how everything works? How do I get rider points and unlock bike upgrades and all that?
Those are translucent blue thumbs that represent a “Ride On”.
To give them you can select a rider in “Zwifters Nearby” and click the orange thumb, or use the Companion app. In that you can either give a Ride On to individual riders, or tap your own rider dot in the map screen to give a Ride On to several riders near you at once.
As you suspect, the thumb on the menu bar is merely and audio file, and doesn’t give a Ride On.
This is a great site with a lot of very useful Zwift articles, ranging from beginner guides right up to detailed analysis of exactly how fast each different in-game frame is - https://zwiftinsider.com/