Thanks. I did finally figure it out and had found a thread to just post 'test' on. I was trying to post legitimate replies to posts and they wouldn't go through initially. If the goal is really just to deter spam they should really give more clear directions on what you need to do. I mod a subreddit with 8,000 subscribers and am super strict, but I at least tell people upfront what they need to do to be able to post. As to why you need 10 posts to have a profile pic really doesn't make sense. If anything, that should be a requirement to post at all, as it would deter spammers.