My issue turned out to be mostly irrelevant to HF20. Were it not for HF20, I'd probably have serious problem with 'bandwidth' anyways. The issue was almost solely based on the loss of +15SP delegation. It turns out that while post-HF20 accounts are created with about 3.0SP and therefore can do a few actions per day - my account was created a month ago on the previous rules and got initial 0.1SP .. plus automatic +15SP delegation from utopian-signup initiative that required binding my account with my GitHub account.
Now, having found myself unable to do anything on Steem due to low-sp low-mana, I could simply scrap this account and start a new one, but..
That's actually a pretty sad state, but easily solvable. I could just 'buy power', that is, find some funds, transfer it here as STEEM/SBD, and 'power up'. No big deal. Except for the fact that the funds I have enroute got stuck at exchange/etc. Bad luck strikes twice..
In case you wonder how I managed to post this and the previous post while not having enough sp/mana - I visited a couple of well-known Discord channels like Utopian-Io, DaVinci, or SteemStem, talked with people and they delegated 15SP back to me. Not from utopian-signup bot this time, but totally personal action.
I'm really grateful for that, thank you all!
I'm intentionally not telling their names so the whole world won't spam them with delegation requests.
Nevertheless, if you're new here, you may find it interesting - a few things I've learnt while chatting on Discord:
Your new account got bonus +15SP delegation? Most probably it is not forever. Not only a big deal like last HF20 may prompt delegators to remove the delegation, also the delegation itself may be automated and may have a deadline, say, 60 or 90 days (was 57 in my case) after which it may be cancelled.
If you got bonus delegation from SteemIT, they expect you to be active. If you're not, they may automatically lower the delegated amount.
I registered on Steem via Utopian-Signup, bound my GitHub account and so on, but I failed badly at RTFM stage. It turns out that I should have posted in a timely manner some "introductory post" about myself. That also might have been one of the reasons why +15SP was removed. Btw. I still haven't posted it because I'm writing this text now (--"). I've got to post it soon!
Now after HF20, may if not most services granting +X SP starting bonus for new account will probably cease doing that. New accounts should now start with enough RC to be able to work on their own.
Reading is free. Every other action costs Mana (RC). Even things you'd probably expect to be free. You've posted something? Ok, it costed Mana. You want to edit it? Ok, that costs Mana as well. Want to transfer funds? it costs Mana. Want to claim rewards you got for your activity? Ok, that also costs Mana, and so on.
Mana regenerates over time, up to your max-mana, which in turn depends on your SP. It's good to have at least a few SP for that reason. Use a tool like Steem Supply to see your current-mana and max-mana. Mana also regenerates instantly when you power up, and although I have no idea by how much for what amount of power up.
Mana-costs of various actions change over time. Again, Steem Supply may show you some estimations, but that's not exhaustive list. Actions differ in their weight. Posting a short comment or post may take, for example, 1.10 G of mana, while posting a long comment or post may take 2.5 G of mana at the same moment. Probably it's based on the byte-size of the whole message posted.
Of course, there as much more, but I think that's the most important bits I've learned over last few days. Hope this helps someone :)
