There is a lot of code behind the scenes. Your total Hive Power determines the base value of your upvote, the market value of HIVE determines the dollars and cents value, your resource credits determine how much you can do, and your vote power determines what percentage of your base value is awarded when you vote.
Resource credits and vote power recharge over time. Hive Power can be earned over time as people vote for your content, or HIVE tokens can be bought and staked. The market price is essentially outside our control.
In general, you recover about 20% of your vote power every day, and that is equal to only about 10 votes at 100% value. When I go on an upvote spree like today, I adjust my default vote power to 50% or 75%. I haven't checked your wallet, and I don't know whether you have enough staked to access that feature yet.
Resource credits are a hidden stat for all actions on the blockchain. The pool is related to your overall Hive Power, and largely exists to prevent new accounts from spamming posts and comments. Once you're established a bit, it will cease to be something you ever worry about.
Did that help at all? It's a lot to take in, so don't worry too much if it's not making sense yet.
EDIT: you can see the behind-the-scenes data for your account here. Just remember, if anyone ever embeds a hyperlink to anything anywhere, and it asks for your HIVE passwords, assume it's a phishing scam until you can confirm otherwise. There are a lot of bad actors who will try to steal your account if you are unwary. This one's a legit site for blockchain analysis, and won't ask for your info at all.
That. Is. Exactly! What I needed to know! Thank you and yes, all of that does make a lot of sense, I've even read these things before but hearing it again in different ways does the trick to fully understand. And I guess after a short period of time I'll have established a "work-" or "hiveflow"...
The hyperlink to the hiveblog is perfect thanks.
Since you seem to be in the game, feel free to tip me off about the best ways to get posts into the right feeds, with communities and these things. And just any general advice is very welcome and will not be forgotten once I have some more substantial resources 😊
I've been around since long before HIVE forked away from Steemit, so while I claim no detailed expertise, I have absorbed a decent understanding of the basics. There is no fast track to success. Expect rewards to drop off after your intro post. It will take time and consistent effort to gain a following. Everything I have was earned on-chain. I haven't paid a penny into crypto.
As for communities, you might enjoy Pinmapple, Photography, Photography Lovers, and Actifit, but there are many others as well. If you aren't using PeakD (my preferred frontent), just change the URL to hive.blog or ecency.com or whatever other platform you prefer.
All I ask in exchange is that you be the best blogger you can be. Engage with others and support them with words and votes. Post the best quality content you can on the schedule that works for you. Be the kind of blogger you would want to read.