the cost to post and vote was absurdly high right after the hard fork, and there where issues even outside that (people carries a 'debt' forward from the old system to the new; I initally had somethingk like a 1.5 Quardillion RC debt... Things seem to have settled down a bit, and the cost of posts and votes is temporarily reduces to 1/10 of its initial cost... you joined at just the wrong time, lol.
Glad to see you stuck it out, and looking forward to your posts (particularly about amateur radio).