Hi @geoffbarra
Welcome to the community. :0)
Great intro post! Very interesting stuff. I bet you've got a lot of value to share with the community.
As you probably know by now, SteemIt has set some very unfair rules for newcomers, which limit you in the number of posts and comments that you can make.
I checked your wallet, and noticed you only had 15 Steem Power. The amount of Steem Power you have, determines how many Resource credits you have. (You use resource credits every time you post, comment or like something.) When you don't have a lot of Steem Power, you run out of Resource credits quite quickly, and then you can't post or comment, or even upvote a post - but I assume you already found out about that - until they have recharged.
You can keep an eye on your Resource Credits here:
http://steemd.com/@geoffbarra
When I visited the page, I saw this at the top:
Click to enlarge
The blue bar is your Voting power - it decreases every time you upvote a post and recharges over time. It is recommended to keep your Voting Power above 80%, so it will recharge in 1 day.
The green bar shows your Resource Credits. With every transaction you make (vote, comment, post), your Resource Credits will decrease. They will recharge, but that takes time.
If you scroll down a bit, you can see exactly what you can do with the Resource Credits you have left. At the time I visited, you hadn't been very active and still had 100% of your Resource Credits. As you can see, this allows you to make exactly 17 comments. After that, you'd have to wait until it would have recharged before you would be able to make another comment.
I don't think it is fair to limit new users like that. After all, you're new, and there is such a whole lot to discover, of which the most important thing is the awesome community we have here. But to become a part of that community, to get to know people, you should be able to comment on other people's posts and engage with people.
So I'm always on the lookout for promising newcomers that could use a little help. So I delegated some of my Steem Power to you, to give you a chance to start your SteemIt adventure a little more freely - without having to run out of Resource Credits all the time.
Basically that means you will have a little more Steem Power, and as a result more Resource credits. This will allow you to be more active on the platform.
(You can find out more about Steem Power HERE)
If you check your Steemd page (https://steemd.com/@geoffbarra) now, you'll notice it says at the top you have 50 SP instead of only 15 SP, which means you can comment, reply, upvote and post a little more often.
Be sure to still keep an eye on that Resource Credits bar - it will still decrease, but you'll be able to do more before it reaches zero and you're locked out.
I hope this will help you to find your way on SteemIt, and to get to know all the awesome people that are hanging out here.
SteemIt has quite a steep learning curve in the beginning, but if you take it one step at a time, you'll be okay. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. you can leave a comment on one of my posts, or just tag me in any post or comment you make (@simplymike), and I will be notified and will try to help you out.
IMPORTANT: I will leave the delegation in place as long as you're active on SteemIt (i.e. publish original content regularly and engage with other people by commenting on their posts and replying to their comments) or gather enough Steem Power to get around on your own.
There's one other requirement: I'm looking for people who are showing that they plan to be on SteemIt long-term. So I'm asking you to power up your earnings (convert your liquid Steem and SBD into Steem Power) or use them to grow your account and not withdraw them.
It will also be a good idea to create a free Discord account (Discord is a chat app we Steemians use to communicate 'behind-the-scenes' of the platform. Many different communities have a server where you can chat and meet people without being limited by Resource Credits.)
You can create your Discord account here: https://discordapp.com
One of the communities there is called Steem Terminal. Steem Terminal is set up to help newcomers find their way around here. If you have any questions, they will be able to help you out too.
Once you've created your free Discord account, click the following invitation link: https://discord.gg/XZGPGpz
You will be redirected to a page that says 'thekittygirl invited you to join Steem-terminal'. Click the 'Accept Invite button' to get access to the server.
Once you have clicked that button, you have access to the server and can get an answer to your questions. The people that run the server will help you to find your way around and to get started.
I also have a post with useful tips for newcomers on my blog. Read New On SteemIt? Here’s What You Need To Know!. It contains links to sites and posts that will give you more information about how the Steem blockchain and SteemIt in particular works.
You can join contests to get a bigger delegation:
@akomoajong is hosting a weekly Steem Power giveaway. Read it here - Last day to enter.
@thedarkhorse does so too. Enter here
Like I said, SteemIt might have a steep learning curve in the beginning, it is definitely worth it to push through and get to know the amazing community.
