Those two statements demonstrate exactly the problem. Imagine a newly registered person ("newbie") who is well-informed and doesn't have any questions, but wants to become part of interesting discussions in the non-newbie sections. Then the second statement suggests that it's sufficient for him to read around a bit. After, say, 10 hours he's wondering why still can't reply. After 20 hours he's giving up.
If they're that well informed about bitcoin, they'll have plenty of opportunity during those hours to participate in discussions in the Newbie thread and assist Newbies in learning more about bitcoin. The odds that they won't have 4 useful things to share in the Newbie thread after hours of reading are sufficiently small. The odds that they won't stumble across the topic pinned to the top of the Newbie thread with the specific values is even smaller. The odds that they won't either have 4 posts, or stumble on the specific numbers, or stumble on the "whitelist" thread are getting ridiculously small.
This wouldn't happen if the rules were clear from the beginning.
Perhaps not, but the current system seems to be working well.
Of course, that newbie would almost certainly have searched for the exact rules, as we all do, and would eventually find those. But why making it so hard for them? Why aren't the rules more clearly communicated to the "newbies"?
Besides, I find it a bit strage to defend the values of openness and transparency in Bitcoin forum.
I could be mistaken, but as I understand it, it helps keep the troll count down.
