Hi @kojak242 welcome to Steemit. I do hope that you have a wonderful time on this platform, if you have any questions or if there is anything I can help you with do not hesitate to ask, I will be more than happy to help.
If you would like to stay in touch please Follow me @Fshllc
Followed you @fshllc, still unsure of the UPVOTE and REPLY effects but I'll try to keep up.
Thank you for the follow @kojak242, replies are good, you do earn curator rewards from commenting on others posts. The upvote is similar to a like on Facebook but on Steemit the like or upvote pays the author. The upvotes payments does not come out of your account but from funds that Steemit has set aside for that purpose. I hope this helps clarify things up abit. feel free to visit my blog @fshllc from time to time and check out new posts, give me feed back by commenting and upvote the ones you will enjoy. Have a lovely day :)