For @detectblock (but not exclusively):
Nothing on Hive is for free.
Everything has its price/fee. We only pay it in rechargable Resource Credits. Currently, just like 10 HP grants you enough RC to do whatever you want. Except for creating new accounts, which is costly.
Creating a new account with RC will cost about 6602 HP , I already know where to look it up but it was damn hard to find)
This value is very flexible. It depends on the current usage of the network, similarly to gas fees on Ethereum, or Bitcoin fees and so.
This page should answer most related questions: https://developers.hive.io/
Yes, the readings change every hour, I understand. https://beacon.peakd.com/
Yeah pretty much, but I still got everything I have nowadays for free. My account value peaked at 70€ or so. Also the community is pretty helpful when it comes to giving out stuff for basically free
I mean you can earn for free, but you need Resource Credits for any interaction with the chain.
Yeah I guess so. I mean it also used to be my main social media platform and the reddit-like forum design makes it so that people interact more which indirectly funds your wallet, but yes, you need some RC in the first place. I think it was delegated to me when I created my acc