Stellar is the name of the company. Lumens are the spoken name of the coin itself. Most often you will hear them together, "Stellar Lumens" in conversation or simply Stellar since that's how people have been expressing it so far (thus your understandable confusion). As for exchanges, I'm not sure why Poloniex has the coin listed as STR. It's XLM. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than me can explain it better to you. But that is the gist of it.

Stellar = The company

Lumens = The coin

Stellar Lumens = (try to look at it as a statement) "The Lumens of Stellar"

XLM = The standard exchange name.

STR = Poloniex doing their own thing?

They have been supremely open and above board about how coins will be released.

There are several bottom lines which you seem not to be aware of.

Compared to Ripple, the current circulating supply is roughly half. At no time will they suddenly double that supply or some such nonsense.

The absolute total supply as compared to Ripple is only a few percent higher.

The inflation/adding of the rest of the supply into circulation is taking place over 20 years. Think about that for a second, 20 years. In 5 years, the supply will still be smaller than Ripple. This gives time for things to play out WITHOUT the people running the coin manipulating the coin at a whim.

As for "air drops/free coins", it really can't be helped if people throwing money around without doing proper research don't understand the situation...

Anyone who buys XLM at this point, and is expecting an airdrop has either read extremely outdated information, and hasn't even done a proper in depth google search to be informed, or they have been tricked by scammers (which infest the entire world of Cryptocurrency).

Who throws out money like that? Not responsible people.

XLM is primarily a long term idea, which can end up being wide spread throughout the world over time in useful ways. Short term gains can be had by traders who can see trends for what they are. But goofballs who get upset that their investment at the height of an incredible run backfired, or that the coin they bought at 50 cents isn't going to make them rich by next week, or that they themselves misunderstood the nature and time period of the free giveaways really aren't a match for XLM unless they alter their thinking.

As many early adopters cash some out for gains, people looking to get rich overnight panic, and the general overall volatility of the crypto-market works itself out, there will be times like this. The real (long term) situation doesn't look bad at all. In fact, it looks pretty great!

The only "red flag" waving is the one screaming at people to do some real research, and stop being noobs.

True, but it's going up now, in the midst of all of the uncertainty and near doom in China and Korea.

If you are in for the long haul with XLM, you're most likely fine.

If you are trying to short it and squeeze out cash at various highs, you had best know what you are doing.

This coin was less than ten cents in November. It has the tech to really change things once the word gets out about how practical it is. In the meantime though, too fast too quick is not a recipe for success with this coin. The people behind it geared everything toward the long term. If it is to be a major global financial platform of the future, they need time to work out little things here and there as it grows.

In any case, I would feel sorry for those who bought in at 95 cents or so, but even those people, if they didn't panic, should feel fine about their purchase before too long.

That is unless the governments of the world just sweep in regarding all cryptocurrencies and screw everyone over. Even then, XLM should be fine in Africa and Southeast Asia over the long term.

Just my opinions anyway...

My take.

While there are plenty of short term opportunities for those interested in that, XLM is a long term hold.

The Ripple to Bitcoin, Etherium Satoshi squeezing is going to probably dominate until the banks snatch the rug out from XRP.

Meanwhile, XLM will in my opinion have steady, reasonable growth as people do their homework and see the long term value of this system. It will continue to have these spikes and corrections, as it is also connected to the global whim to a certain extent. As well as the fact that various holders of large amounts of XLM will be shedding coins for gains here and there since they got in very early.

But yeah, there is opportunity all around imo. Don't mess with short positions unless you really know what you are doing though.

While there are plenty of short term opportunities for those interested in that, XLM is a long term hold.

The Ripple to Bitcoin, Etherium Satoshi squeezing is going to probably dominate until the banks snatch the rug out from XRP.

Meanwhile, XLM will in my opinion have steady, reasonable growth as people do their homework and see the long term value of this system. It will continue to have these spikes and corrections, as it is also connected to the global whim to a certain extent. As well as the fact that various holders of large amounts of XLM will be shedding coins for gains here and there since they got in very early.

But yeah, there is opportunity all around imo. Don't mess with short positions unless you really know what you are doing though.

Obviously this is my opinion. One must research for themselves as well as hearing opinions to inform a responsible position.